MatsSocket is a WebSocket-based client-server solution which bridges the asynchronous message based nature of Mats3 all the way out to your end user client applications, featuring bidirectional communication. It consists of a small MatsSocketServer API which is implemented on top of the _ Mats3 API_ and JSR 356 Java API for WebSockets (which most Servlet Containers implement), as well as client libraries - for which there currently exists JavaScript and Dart/Flutter implementations.
Java server API and implementation: Maven Repository
JavaScript client: npm
Dart/Flutter client: pub.dev
To get a gist of how this works on the client, here is a small JavaScript client code example:
// Set up the MatsSocket.
var matsSocket = new MatsSocket("TestApp", "1.2.3",
['wss://matssocketserver-one.example.com/matssocket',
'wss://matssocketserver-two.example.com/matssocket']);
// Using bogus example authorization.
matsSocket.setAuthorizationExpiredCallback(function (event) {
// Emulate that it takes some time to get new auth.
setTimeout(function () {
var expiry = Date.now() + 20000;
matsSocket.setCurrentAuthorization("DummyAuth:example", expiry, 10000);
}, 100);
});
// Perform a Request to server, which will forward the Request to a Mats endpoint, whose Reply comes
// back here, resolving the returned Promise.
matsSocket.request("MatsSocketEndpoint", "TraceId_" + matsSocket.id(6), {
string: "Request String",
number: Math.E
}).then(function (messageEvent) {
console.log("REQUEST-with-Promise resolved, i.e. REPLY from Mats Endpoint. Took "
+ messageEvent.roundTripMillis + " ms: " + JSON.stringify(messageEvent.data));
});This could communicate with the following MatsSocket endpoint on the server side, which uses a Mats endpoint for processing (Note that the setup of the MatsFactory and MatsSocketServer, including the authentication plugin, is elided for brevity):
// :: Make MatsSocket Endpoint, taking MatsSocketRequestDto and replying MatsSocketReplyDto
matsSocketServer.matsSocketEndpoint("MatsSocketEndpoint",
MatsSocketRequestDto.class, MatsDataTO.class, MatsSocketReplyDto.class,
// IncomingAuthorizationAndAdapter - the provided Principal is already set up by the
// AuthenticationPlugin which the MatsSocketServer was instantiated with.
(ctx, principal, msg) -> {
// Perform Authorization, by casting the provided Principal to the application specific
// instance and deciding whether to deny further processing.
if (! ((ApplicationSpecificPrincipal) principal).canAccess("MatsSocketEndpoint")) {
ctx.deny();
return;
}
// Handle message by forwarding Request to Mats endpoint.
ctx.forwardNonessential("MatsEndpoint.exampleEndpoint",
new MatsDataTO(msg.number, ctx.getUserId()));
},
// ReplyAdapter - receives the Reply from the Mats endpoint, and resolves the client Promise.
(ctx, matsReply) -> {
// Adapting Mats endpoint's reply (type MatsDataTO) to the MatsSocket reply
// (type MatsSocketReplyDto).
ctx.resolve(new MatsSocketReplyDto(matsReply.string.length(), matsReply.number));
});
// :: Make Mats Endpoint, both taking and replying with type MatsDataTO
// This Mats Endpoint could reside on a different service employing the same "Mats fabric"
// (i.e. MQ server), or reside on this service, but perform requests to a Mats Endpoint residing
// on a different service before Replying.
matsFactory.single("MatsEndpoint.exampleEndpoint", MatsDataTO.class, MatsDataTO.class,
(processContext, incomingDto) -> {
// "Process" incoming message and return a Reply.
return new MatsDataTO(incomingDto.number + 10,
incomingDto.string + ":FromExampleMatsEndpoint");
});The client example first sets up the MatsSocket using two urls - the MatsSocket will randomize the array and cycle through the result until it gets a reply. The authorization callback is set up, here using a dummy example with expiration time. Since it starts out without a current authorization string set, any first operation on it will invoke the callback.
It then sends a message to the "MatsSocketEndpoint", which is a named endpoint defined on the MatsSocketServer. That
endpoint will receive the message with its IncomingAuthorizationAndAdapter, and either act on it directly by denying,
replying or rejecting, or forward the request to a Mats endpoint - in this example it either denies or forwards to a
Mats endpoint. When the Mats endpoint replies, the reply will pass the MatsSocket endpoint's ReplyAdapter, which again
decides whether to resolve or reject - in this example it choose resolve, which then resolves the Promise on the client.
The client may create both Terminators and Endpoints, which allows the server to send messages, and even Requests, to
the client. Terminators may also be the target for replies to client-to-server requests, by using requestReplyTo(..)
instead of request(..) as in the example above.
// Client side Terminator
matsSocket.terminator("ClientSideTerminator", function (messageEvent) {
console.log("Got message! CorrelationId:" + messageEvent.correlationId + ": "
+ JSON.stringify(messageEvent.data));
});
// Client side Endpoint
matsSocket.endpoint("ClientSideEndpoint", function (messageEvent) {
return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
// Resolve it a tad later, to emulate some kind of processing
setTimeout(function () {
let data = messageEvent.data;
let msg = {
string: data.string + ":AddedFromClientSideEndpoint",
number: data.number + Math.PI
};
// We choose to resolve the request
resolve(msg);
}, 25);
});
});The client may subscribe to topics, which the server may use to broadcast messages. The server side authentication plugin is queried whether a given user may subscribe to a given topic.
matsSocket.subscribe("NewProductAnnouncements", function(messageEvent) {
console.log("Got Topic message! " + JSON.stringify(messageEvent.data));
});-
Multi node server: The MatsSocketServer may run on multiple nodes, to ensure that at least one server is always up, both handling unexpected outages and rolling deploys. It utilizes a shared database to handle session state - so that if the MatsSocket client reconnects to a different instance, the state - including outstanding messages - will follow along.
-
Client side high availability: The MatsSocket instance is instantiated using a set of URLs where it should connect. It will pick a random of these URLs and try to connect to that, rotating through the URLs if the first doesn't work.
-
Transparently handles lost connections: MatsSocket client handles all connection aspects, including lost connections and reconnects. The system employs an outbox solution, where outgoing messages from both client-to-server, and server-to-client, will queue up if there is no connection. When the connection is reestablished, these outboxes will empty out. This means that if e.g. a message is received from the client on the server and forwarded to Mats, and then the connection drops, the reply from that Mats service will be queued up, and seamlessly delivered to the client when the connection is restored.
-
"Guaranteed", exactly-once processing: When a message is sent from this side, the other side sends an acknowledgement - and puts a reference of the message in an inbox. When this side receives the acknowledgement, it removes the message from the outbox, and sends a second acknowledgement, which upon reception on the other side deletes the inbox-reference. This protocol ensures that even faced with lost connections, the state of a message transit can be recovered: messages which are in doubt will be redelivered, but if this would end up in a double delivery/processing, the message is deduplicated by the inbox reference - the result is exactly-once processing of messages.
Authentication is handled by a small authentication plugin on both client and server side, which is simple enough that you may use a cookie-based approach where the containing application already has authenticated and authorized the user and thus just want the MatsSocket to ride on that authentication. It is however also advanced enough to handle authentications with expiration times, e.g. direct use of Bearer access tokens, where both the MatsSocket and the MatsSocketServer may request the client to refresh the token if it has expired, and then perform seamless reauthentication.
Authorization is handled programmatically by the MatsSocket developer upon reception of messages, in
the IncomingAuthorizationAndAdapter lambda which the MatsSocket Endpoint was set up with.
-
Persistent session-based setup, no per-request headers: WebSockets are by their nature persistent, so each message does not need a heap of headers - the authentication and thus identification of the user is only done at session setup (and when reauthenticating if using authentication with expiry).
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Low overhead protocol, small envelopes: The system messages are few and compact, and the envelopes which carries the data messages are tiny.
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Compression by default: All browsers implement the compression extension of WebSockets, thus the wire size is as short as can be.
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Batching: MatsSockets has built-in batching of messages, both client-to-server and server-to-client, where if you issue multiple requests in a row, they will by default be batched, based on a small few-milliseconds timeout set after a request is issued. (This timeout may be overridden by
matsSocket.flush()). This ensures that you do not need to think about e.g. how you perform the initial user information load upon login and make a "super request" that batches the content, you may instead use whatever amount and granularity of messages that is best appropriate for the backend storage. Batching also ensures that the compression has more information to go by, quite possibly getting multiple messages in a single TCP packet.
Each message is independent of any other, including each Request with their subsequent Replies: A batch of incoming messages are handled by a thread pool, being independently processed. Any Reply is sent over as soon as it is finished, not caring about the order the Requests were issued in (Server-to-Client batching will kick in if they are finished very close in time). This ensures that you do not need to care about ordering your requests in a particular way.
(Note that a MatsSocket instance, running over a single WebSocket, is however affected by head-of-line blocking: This is not the transport you would send a Blu-ray movie over, as that direction of the channel would then be blocked until this large message was finished transmitted. Keep your messages short and to the point!)
A MatsSocketSession is either established, deregistered or closed. Deregister is what happens when the user looses connection. When a session is deregistered, it only uses resources on the backing database. This makes it possible to use long timeouts if this is desired, as in days - to let a user keep his state even through a long connection drop, e.g. a flight.
There are a number of callbacks and event listening posts on both the client side, and the server side.
-
ReceivedEvents: For each issuing of a message (Sends or Requests), you may be informed about your message being received (but not yet processed) by the other side. May be used for user information, e.g. when a button is clicked, it may transition to some "actually being processed" state. Also, the server may NACK your message. -
matsSocket.addSessionClosedEventListener(..): Notifies about closing of the session, which might happen if e.g. the server gets uncorrectable problems with its backing store. It is suggested that you do register such a listener, as the session is then gone and you would need to "reboot" the application. -
matsSocket.connected,matsSocket.stateandmatsSocket.addConnectionEventListener(..): Returns the current state of the underlying WebSocket, and the listener informs about the "state machine transitions" that the MatsSocket instance goes through, including lost connection and attempts to reconnect - enabling user feedback in the application (e.g. "connection lost, reconnecting in 5, 4, 3..") -
matsSocket.initiationsandmatsSocket.addInitiationProcessedEventListener(..): Every time a request or send is finished, an InitiationProcessedEvent is created which includes timing information. You may get the latestmatsSocket.numberOfInitiationsKept(default 10) of these, or register an event listener. May be used for an app-internal "debug monitor" to survey the traffic the app performs, with timings - or submitting stats to your backend for inspection. -
matsSocket.pingsandmatsSocket.addPingPongListener(..): MatsSocket issues pings and receives pongs, which includes timings. You may get the latest 100 ping-pongs, or listen in on these, possibly submitting stats to your backend for inspection. -
matsSocket.addErrorEventListener(..): The MatsSocket may encounter different error conditions, which is reported here. You may add a listener that sends these back to your server by out-of-bands means (e.g. a HTTP POST), so that you can inspect the health of your application's MatsSockets usage.
server.get[Active|Live]MatsSocketSessions(): Returns the current set of MatsSocketSessions.server.getMatsSocketEndpoints(): Introspection of the set up endpoints.server.addSessionEstablishedEventListener(..)andserver.addSessionRemovedEventListener(..): Listeners will be invoked when sessions are established (new or reconnect), deregistered, closed and timed out. Due to the nature of how MatsSocketSessions work wrt. reconnects, you may get multiple back-and-forths between states.server.addMessageEventListener(..): Events issued both for client-to-server and server-to-client messages, so that you may create statistics and metrics on the usage and processing of all communications.
MatsSockets is made to be simple to use - at least once you're done with setting up the authentication part! In addition to both a simple but rich API to actually do communications, and automatic handling of the connection lifecycle and reconnects, and the instrumenting options mentioned above, it also has a couple of specific features that aid development and debugging:
- TraceId: This is a mandatory parameter for all things Mats - and MatsSocket. This ensures that you can trace a message all the way from the client, through any Mats flows, and back to the client. Distributed logging becomes amazing.
- AppName and AppVersion: Mandatory parameters for creating a MatsSocket. This might be needed for
server-to-client sends, as the client Terminator "NewProducts.personalized" is only available for the "ProductGuide"
application, and was only added at version 1.2.5. Also, it aids debugging if you have different apps and versions of
those apps out in the wild - these parameters are included in the logging on the server side, and available in
the
server.get[..]MatsSocketSessions()calls. - Debugging fields: The MatsSocket system has built-in optional debugging fields on each message, which explains key datapoints wrt. how the message was processed, and timings.
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