HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
Multiplayer Applications with ElectroServer 5
Because Flash has built-in support for communication via sockets, its applications have had
the ability to open socket communications with server-side applications for many years.
HTML (until Web Sockets), on the other hand, has never had the ability to reliably commu-
nicate to a socket server without performing some sleight of hand, usually involving constant
polling by the web browser for new information from the web server.
ElectroServer from Electrotank was one of the first reliable socket-server applications built
to communicate with Flash clients. Over the past couple years, ElectroServer has been up-
datedwithAPIsforiOS,C#,C++,andnowJavaScript.ThisfirstiterationoftheElectroServer
JavaScriptAPIdoesnotuseWebSocketsbutinsteadimplementsJavaScriptpolling.However,
with the availability of ElectroServer's simplified JavaScript API, you can still start to write
multiplayer applications using HTML5 Canvas.
NOTE
While this portion of the chapter is specific to ElectroServer, many of the multiplayer/multiuser con-
cepts are applicable to other technologies as well.
