Transferring data packets via WebSocket

Question

Transferring data packets via WebSocket

Imagine a scenario where you have a string consisting of ones and zeros, for example:

"0101101"

Now, the question arises - is there a way to transmit only these bits using the WebSocket.prototype.send method?

The first step would be to convert these bits into an ArrayBuffer. But how can this conversion be achieved?

Sending the string as it is won't work because each 1 and 0 would occupy 1 byte (due to being considered characters and UTF-8 encoded). So, the challenge lies in converting these string-bits into an ArrayBuffer before transmitting them.

It's worth noting that this inquiry is not about changing a bitstring into integer values; rather, it pertains to transforming it into an ArrayBuffer

javascript binary

Answer 1

Answer №1

It has been mentioned implicitly that there is no straightforward method to send a bit array directly through the WebSocket API. The solution lies in converting it into an ArrayBuffer first. Since ArrayBuffers cannot be directly modified but only through a TypedArray, one could follow these steps:

Add necessary leading zeros to your string
Divide the string into 8-bit parts
Extract integers from the bits
Append these integers to a Uint8Array
Obtain the buffer from the array
Send the buffer via WebSocket

The code implementation for this process would resemble the following snippet:

function binaryStringToArrayBuffer(data) {

    while (data.length % 8 != 0) {
        data = '0' + data;
    }

    var buf = new ArrayBuffer(data.length / 8);
    var result = new Uint8Array(buf);

    var dataArray = data.split('');
    
    var idx = 0;
    while(dataArray.length > 0) {
        var bits = dataArray.splice(0, 8);
        var bitsAsInt = parseInt(bits.join(''), 2);

        result[idx] = bitsAsInt;
        idx++;
    }
    return result.buffer;
}

var data = "01010111101011010111110001100000000000000101001";
var buffer = binaryStringToArrayBuffer(data);

getYourWebSocket().send(buffer);

Answer 2

It has been mentioned implicitly that there is no straightforward method to send a bit array directly through the WebSocket API. The solution lies in converting it into an ArrayBuffer first. Since ArrayBuffers cannot be directly modified but only through a TypedArray, one could follow these steps:

Add necessary leading zeros to your string
Divide the string into 8-bit parts
Extract integers from the bits
Append these integers to a Uint8Array
Obtain the buffer from the array
Send the buffer via WebSocket

The code implementation for this process would resemble the following snippet:

function binaryStringToArrayBuffer(data) {

    while (data.length % 8 != 0) {
        data = '0' + data;
    }

    var buf = new ArrayBuffer(data.length / 8);
    var result = new Uint8Array(buf);

    var dataArray = data.split('');
    
    var idx = 0;
    while(dataArray.length > 0) {
        var bits = dataArray.splice(0, 8);
        var bitsAsInt = parseInt(bits.join(''), 2);

        result[idx] = bitsAsInt;
        idx++;
    }
    return result.buffer;
}

var data = "01010111101011010111110001100000000000000101001";
var buffer = binaryStringToArrayBuffer(data);

getYourWebSocket().send(buffer);

Transferring data packets via WebSocket

Answer №1

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