I am redeveloping an application with the aim of going along with the more modern techniques. That is how I came across Socket.io, which I integrated with express.js.
I implemented live searching with datatables using socket.io for the filtering & fetching part. Users then can click on individual records and go to a page where they can perform CRUD-operations on these data.
I'm still not sure about how I'm going to implement authentication. What are the pros and cons of using WebSockets vs HTTP for authentication?
Socket.io provides a feature falling back to HTTP if a browser doesn't support WebSockets. So I still do have to implement authentication with HTTP headers/cookies etc. to garantee that all users can use this application, if I am right?
Can WebSockets serve all the needs of an application like I described above and therefore fully replace AJAX calls when my webpage has already opened?
I often see that sockets are used when there is a need for real-time updates, like in a chat app. But does this protocol also fit for RESTful operations in not chat-like apps?
I have two options:
Implement authentication with HTTP and then when a user is authenticated WebSockets are open for communication.
Implement authentication with WebSockets.
The first option is mixing two protocols in one application and that is something express.js provides. But is this a good approach?
Thanks in advance,
Mike
