facilmap/client

Using the FacilMap client

The FacilMap client makes a connection to the FacilMap server using socket.io and automatically receives updates when markers, lines, the map settings, or any other part of a map is created, changed or removed. When connecting to the map using the writable ID, it it also makes it possible to make any modifications to the map that you could make through the web interface, such as creating/changing/removing markers, lines and views and changing the map settings.

One instance of the Client class represents one connection to one specific collaborative map on one specific FacilMap server. To receive markers and lines, a bbox has to be set, and only the markers and line points within that bbox will be received. The bbox can be changed (for example, if the user drags the map), which causes objects from the new bbox to be received. The Client instance will store all objects that it receives in its properties.

Note that in the methods of the client, a collaborative map will be referred to as pad. This is because the collaborative part of FacilMap used to be a separate software called FacilPad.

Setting it up

Install facilmap-client as a dependency using npm or yarn:

npm install -S facilmap-client

or load the client directly from facilmap.org (along with socket.io, which is needed by facilmap-client):

<script src="https://unpkg.com/socket.io-client@4"></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/facilmap-client@3"></script>

The client class will be available as the global FacilMap.Client variable.

Development

Make sure you have yarn installed. Run yarn install to install the dependencies and yarn run build to create the bundle in dist/client.js.

Setting up a connection

let client = new FacilMap.Client("https://facilmap.org/");
client.setPadId("myMapId").then((padData) => {
	console.log(padData);
}).catch((err) => {
	console.error(err.stack);
});

Using it

A detailed description of all the methods and data types can be found in API.

Change detection

When the FacilMap server sends an event to the client that an object has been created, changed or deleted, the client emits the event and also persists it in its properties. So you have two ways to access the map data: By listening to the map events and persisting the data somewhere else, or by accessing the properties on the Client object.

If you are using a UI framework that relies on a change detection mechanism (such as Vue.js or Angular), you can override the methods _set and _delete. facilmap-client consistently uses these to update any data on its properties.

In Vue.js, it could look like this:

let client = new FacilMap.Client("https://facilmap.org/");
client._set = Vue.set;
client._delete = Vue.delete;

In Angular.js, it could look like this:

let client = new FacilMap.Client("https://facilmap.org/");
client._set = (object, key, value) => { $rootScope.$apply(() => { object[key] = value; }); };
client._delete = (object, key) => { $rootScope.$apply(() => { delete object[key]; }); };

This way your UI framework will detect changes to any properties on the client, and you can reference values like client.padData.name, client.disconnected and client.loading in your UI components.