Update and improve Websocket chapters in the guide

guide/toc.md

@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ Server push technologies
 Using Websocket
 ---------------
 
- *  The Websocket protocol
+ *  [The Websocket protocol](ws_protocol.md)
  *  [Handling Websocket connections](ws_handlers.md)
 
 Advanced HTTP

guide/ws_handlers.md

@@ -1,75 +1,230 @@
-Websocket handlers
-==================
+Handling Websocket connections
+==============================
 
-Purpose
--------
+A special handler is required for handling Websocket connections.
+Websocket handlers allow you to initialize the connection,
+handle incoming frames from the socket, handle incoming Erlang
+messages and then clean up on termination.
 
-Websocket is an extension to HTTP to emulate plain TCP connections
-between the user's browser and the server. Requests that are upgraded
-are then handled by websocket handlers.
+Websocket handlers essentially act as a bridge between the client
+and the Erlang system. They will typically do little more than
+socket communication and decoding/encoding of frames.
 
-Both sides of the socket can send data at any time asynchronously.
+Initialization
+--------------
 
-Websocket is an IETF standard. Cowboy supports the standard and all
-the drafts that were previously implemented by browsers. Websocket
-is implemented by most browsers today, although for backward
-compatibility reasons a solution like [Bullet](https://github.com/extend/bullet)
-might be preferred.
+First, the `init/3` callback is called. This callback is common
+to all handlers. To establish a Websocket connection, this function
+must return an `upgrade` tuple.
 
-Usage
------
+``` erlang
+init(_, Req, Opts) ->
+	{upgrade, protocol, cowboy_websocket}.
+```
+
+It is also possible to return an update Req object and options
+using the longer form of this tuple.
+
+``` erlang
+init(_Type, Req, Opts) ->
+	{upgrade, protocol, cowboy_websocket, Req, Opts}.
+```
 
-Websocket handlers are a bridge between the client and your system.
-They can receive data from the client, through `websocket_handle/3`,
-or from the system, through `websocket_info/3`. It is up to the
-handler to decide to process this data, and optionally send a reply
-to the client.
+Upon receiving this tuple, Cowboy will switch to the code
+that handles Websocket connections. It does not immediately
+perform the handshake however. First, it calls the `websocket_init/3`
+callback.
 
-The first thing to do to be able to handle websockets is to tell
-Cowboy that it should upgrade the connection to use the Websocket
-protocol, as follow.
+This function must be used to initialize the state, and can
+also be used to register the process, start a timer, etc.
+As long as the function returns an `ok` tuple, then Cowboy
+performs the Websocket handshake.
 
 ``` erlang
-init({tcp, http}, Req, Opts) ->
-    {upgrade, protocol, cowboy_websocket}.
+websocket_init(_Type, Req, _Opts) ->
+    {ok, Req, #state{}}.
 ```
 
-Cowboy will then switch the protocol and call `websocket_init`,
-followed by zero or more calls to `websocket_handle` and
-`websocket_info`. Then, when the connection is shutting down,
-`websocket_terminate` will be called.
+A `shutdown` tuple can be returned to refuse to perform the
+handshake. When doing so, Cowboy will send a `400 Bad Request`
+response to the client and close the connection.
+
+``` erlang
+websocket_init(_Type, Req, _Opts) ->
+	{shutdown, Req}.
+```
+
+It is also possible to perform a `cowboy_req:reply/{2,3,4}`
+before returning a `shutdown` tuple, allowing you to override
+the response sent back to the client.
+
+Note that browser support for handling Websocket connection
+failures may vary.
+
+If the sec-websocket-protocol header was sent with the request
+for establishing a Websocket connection, then the Websocket
+handler *must* select one of these subprotocol and send it
+back to the client, otherwise the client might decide to close
+the connection, assuming no correct subprotocol was found.
+
+``` erlang
+websocket_init(_Type, Req, _Opts) ->
+	case cowboy_req:parse_header(<<"sec-websocket-protocol">>, Req) of
+		{ok, undefined, Req2} ->
+			{ok, Req, #state{}};
+		{ok, Subprotocols, Req2} ->
+			case lists:keymember(<<"mychat2">>, 1, Subprotocols) of
+				true ->
+					Req3 = cowboy:set_resp_header(<<"sec-websocket-protocol">>,
+						<<"mychat2">>, Req2),
+					{ok, Req3, #state{}};
+				false ->
+					{shutdown, Req2}
+			end
+	end.
+```
+
+It is not recommended to wait too long inside the `websocket_init/3`
+function. Any extra initialization may be done after returning by
+sending yourself a message before doing anything. Any message sent
+to `self()` from `websocket_init/3` is guaranteed to arrive before
+any frames from the client.
+
+It is also very easy to ensure that this message arrives before
+any message from other processes by sending it before registering
+or enabling timers.
+
+``` erlang
+websocket_init(_Type, Req, _Opts) ->
+	self() ! post_init,
+	%% Register process here...
+	{ok, Req, #state{}}.
+
+websocket_info(post_init, Req, State) ->
+	%% Perform post_init initialization here...
+	{ok, Req, State}.
+```
+
+Handling frames from the client
+-------------------------------
+
+Cowboy will call `websocket_handle/3` whenever a text, binary,
+ping or pong frame arrives from the client. Note that in the
+case of ping and pong frames, no action is expected as Cowboy
+automatically replies to ping frames.
+
+The handler can decide to send frames to the socket, shutdown
+or just continue without sending anything.
 
-The following handler sends a message every second. It also echoes
-back what it receives.
+The following snippet echoes back any text frame received and
+ignores all others.
 
 ``` erlang
--module(my_ws_handler).
--behaviour(cowboy_websocket_handler).
-
--export([init/3]).
--export([websocket_init/3]).
--export([websocket_handle/3]).
--export([websocket_info/3]).
--export([websocket_terminate/3]).
-
-init({tcp, http}, Req, Opts) ->
-    {upgrade, protocol, cowboy_websocket}.
-
-websocket_init(TransportName, Req, _Opts) ->
-    erlang:start_timer(1000, self(), <<"Hello!">>),
-    {ok, Req, undefined_state}.
-
-websocket_handle({text, Msg}, Req, State) ->
-    {reply, {text, << "That's what she said! ", Msg/binary >>}, Req, State};
-websocket_handle(_Data, Req, State) ->
-    {ok, Req, State}.
-
-websocket_info({timeout, _Ref, Msg}, Req, State) ->
-    erlang:start_timer(1000, self(), <<"How' you doin'?">>),
-    {reply, {text, Msg}, Req, State};
+websocket_handle(Frame = {text, _}, Req, State) ->
+	{reply, Frame, Req, State};
+websocket_handle(_Frame, Req, State) ->
+	{ok, Req, State}.
+```
+
+Handling Erlang messages
+------------------------
+
+Cowboy will call `websocket_info/3` whenever an Erlang message
+arrives.
+
+The handler can decide to send frames to the socket, shutdown
+or just continue without sending anything.
+
+The following snippet forwards any `log` message to the socket
+and ignores all others.
+
+``` erlang
+websocket_info({log, Text}, Req, State) ->
+	{reply, {text, Text}, Req, State};
 websocket_info(_Info, Req, State) ->
-    {ok, Req, State}.
+	{ok, Req, State}.
+```
+
+Sending frames to the socket
+----------------------------
+
+Cowboy allows sending either a single frame or a list of
+frames to the socket. Any frame can be sent: text, binary, ping,
+pong or close frames.
+
+The following example sends three frames using a single `reply`
+tuple.
 
-websocket_terminate(_Reason, _Req, _State) ->
-    ok.
+``` erlang
+websocket_info(hello_world, Req, State) ->
+	{reply, [
+		{text, "Hello"},
+		{text, <<"world!">>},
+		{binary, <<0:8000>>}
+	], Req, State};
+%% More websocket_info/3 clauses here...
+```
+
+Note that the payload for text and binary frames is of type
+`iodata()`, meaning it can be either a `binary()` or an
+`iolist()`.
+
+Sending a `close` frame will immediately initiate the closing
+of the Websocket connection. Be aware that any additional
+frames sent by the client or any Erlang messages waiting to
+be received will not be processed. Also note that when replying
+a list of frames that includes close, any frame found after the
+close frame will not be sent.
+
+Ping and timeout
+----------------
+
+The biggest performance improvement you can do when dealing
+with a huge number of Websocket connections is to reduce the
+number of timers that are started on the server. A common use
+of timers when dealing with connections is for sending a ping
+every once in a while. This should be done exclusively on the
+client side. Indeed, a server handling one million Websocket
+connections will perform a lot better when it doesn't have to
+handle one million extra timers too!
+
+Cowboy will automatically respond to ping frames sent by the
+client. It will still forward the frame to the handler for
+informative purpose, but no further action is required.
+
+Cowboy can be configured to automatically close the Websocket
+connection when no data arrives on the socket. It is highly
+recommended to configure a timeout for it, as otherwise you
+may end up with zombie "half-connected" sockets that may
+leave the process alive forever.
+
+A good timeout value is 60 seconds.
+
+``` erlang
+websocket_init(_Type, Req, _Opts) ->
+	{ok, Req, #state{}, 60000}.
 ```
+
+This value cannot be changed once it is set. It defaults to
+`infinity`.
+
+Hibernate
+---------
+
+Most tuples returned from handler callbacks can include an
+extra value `hibernate`. After doing any necessary operations
+following the return of the callback, Cowboy will hibernate
+the process.
+
+It is highly recommended to hibernate processes that do not
+handle much traffic. It is a good idea to hibernate all
+connections by default and investigate only when you start
+noticing increased CPU usage.
+
+Supporting older browsers
+-------------------------
+
+Unfortunately Websocket is a relatively recent technology,
+which means that not all browsers support it. A library like
+[Bullet](https://github.com/extend/bullet) can be used to
+emulate Websocket connections on older browsers.

guide/ws_protocol.md

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+The Websocket protocol
+======================
+
+This chapter explains what Websocket is and why it is
+a vital component of soft realtime Web applications.
+
+Description
+-----------
+
+Websocket is an extension to HTTP that emulates plain TCP
+connections between the client, typically a Web browser,
+and the server. It uses the HTTP Upgrade mechanism to
+establish the connection.
+
+Websocket connections are asynchronous, unlike HTTP. This
+means that not only can the client send frames to the server
+at any time, but the server can also send frames to the client
+without the client initiating anything other than the
+Websocket connection itself. This allows the server to push
+data to the client directly.
+
+Websocket is an IETF standard. Cowboy supports the standard
+and all drafts that were previously implemented by browsers,
+excluding the initial flawed draft sometimes known as
+"version 0".
+
+Implementation
+--------------
+
+Cowboy implements Websocket as a protocol upgrade. Once the
+upgrade is performed from the `init/3` callback, Cowboy
+switches to Websocket. Please consult the next chapter for
+more information on initiating and handling Websocket
+connections.
+
+The implementation of Websocket in Cowboy is validated using
+the Autobahn test suite, which is an extensive suite of tests
+covering all aspects of the protocol. Cowboy passes the
+suite with 100% success, including all optional tests.
+
+Cowboy's Websocket implementation also includes the
+x-webkit-deflate-frame compression draft which is being used
+by some browsers to reduce the size of data being transmitted.
+Cowboy will automatically use compression as long as the
+`compress` protocol option is set when starting the listener.