Question

I know that I can use

function(req, res) {
    req.session
}

using express. However I need to access the session outside of the response function. How would I go about doing that?

I’m using socket.io to pass information for adding posts and comments. So when I receive the socket.io message on the server-side, I need to verify the person posting the information by using the session. However since this is being done via socket.io there is no req/res.

Answer 1

Using socket.io, I’ve done this in a simple way. I assume you have an object for your application let’s say MrBojangle, for mine it’s called Shished:

/**
 * Shished singleton. 
 *
 * @api public
 */
function Shished() {
};


Shished.prototype.getHandshakeValue = function( socket, key, handshake ) {                          
    if( !handshake ) {
        handshake = socket.manager.handshaken[ socket.id ];                                         
    }
    return handshake.shished[ key ];                                                                
};                                                                                                  

Shished.prototype.setHandshakeValue = function( socket, key, value, handshake ) {                   
    if( !handshake ) {
        handshake = socket.manager.handshaken[ socket.id ];                                         
    }
    if( !handshake.shished ) {
        handshake.shished = {};                                                                     
    }
    handshake.shished[ key ] = value;                                                               
};

Then on your authorization method, I’m using MongoDB for session storage:

io.set('authorization', function(handshake, callback) {
    self.setHandshakeValue( null, 'userId', null, handshake );
    if (handshake.headers.cookie) {
        var cookie = connect.utils.parseCookie(handshake.headers.cookie);
        self.mongoStore()
        .getStore()
        .get(cookie['connect.sid'], function(err, session) {
            if(!err && session && session.auth && session.auth.loggedIn ) {
                self.setHandshakeValue( null,
                            'userId',
                            session.auth.userId,
                            handshake );
            }
        });
    }

Then before saving a record in the model, you can do:

model._author = shished.getHandshakeValue( socket, 'userId' );