socket.io.js not found

Question

For some reason my node server cannot serve the route /socket.io/socket.io.js, I always get a 404 error.
I tried compiling different node versions (current is 0.6.13 which also runs on server, where it actually works).
From the app.js I get info: socket.io started and no error when trying to call the socket.io.js.

I try it from localhost and port 8000 and I use the express framework

This is the code from app.js:

var express = require('express')
  , app = require('express').createServer()
  , io = require('socket.io').listen(app, { log: true });

app.listen(8000);

app.configure(function() {
    app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
    app.use(express.errorHandler({ dumpExceptions: true, showStack: true }));
});

io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
   // all other stuff here

Solution 1

Please check your Express version. Express recently is updated to 3.0alpha which API was changed. If 3.0 you can change your code to something likes this:

var express = require('express')
  , http = require('http');

var app = express();
var server = http.createServer(app);
var io = require('socket.io').listen(server);

...

server.listen(8000);

Same issue with connect: https://github.com/senchalabs/connect/issues/500#issuecomment-4620773

Solution 2

Using with the Express 3 web framework: (from socket.io)

> Express 3 requires that you instantiate a http.Server to attach socket.io to first:

meaning - (1) you must create a server instance:

var app = express();
var http = require('http').createServer(app);

(2) couple it with the socket.io:

var io = require('socket.io');
io.listen(http);

and ONLY THEN - (3) make the server listen:

http.listen(8080);

make sure you keep this order!

Solution 3

After installing node 0.8.1 I had the same problem. I just deleted the node_modules map in my project folder and reinstalled express/socket.io. After that it worked fine again with the code in your question.

Comments

[freakish]

Show us your code (socket.io initialization and framework initialization if you are using one).

[dan-lee]

I added the node_modules to my NODE_PATH but it still doesn't work. Too bad, it really raised my hopes. But strangely enough, when installing something via npm it says: Checking for node path: not found. But when echoing $NODE_PATH I get /usr/local/lib/node:/usr/local/lib/node_modules. I am really confused at this point.

[dan-lee]

Ok that sounds very close, I replaced it with your code and now I get this error when I try to start the server: Cannot call method 'on' of undefined. This corresponds to following code piece: io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {. This is just plain weird. I feel so lost.

[dan-lee]

btw I forgot to add that I actually have express 3.0alpha installed

[nguyenkha]

Sorry, I write wrong code of socket.io. I updated it, please change your code again.

[dan-lee]

Great that was it! Thank you very much! :)

[nguyenkha]

No problem, it has just happened to me half a day ago :)

[Diogo Gomes]

For future reference don't forget to change app.listen() to server.listen() if you are using example snippets.

[pedalpete]

I had tried probably 15 or 20 different variations of very similar code. This is the one that worked for me. Thanks!

[mineroot]

It was very useful for me. Thanks a lot!

[Admin]

This solution is viable with Docker too. Check this post for an live example.