WebRTC Video Chat Plugin for ChatEngine

Adds the ability to do WebRTC audio/video with ChatEngine using direct events for signaling

Quick Start

0. Have a ChatEngine server running already, instantiate a client and connect it

const ChatEngine = ChatEngineCore.create({
    publishKey: 'pub-key-here',
    subscribeKey: 'sub-key-here'
});

ChatEngine.connect('Username');
ChatEngine.on('$.ready', (data) => {
    // Set up ChatEngine and WebRTC config options
    // ...
    const webRTC = ChatEngineCore.plugin['chat-engine-webrtc'];
    ChatEngine.me.plugin(webRTC(config));
});

1. Set WebRTC configuration and event handlers for WebRTC related events

const rtcConfig = {
    iceServers: [] // See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/RTCConfiguration#Example
};

let localStream;
getLocalStream().then((myStream) => { localStream = myStream; }

const onPeerStream = (webRTCTrackEvent) => {
    // Set media stream to HTML video node
};

const onIncomingCall = (user, callResponseCallback) => {
    // Give user a chance to accept/reject
    const acceptedCall = true; // true to accept a call
    callResponseCallback({ acceptedCall });
};

const onCallResponse = (acceptedCall) => {
    if (acceptedCall) {
        // Show video UI, ect.
    }
};

const onDisconnect = () => {
    // Hide your video UI, ect.
};

2. Set configuration and attach this plugin to the Me object.

const config = {
    rtcConfig,             // An RTCConfiguration dictionary from the browser WebRTC API
    ignoreNonTurn: false,  // Only accept TURN candidates when this is true
    myStream: localStream, // Local MediaStream object from the browser Media Streams API
    onPeerStream,          // Event Handler
    onIncomingCall,        // Event Handler
    onCallResponse,        // Event Handler
    onDisconnect           // Event Handler
};

const webRTC = ChatEngineCore.plugin['chat-engine-webrtc'];
ChatEngine.me.plugin(webRTC(config));

3. Send a call request to another user

const userToCall = aChatEngineUserObject;
ChatEngine.me.webRTC.callUser(userToCall, {
    // 2nd chance to set configuration options (see object in step 2)
});

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the WebRTC Plugin

What is WebRTC?

WebRTC is a free and open source project that enables web browsers and mobile devices to provide a simple real-time communication API. Please read this PubNub blog to learn more about WebRTC and how to implement the code in this repository.

What is ChatEngine?

PubNub ChatEngine is an object oriented event emitter based framework for building chat applications in Javascript. For more information on ChatEngine, and what its plugins are for, go to the PubNub website.

What is PubNub? Why is PubNub relevant to WebRTC?

PubNub is a global Data Stream Network (DSN) and realtime network-as-a-service. PubNub's primary product is a realtime publish/subscribe messaging API built on a global data stream network which is made up of a replicated network with multiple points of presence around the world.

PubNub is a low cost, easy to use, infrastructure API that can be implemented rapidly as a WebRTC signaling service. The signaling service is responsible for delivering messages to WebRTC peer clients. See the next question for the specific signals that PubNub's publish/subscribe API handles.

Does ChatEngine stream audio or video data?

No. ChatEngine pairs very well with WebRTC as a signaling service. This means that PubNub signals events from client to client using the ChatEngine #direct events. These events include:

• I, User A, would like to call you, User B
• User A is currently trying to call you, User B
• I, User B, accept your call User A
• I, User B, reject your call User A
• I, User B, would like to end our call User A
• I, User A, would like to end our call User B
• Text instant messaging like in Slack, Google Hangouts, Skype, Facebook Messenger, etc.

Is this repository's plugin officially part of ChatEngine?

No. It is an open source project that is community supported. If you want to report a bug, do so on the GitHub Issues page.

Can I make a group call with more than 2 participants?

Group calling is possible to develop with WebRTC and ChatEngine, however, the current ChatEngine WebRTC plugin can connect only 2 users in a private call. The community may develop this feature in the future but there are no plans for development to date.

I found a bug in the plugin. Where do I report it?

The ChatEngine WebRTC plugin is an open source, community supported project. This means that the best place to report bugs is on the GitHub Issues page in for the code repository. The community will tackle the bug fix at will, so there is no guarantee that a fix will be made. If you wish to provide a code fix, fork the GitHub repository to your GitHub account, push fixes, and make a pull request (process documented on GitHub).