Book Image

Getting Started with WebRTC

By : Rob Manson
Book Image

Getting Started with WebRTC

By: Rob Manson

Overview of this book

WebRTC delivers web-based real-time communication and is set to revolutionize our view of what the Web really is. Streaming audio and video from browser to browser, as well as opening raw access to the camera and microphone, is already creating a whole new dynamic web. WebRTC also introduces real-time data channels that will allow interaction with dynamic data feeds from sensors and other devices. This really is a great time to be a web developer! Getting Started with WebRTC provides all of the practical information you need to quickly understand what WebRTC is, how it works, and how you can add it to your own web applications. It includes clear working examples designed to help you get started building your own WebRTC-enabled applications right away. Getting Started with WebRTC will guide you through the process of creating your own WebRTC application that can be applied in a number of different real-world situations, using well documented and clearly explained code examples. You will learn how to quickly and easily create a practical peer-to-peer video chat application, an audio only call option, and how a Web-Socket-based signaling server can also be used to enable real-time text-based chat. You will also be shown how this same server and application structure can easily be extended to include simple drag-and-drop file sharing with transfer updates and thumbnail previews.

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Getting Started with WebRTC
Rob Manson
Sep, 2013 | 114 pages
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Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Getting Started with WebRTC
Getting Started with WebRTC
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
An Introduction to Web-based Real-Time Communication
An Introduction to Web-based Real-Time Communication
Introducing WebRTC
Uses for WebRTC
Try WebRTC yourself right now!
Browser compatibility
Summary
2
A More Technical Introduction to Web-based Real-Time Communication
A More Technical Introduction to Web-based Real-Time Communication
Setting up communication
MediaStream API
RTCPeerConnection API
RTCDataChannel API
Summary
3
Creating a Real-time Video Call
Creating a Real-time Video Call
Setting up a simple WebRTC video call
Using a web server to connect two users
Setting up a signaling server
Creating an offer in the caller's browser
Creating an answer in the callee's browser
Previewing the local video streams
Establishing peer-to-peer streams
Stream processing options
Extending this example into a Chatroulette app
Summary
4
Creating an Audio Only Call
Creating an Audio Only Call
Setting up a simple WebRTC audio only call
The HTML user interface for audio only calls
Adding an audio only flow to the signaling server
Audio stream processing options
Summary
5
Adding Text-based Chat
Adding Text-based Chat
Adding text-based chat to our video chat app
The HTML user interface for text-based chat
Adding JavaScript functions to enable chatting
Handling text-based chat signals on the server
Other text message processing options
Summary
6
Adding File Sharing
Adding File Sharing
Adding file sharing to our video chat app
The HTML user interface for file sharing
Adding JavaScript for enabling file sharing
Adding files using the <input> element
Adding support for drag-and-drop
Adding JavaScript for transferring files via WebSockets
Handling the file-sharing signals on the server
Sending a thumbnail preview before the entire file
Providing progress updates
Establishing an RTCDataChannel connection
Transfering files via an RTCDataChannel connection
Other file-sharing options
Summary
7
Example Application 1 – Education and E-learning
Example Application 1 – Education and E-learning
Applying WebRTC for education and e-learning
Overall application architecture
Potential issues that may be faced
Benefits that can be delivered
The opportunity for educators
Summary
8
Example Application 2 – Team Communication
Example Application 2 – Team Communication
Applying WebRTC for team communication
Overall application architecture
Potential issues that may be faced
Benefits that can be delivered
The opportunity for managers
Summary
Index
Index

Using a web server to connect two users

The very first step is simply to connect two separate users using the Web. We start by creating a standard HTML5 web page that includes a DOCTYPE definition, a document head, and a document body:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
…
</head>
<body>
…
</body>
</html>

Tip

Downloading the example code

You can download the example code files for all Packt books you have purchased from your account at http://www.packtpub.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit http://www.packtpub.com/support and register to have the files e-mailed directly to you.

Then, the first element inside the document head is the webrtc_polyfill.js script included inline between a pair of <script> tags. The webrtc_polyfill.js code is exactly what it says it is and is designed to make it easy to write JavaScript that works across all common browser implementations of the WebRTC and MediaStream APIs. Here is an overview of how...

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