How to Install Websocket Python: A Comprehensive Guide

Websockets have become the preferred method of communication between web applications and servers. Websocket is a protocol that enables two-way communication between a client and a server over a single TCP connection. Python is a popular programming language for building web applications, and the good news is that it has excellent support for websockets. In this guide, you will learn how to install and use websocket python.

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What is Websocket Python?

Websocket Python is a python library that provides a simple and efficient way to create and use websockets. It handles the low-level details of the websocket protocol, allowing you to focus on the business logic of your application. Websocket Python is built on top of the asyncio library, which provides a high-performance and scalable way to handle many concurrent connections.

Requirements for Installing Websocket Python

Before you install websocket python, you need to make sure that you have the following requirements:

Python 3.6 or higher
pip package installer
A virtual environment (optional but recommended)

Installing Websocket Python

Once you have met the requirements for installing websocket python, you can proceed to install it using pip. Follow these steps:

Open your terminal or command prompt
Create a new virtual environment (optional but recommended)
Type the following command to install websocket python:

pip install websockets

That’s it! You now have websocket python installed on your system. You can now start using it to build your websocket applications.

Using Websocket Python

Now that you have installed websocket python, let’s see how you can use it to create a simple websocket server. Follow these steps:

Create a new python file
Import the websocket library
Create a new coroutine that handles incoming websocket connections
Start the websocket server

Here’s an example of a simple websocket server:

import asyncio
import websockets

async def websocket_handler(websocket, path):
    while True:
        message = await websocket.recv()
        print(f”Received message: {message}”)
        await websocket.send(f”Echoing message: {message}”)

async def start_server():
async with websockets.serve(websocket_handler, “localhost”, 8000):
print(“WebSocket server started”)

asyncio.run(start_server())

In this example, we define a coroutine called websocket_handler that handles incoming websocket connections. The server listens on port 8000 and runs on the localhost. The incoming messages are printed to the console, and the server echoes the message back to the client.

Advanced Usage of Websocket Python

Websocket Python provides many advanced features that allow you to build complex websocket applications. Here are some of the advanced features:

SSL Support

Websocket Python supports SSL encryption, which allows you to secure your websocket connections. You can enable SSL encryption by passing an SSL context to the websockets.serve function. Here’s an example:

import asyncio
import websockets
import ssl

async def start_server():
    ssl_context = ssl.SSLContext(ssl.PROTOCOL_TLS_SERVER)
    ssl_context.load_cert_chain(“server.crt”, “server.key”)
    async with websockets.serve(websocket_handler, “localhost”, 8000, ssl=ssl_context):
        print(“WebSocket server started”)

asyncio.run(start_server())

In this example, we create an SSL context using the server.crt and server.key files. We then pass the SSL context to the websockets.serve function to enable SSL encryption.

WebSocket Compression

Websocket Python supports compression of websocket messages, which can reduce the amount of data transferred over the network. You can enable compression by passing the compress parameter to the websockets.serve function. Here’s an example:

import asyncio
import websockets

async def start_server():
async with websockets.serve(websocket_handler, “localhost”, 8000, compress=True):
print(“WebSocket server started”)

asyncio.run(start_server())

In this example, we enable compression by passing the compress parameter to the websockets.serve function.

WebSocket Subprotocols

Websocket Python supports subprotocols, which allow you to specify a protocol for your websocket connections. You can specify a subprotocol by passing the subprotocols parameter to the websockets.serve function. Here’s an example:

import asyncio
import websockets

async def start_server():
async with websockets.serve(websocket_handler, “localhost”, 8000, subprotocols=[“chat”, “json-rpc”]):
print(“WebSocket server started”)

asyncio.run(start_server())

In this example, we specify two subprotocols: chat and json-rpc. The client can then negotiate which subprotocol to use when connecting to the server.