Fiction-chat-server NPM

Fiction Chat Server

Fiction Chat Server is an npm package designed to integrate real-time chat capabilities into your backend server. It manages WebSocket connections and handles chat requests, forming the backend of the Fiction Chat system. To work correctly, this package requires the fiction-chat-client package for the frontend.

Note: This package is intended to be used with fiction-chat-client, which provides the frontend chat functionality for a complete chat solution.

Installation

Install the package using npm:

bash

Copy code

npm install fiction-chat-server

Configuration

To use Fiction Chat Server, create a route on your server that sets up and configures the Fiction Chat instance as shown in the example below.

Example Setup

javascript

 import { FictionChat } from 'fiction-chat-server';
   
 const fictionChatConfig = {
     dbUrl: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
     websocketPort: parseInt(process.env.WEBSOCKET_PORT || '8080'),
     userTableConfig: {
         tableName: 'User',
         idColumn: 'id',
         fullNameColumn: 'name',
         profilePictureColumn: 'avatar'
     },
     jwtSecret: process.env.JWT_SECRET,
     jwtUserIdColumn: 'id'
 };
   
 const fictionChat = new FictionChat(fictionChatConfig);
   
 // Wait for initialization before accepting requests
 await new Promise((resolve) => {
     const checkInit = () => {
         if (fictionChat.initialized) {
             resolve();
         } else {
             setTimeout(checkInit, 100);
         }
     };
     checkInit();
 });
   
 export default async function handler(req, res) {
     if (req.method === 'OPTIONS') {
         return res.status(200).end();
     }
   
     const queryparammethod = req.query.method;
     const newReq = {
         ...req,
         url: `/${queryparammethod}`,
         method: queryparammethod,
         headers: req.headers
     };
   
     if (!fictionChat.initialized) {
         return res.status(400).json({ error: 'FictionChat is not initialized' });
     }
   
     return fictionChat.handleRequest(newReq, res);
 }

Environment Variables

The following environment variables are required:

DATABASE_URL: URL of your database.
WEBSOCKET_PORT: Port number for the WebSocket server (default is 8080).
JWT_SECRET: Secret key for JWT authentication.
Database Configuration

Fiction Chat Server requires a table to store user information. In the configuration object (userTableConfig), specify the following fields:

tableName: The name of the table in your database.
idColumn: The unique identifier column for users.
fullNameColumn: The column storing users' full names.
profilePictureColumn: The column storing users' profile pictures (optional).
Example Implementation

For a full implementation of Fiction Chat Server and Client in a Next.js application, refer to the fiction-chat-example repository.