BrainSocket.php

NOTE: BrainSocket is ideal for heavier front-end development (think single page javascript apps etc). We are currently working on integrating PUSH notifications into the next release., _(*1)

WebSockets for realtime event-driven Laravel apps., _(*2)

This Laravel 4 package provides an Artisan command to setup and run a WebSocket server with Ratchet inside of a Laravel app., _(*3)

Lets begin by installing this package through Composer. Edit your Laravel project's composer.json file and add the require brainboxlabs/brain-socket:, _(*4)

    "require": {
        ...
        "brainboxlabs/brain-socket": "v1.0.0"
    },

Note: make sure and check packagist.org for updated dependencies but the list above is what has been tested at the time of this writing., _(*5)

Once the package and all of its dependencies have been installed we need to add the BrainSocketServiceProvider to our app/config/app.php file., _(*6)

Add this line:, _(*7)

'providers' => array(
    ...
    'BrainSocket\BrainSocketServiceProvider',

to the end of the providers array in the config file., _(*8)

There is also an optional but recommended Facade you should add to the aliases array in the app/config/app.php file., _(*9)

'aliases' => array(
    ...
    'BrainSocket'     => 'BrainSocket\BrainSocketFacade',

Next open terminal and cd into your Laravel project directory., _(*10)

run php artisan list and confirm you see the brainsocket: command in the list of commands. It should look like this:, _(*11)

Available commands:
brainsocket
    brainsocket:start

Once you have confirmed the list, run the following command to start the WebSocket server:, _(*12)

php artisan brainsocket:start

Note: The websocket server runs on port 8080 by default. You can change this with the optional --port=port_number on the end of the artisan command., _(*13)

php artisan brainsocket:start --port=8081

At this point you should see a message in the terminal saying the websocket has been started on the selected port. Terminal will be locked down / unusable at this point, to stop the WebSocket server hit ctrl+c in the terminal., _(*14)

Note: Any changes to your laravel app / code while the ws server is running are not taken into account. You need to restart the ws server to see any of your changes., _(*15)

Lets stop the ws server now by hitting ctrl+c in the terminal., _(*16)

Next in your app/ folder create a file called events.php, _(*17)

Lets add the following code to events.php:, _(*18)

<?php
Event::listen('generic.event',function($client_data){
    return BrainSocket::message('generic.event',array('message'=>'A message from a generic event fired in Laravel!'));
});

Event::listen('app.success',function($client_data){
    return BrainSocket::success(array('There was a Laravel App Success Event!'));
});

Event::listen('app.error',function($client_data){
    return BrainSocket::error(array('There was a Laravel App Error!'));
});

Note: The $client_data parameter passed into the event listener is a POPO (Plain Old PHP Object) with all of the data passed from the client side., _(*19)

Note: The app.success and app.error events are not required but are helper events for dealing with flash messaging., _(*20)

Now in app/start/global.php add the following line at the end of the file:, _(*21)

require app_path().'/filters.php';
require app_path().'/events.php';

Great! Now we have a few events to test out on the client side. Run the artisan command php artisan brainsocket:start to start the ws server again., _(*22)

To make things easier we have created a simple js helper that allows us to interact with our new ws server a bit easier. It's not required but it handles some minor formatting tasks in the background so you don't have to and pairs nicely with our BrainSocket Facade., _(*23)

Head over to https://github.com/BrainBoxLabs/brain-socket-js to grab it., _(*24)