sdslabs/hackview

webRTC based multi-person video chat with a collaborative editor.

HackView - Y! HackU IIT-Delhi 2012 Winning Entry

Our winning entry for Y! HackU involves a multi-person video chat using webRTC to create a Peer-To-Peer video hangout, which works faster than any other video chat provider. It is ideal for people chatting on the same network (such as corporate & university networks).

#References:

##Technologies Used

• WebRTC
• Collaborative Editing
• Websockets for fast server-client communication
• node.js for powering the backend
• expressJS for fast, easy webserver in node
• Responsive Design

##Libraries Used

• WebRTC.io for supporting webRTC protocol
• ShareJS

##Similar Stuff

• Google Hangouts
• Meetings.io (Uses flash)

#Notes

Since this was developed over a 24 hour hackathon, the code is messy in places. The design is responsive, and should work on most devices (including mobile/tablets). It should degrade to a doc editor + chat for devices without webRTC support (which is just Chrome>=21, Firefox>=17, Opera>=12 at present). The following is the feature set we require for various features:

1. Document Editor: Should work everywhere as it is powered by shareJS which uses BrowserChannel
2. Video Chat: Should work on devices with getUserMedia support
3. Normal Text Chat: It is powered by webRTC.socket, which uses WebSockets internally. I could not get BrowserChannel to work in a separate channel (from shareJS), but that was my first choice. I tried to shift to socket.io, but it caused issues by conflicting with webRTC.socket, so I just used that. This means chat only works in browsers with websocket support

hackview's Issues

text collaboration issues

Not sure if you’re still working on this (I hope so for sure :) but just to let you know, we used Hack View to take some notes for our upcoming unhosted unconference in Unhost (Czech Republic):
http://2012.unhosted.org

You might know it, but text collaboration has some issues when you insert new lines. The line which is edited below gets jumbled in some way. I wonder if that is a known issue or if it should work much like Etherpad.

Thanks for the great app!

Errors When I choose my nick or my nick@room

Hi,

I install hackview, without problems.
It starts ok, but when i choose my nick it show in browser an error:

I choose alangustavo as my nick and in browser i receive this:

TypeError: Arguments to path.join must be strings
    at path.js:360:15
    at Array.filter (native)
    at exports.join (path.js:358:36)
    at exports.send (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/static.js:129:20)
    at ServerResponse.res.sendfile (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/response.js:186:3)
    at app.get.req.session.nick (/root/hacview/hackview/server.js:66:9)
    at callbacks (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:272:11)
    at param (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:246:11)
    at param (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:243:11)
    at pass (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:253:5)
    at Router._dispatch (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:280:5)
    at Object.Router.middleware [as handle] (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:45:10)
    at next (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/http.js:204:15)
    at next (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/session.js:322:9)
    at /root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/session.js:341:9
    at /root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/session/memory.js:52:9
    at process._tickCallback (node.js:419:13)

and in my console...

App running on port : 8000
GET /join?nickname=alangustavo 302 10ms
TypeError: Arguments to path.join must be strings
    at path.js:360:15
    at Array.filter (native)
    at exports.join (path.js:358:36)
    at exports.send (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/static.js:129:20)
    at ServerResponse.res.sendfile (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/response.js:186:3)
    at app.get.req.session.nick (/root/hacview/hackview/server.js:66:9)
    at callbacks (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:272:11)
    at param (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:246:11)
    at param (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:243:11)
    at pass (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:253:5)
    at Router._dispatch (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:280:5)
    at Object.Router.middleware [as handle] (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:45:10)
    at next (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/http.js:204:15)
    at next (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/session.js:322:9)
    at /root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/session.js:341:9
    at /root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/session/memory.js:52:9
    at process._tickCallback (node.js:419:13)
GET /room/UgKsPUOC 500 10ms

The same thing occours when i choose alangustavo@salateste

App running on port : 8000
GET / 304 4ms
GET /nivo-slider/themes/default/default.css 304 2ms
GET /nivo-slider/nivo-slider.css 304 4ms
GET /bootstrap.css 304 1ms
GET /nivo-slider/style.css 304 3ms
GET /android.css 304 2ms
GET /nivo-slider/jquery.nivo.slider.js 304 1ms
GET /jquery.js 304 1ms
GET /nivo-slider/images/1.jpg 304 0ms
GET /nivo-slider/images/2.jpg 304 0ms
GET /nivo-slider/images/3.jpg 304 1ms
GET / 304 0ms
GET /join?nickname=alangustavo%40salateste 302 5ms
TypeError: Arguments to path.join must be strings
    at path.js:360:15
    at Array.filter (native)
    at exports.join (path.js:358:36)
    at exports.send (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/static.js:129:20)
    at ServerResponse.res.sendfile (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/response.js:186:3)
    at app.get.req.session.nick (/root/hacview/hackview/server.js:66:9)
    at callbacks (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:272:11)
    at param (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:246:11)
    at param (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:243:11)
    at pass (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:253:5)
    at Router._dispatch (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:280:5)
    at Object.Router.middleware [as handle] (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:45:10)
    at next (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/http.js:204:15)
    at next (/root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/session.js:322:9)
    at /root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/session.js:341:9
    at /root/hacview/hackview/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/session/memory.js:52:9
    at process._tickCallback (node.js:419:13)
GET /room/salateste 500 6ms