Book Image

Getting Started with HTML5 WebSocket Programming

By : Vangos Pterneas
Book Image

Getting Started with HTML5 WebSocket Programming

By: Vangos Pterneas

Overview of this book

<p>WebSockets are capable of bi-directional, full-duplex communication over a persistent TCP connection They provide many benefits compared to the alternatives (for example, long-polling or Comet), such as lower overhead, persistent connections, and low latency. In short, it is the most technically challenging HTML5 feature to implement, but for truly interactive websites, it's a technology worth learning.</p> <p>Getting Started with HTML5 WebSocket Programming gives you the true power of bi-directional communication, implemented by using the brand new HTML5 WebSocket API. You’ll learn how to configure the server and clients, how to transmit different types of data and how to secure the whole system.</p> <p>This book will introduce you to the WebSocket world. We start by introducing the WebSocket API, and continue with practical, real-world examples until we can determine how to build multi-functional web apps for any type of device.</p> <p>You will learn how to configure a web client and a web server that will help you send messages to others using easy-to-use mechanisms. We will also find out how different data types, such as images and videos, can be transferred with little effort. We present additional fallback techniques and solutions for older browsers too. Finally, we will secure our clients from malicious attacks and other threats.</p>
Table of Contents (15 chapters)

Security toolbox


Finally, we present some useful tools that help you investigate the flow of information between your WebSocket clients and server, analyze the exchanged data, and identify possible risks.

Fiddler

Fiddler is a great tool for monitoring the network activity and inspecting the traffic of any incoming or outgoing data.

The following screenshot shows fiddler in action, displaying the WebSocket headers:

Fiddler can be downloaded from http://www.fiddler2.com/fiddler2/

Wireshark

Wireshark is a network packet analyzer that captures the packages and displays their data as accurately as possible.

The following screenshot shows wireshark in action:

Wireshark can be downloaded from http://www.wireshark.org/

Browser developer tools

Chrome, Firefox, and Opera are great browsers in terms of developer support. Their built-in tools help us determine almost any aspect of client-side interactions and resources.

The following screenshot shows Chrome developer tools in action:

ZAP

ZAP is a penetration...