Frontend Development: WebSocket vs. STOMP

Both WebSocket and STOMP are technologies used for real-time communication between a client and a server. While WebSocket is a protocol providing full-duplex communication channels over a single TCP connection, STOMP (Simple Text Oriented Messaging Protocol) is a simple text-based protocol that can be used with WebSocket to send asynchronous message from the server to the client.

WebSocket vs. STOMP

WebSocket

A WebSocket connection is established by upgrading from the HTTP protocol to the WebSocket Protocol during the handshake process.

Here's a simple WebSocket connection in JavaScript:

const socket = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:8080');

socket.onopen = () => {
  socket.send('Hello Server!');
};

socket.onmessage = (event) => {
  console.log(`Server: ${event.data}`);
};

This code creates a new WebSocket connection to the specified URL, sends a message to the server once the connection is established, and logs any messages received from the server.

STOMP

STOMP provides a message header format and message interoperability across different programming languages. It can be used over WebSocket to add some structure to the messages.

Here's an example of a STOMP client over WebSocket in JavaScript using the @stomp/stompjs library:

import { Client } from '@stomp/stompjs';

const client = new Client({
  brokerURL: 'ws://localhost:8080/stomp',
  onConnect: () => {
    client.subscribe('/topic/messages', (message) => {
      console.log(message.body);
    });

    client.publish({ destination: '/app/hello', body: 'Hello, Server!' });
  },
});
client.activate();

This code creates a STOMP client that connects to the server, subscribes to messages on a topic, and sends a message to the server.

Conclusion

WebSocket and STOMP are powerful technologies for real-time, bidirectional communication between client and server. WebSocket is versatile and can be used for any type of real-time application, while STOMP provides an added layer of protocol that can be useful in messaging applications where structured data is required. Your choice between WebSocket and STOMP will depend on the specific needs and constraints of your project.