How can I get (Express's) sessionID for a websocket connection

Question

I\'m using WebSockets npm install ws on the same port as Express is running.

I\'d like to pick up the associated \'sessionID\' from the HTTP connection

Answer 1

1. Parse cookie
2. Get session id

3. Get session data

   var express = require('express');
   var parseCookie = express.cookieParser();
   var MemoryStore = express.session.MemoryStore;
   
   var store = new MemoryStore();
   
   app.configure(function() {
       app.use(express.session({ store: store, secret: '123456', key: 'sid' }));
   });
   
   wss.on('connection', function(ws) {
       parseCookie(ws.upgradeReq, null, function(err) {
           var sessionID = ws.upgradeReq.cookies['sid'];
           store.get(sessionID, function(err, session) {
               // session
           });
       }); 
   
       ws.on('message', function(message) {
           console.log('received: %s', message);
       });
       ws.send('something');
   });
   

Answer 2

This was a nightmare, finally got it working for myself using signed cookies!

Set up your store (example memory store):

var MemoryStore = express.session.MemoryStore;
store = new MemoryStore();

Expose parseCookie as global (if you need it in other modules) like this in app / server js files:

app.use(parseCookie = express.cookieParser('secret'));

Now set up sockets:

//this method gets called later
var ensureAuthenticatedSocket = function(handshake, callback) {
    cookie = cookieParser(handshake, null, function(err) {
        var sessionID = handshake.signedCookies['sid'];
        store.get(sessionID, function(err, session) {
            callback(err, session);
        });
    });
};
//listen time
io = io.listen(server);
//configure authentication
io.configure(function() {
    io.set('authorization', function(handshake, callback) {
        //call the method with handshake as parameter, wait for callback
        ensureAuthenticatedSocket(handshake, function(err, session) {
            if (!err && session) {
                //no error + found session = wicked!
                callback(null, true);
            } else {
                callback(null, false);
            }
        });
    });
});
...
//more socket code