How to send a ping every x seconds?

[chrispri]

I use the gardena websocket (smart API) which closes the connection every 200 seconds even I send no ping message.
How can I get this work?

[sirn-se]

Second parameter in send() is opcode. When sending ping, the text message doesn't matter.

$client->send('Ping message', 'ping');

[chrispri]

Second parameter in send() is opcode. When sending ping, the text message doesn't matter.

$client->send('Ping message', 'ping');

Thanks for answer.
But this isn´t possible when I am receiving data without async? Am I wrong?

[sirn-se]

Correct, the receive() operation is blocking. So if you are waiting for input but the server doesn't write anything for 200 seconds the connection will close.

[chrispri]

Thats bad.
Do you have any ideas how i can get this work?

Here is the manual of Gardena/Husquvarna: https://developer.husqvarnagroup.cloud/apis/GARDENA+smart+system+API#/readme

And thats the text part which makes problems:
Make a WebSocket connection using the obtained URL. Since the WebSocket is closed automatically after 300 seconds of inactivity, we recommend sending ping messages every 150 seconds to keep the connection open.

[sirn-se]

Only thing to do is to expect socket to close and have it re-connect. As that API allows http-requests as well it should not be a problem.

I will consider this use case for further development, though.

[apeman76]

What about this:

	$client = new WebSocket\Client("wss://URL", [
		'timeout' => 5
	]);
	$lastSend = round(microtime(true) * 1000);
	while (true) {
		try {
			$time = round(microtime(true) * 1000);
			if ($time > $lastSend + 4.9 * 1000) {
				$lastSend = round(microtime(true) * 1000);
				$client->send('ping', 'ping');
			}
			$data = $client->receive();
			if ($data) {
				print_r($data);
			}
		} catch (\WebSocket\ConnectionException $e) {
			print_r($e);
		}
	}
	$client->close();```

[chrispri]

@mrsnut
I tried a similar code but this can't work because the server doesn't send data the most time.
So the while loop stops at "$data = $client->receive();" until the timeout closes the connection.

[marcroberts]

I've just opened a PR that helps with this - #140

[ADzaka]

I found an easier method. When you set up the client, set a timeout for the connection (one of the options parameters), like this:
$client = new \WebSocket\Client(getenv('WS_REALTIME_URL_SPOT'), ['timeout' => 20]);

After that, in the catch where all the websocket errors are caught, you will get a timeout after not receiving data, every 20 seconds. Use this timeout to send a heartbeat.

} catch (\WebSocket\ConnectionException $e) {
        $dateStartPlusOneMinute = Carbon::now()->addSeconds(70);
        if ($e->getMessage() == "Client read timeout") {
               $client->text('{"op":"ping"}');
        } else {
               Log::info("Foutmelding: ".$e->getMessage());
        }
}