Laravel 8 Websocket: A Complete Guide

If you are a Laravel developer, you must have heard about the latest release of Laravel 8. One of the most significant features of Laravel 8 is the inclusion of WebSockets. In this article, we will discuss everything about Laravel 8 WebSockets, including its features, installation, configuration, and usage. Let’s dive in!

Table of Contents show

What are WebSockets?

WebSockets are a communication protocol that enables real-time communication between a client and a server. Unlike traditional HTTP requests, WebSockets establish a persistent connection between the client and server, allowing bi-directional, low-latency communication. WebSockets are ideal for building real-time applications such as chat applications, collaborative applications, gaming applications, and more.

What is Laravel 8 WebSockets?

Laravel 8 WebSockets is a package that enables WebSockets in Laravel applications. Laravel 8 WebSockets is built on top of the popular Pusher service. Laravel 8 WebSockets provides a simple and easy-to-use interface for implementing WebSockets in Laravel applications and is ideal for building real-time applications.

Features of Laravel 8 WebSockets

Real-time communication: Laravel 8 WebSockets enables real-time communication between a client and server.
Low-latency communication: WebSockets establish a persistent connection between the client and server, allowing low-latency communication.
Easy to use: Laravel 8 WebSockets provides a simple and easy-to-use interface for implementing WebSockets in Laravel applications.
Scalability: Laravel 8 WebSockets is built on top of the popular Pusher service, which provides scalability and reliability.
Customizable: Laravel 8 WebSockets is highly customizable, allowing you to configure it according to your needs.

Installation of Laravel 8 WebSockets

The installation of Laravel 8 WebSockets is straightforward. Follow the steps below:

Create a new Laravel application or use an existing one.
Install the Laravel 8 WebSockets package using Composer.
Configure the Laravel 8 WebSockets package.
Start the Laravel 8 WebSockets server.

Create a new Laravel application or use an existing one

If you don’t have a Laravel application, create a new one using the following command:

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel example-app

If you already have a Laravel application, use that instead.

Install the Laravel 8 WebSockets package using Composer

To install the Laravel 8 WebSockets package, run the following command:

composer require beyondcode/laravel-websockets

Configure the Laravel 8 WebSockets package

After installing the package, you need to configure it. Open the config/app.php file and add the following to the providers array:

BeyondCode\LaravelWebSockets\WebSocketsServiceProvider::class,

Next, publish the configuration file using the following command:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="BeyondCode\LaravelWebSockets\WebSocketsServiceProvider" --tag="config"

This will publish the laravel-websockets.php configuration file to your application’s config directory.

Start the Laravel 8 WebSockets server

To start the Laravel 8 WebSockets server, run the following command:

php artisan websockets:serve

This will start the server on port 6001. You can change the port by passing the –port option.

Usage of Laravel 8 WebSockets

Now that you have installed and configured Laravel 8 WebSockets, let’s discuss its usage. Laravel 8 WebSockets can be used for building real-time applications such as chat applications, collaborative applications, gaming applications, and more.

Creating a WebSocket event

To create a WebSocket event, you need to create an event class. The event class should implement the ShouldBroadcast interface and define a broadcastOn method. The broadcastOn method should return a channel or private channel on which the event should be broadcasted.

Here’s an example:

namespace App\Events;use Illuminate\Broadcasting\PrivateChannel;use Illuminate\Contracts\Broadcasting\ShouldBroadcast;
class NewMessage implements ShouldBroadcast{/*** The message instance.** @var Message*/public $message;
/*** Create a new event instance.** @paramMessage$message* @return void*/public function __construct(Message $message){$this->message = $message;}
/*** Get the channels the event should broadcast on.** @return \Illuminate\Broadcasting\Channel|array*/public function broadcastOn(){return new PrivateChannel('chat.'.$this->message->chat_id);}}

In the above example, the NewMessage event is broadcasted on a private channel named chat.{chat_id}.

Triggering a WebSocket event

To trigger a WebSocket event, you need to use the broadcast function. The broadcast function takes an event object and broadcasts it on the specified channel. Here’s an example:

broadcast(new NewMessage($message));

In the above example, we are broadcasting the NewMessage event with the $message object.

Listening for a WebSocket event

To listen for a WebSocket event, you need to use the echo function. The echo function listens for the specified event on the specified channel and executes the specified callback function when the event is received. Here’s an example:

echo.private('chat.' + chatId).listen('NewMessage', (e) => {console.log(e);});

In the above example, we are listening for the NewMessage event on a private channel named chat.{chat_id}.

FAQs about Laravel 8 WebSockets

Q1. What is Laravel 8 WebSockets?

Laravel 8 WebSockets is a package that enables WebSockets in Laravel applications. Laravel 8 WebSockets is built on top of the popular Pusher service. Laravel 8 WebSockets provides a simple and easy-to-use interface for implementing WebSockets in Laravel applications and is ideal for building real-time applications.

Q2. What are WebSockets?

Q3. How do I install Laravel 8 WebSockets?

To install Laravel 8 WebSockets, you need to create a new Laravel application or use an existing one. Then, you need to install the Laravel 8 WebSockets package using Composer. Next, you need to configure the Laravel 8 WebSockets package and start the Laravel 8 WebSockets server.

Q4. How do I use Laravel 8 WebSockets?

To use Laravel 8 WebSockets, you need to create a WebSocket event, trigger the WebSocket event, and listen for the WebSocket event. Laravel 8 WebSockets can be used for building real-time applications such as chat applications, collaborative applications, gaming applications, and more.