YUI3 and socket.io

Question

Just a simple question:

I am using YUI3 framework for my website and want to use socket.io framework.

Now challenge is to use socket.io with YUI3. As of now I am using socket.io logic inside YUI sandbox and its working fine.

BUT can there be any fallback of this approach ? If yes, then how should I integerate both ?

Here is the snippet of code:

<script type="text/javascript">

YUI().use('my-slide' , 'node', 'event','transition',  function (Y) {

    // connecting to nodejs server running on 7001 port for dynamic updates 
    var broadcast = io.connect('http://localhost:7001/getlatestbroadcast');

    broadcast.on('status',function(data){

        // some socket  logic here 
    }); 

    // Setting Listener
    broadcast.on('moreData',function(data){

        // some socket logic here 

    });
});

</script>

Answer 1

What you're doing definitely works, and there's no problem in using it that way unless you have a conflict with some other variable named io. A slightly more effective way of using Socket.IO (or any other external module in YUI) is to namespace it on the Y object instead:

YUI({
      modules: {
          'socket.io': {
              fullpath: '/socket.io/socket.io.js'
          }
      },

      onProgress: function (e) {
          if (e.data[0].name === 'socket.io') {
              YUI.add('socket.io', function (Y) {
                  Y.Socket = io;
              });
          }
      }
  }).use('socket.io', function (Y) {
      var socket = Y.Socket.connect('http://localhost');

      socket.on('news', function (data) {
          console.log(data);
          socket.emit('my other event', { my: 'data' });
      });
  });

This takes the example from the socket.io website and lets you namespace it as Y.Socket. That way, only when you specifically do YUI().use('socket.io'), will you actually be able to access Y.Socket, which helps with keeping your code organized and loaded in the correct order, thanks to the YUI Loader.

Also, feel free to check out the Socket Model Sync YUI Gallery module I created, if you're looking for an easier way to integrate your YUI App Framework application with Socket.IO.

Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any more questions about integrating the two!