How can I exchange binary data between Node.js WebSocket server and C# client?

Question

I have Node.js WebSocket server and Unity client with Best HTTP asset. I used to transfer JSON data, but parsing cost too much CPU resources. Now, i try to send byte[] message from C# as follows:

//sending sample array - new float[] { 1.32, 3.12 }
//convert an object to a byte array
private byte[] ObjectToByteArray(Object obj)
{
    if(obj == null)
       return null;

    BinaryFormatter bf = new BinaryFormatter();
    MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
    bf.Serialize(ms, obj);

    return ms.ToArray(); 
}

But server received Uint8Array [1, 3] and fractional part is lost.

var wss = new WebSocket.Server({ port: 8080 });
wss.binaryType = "arraybuffer";
wss.on('connection', function connection(ws) {
    ws.on('message', function (message) {
    });
});

Main question: How to right parse arrays (especially nested arrays) in binary format and encode to array after?

areller · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-11 21:45:49Z

1

Normal binary serialization can be a bottleneck for Web API's If your objects are well defined and can be modeled into classes, i recommend you use Protobuf.

The great thing is that it's cross platform and you can use the same definition both for your NodeJS server and C# client.

answered Apr 11, 2017 at 21:45

areller

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Gntem · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-11 21:20:56Z

0

You can try binary json BSON http://bsonspec.org/implementations.html

or MSGPACK http://msgpack.org/index.html

both libraries offer implementation in various languages and are well tested.

answered Apr 11, 2017 at 21:20

Gntem

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3 Comments

Michael Kors Over a year ago

I read about BSON parser in Node.js, it works much slower than JSON. I need to reduce CPU load on server side when encoding/decoding transfer data - its main target.

Gntem Over a year ago

how come something that was written to be faster in parsing/writing than json is actually slower from your point of view ? if the data you exchange back and forth is large or is nested then might be the issue.

Michael Kors Over a year ago

JSON de/encoding is probably implemented there in native code in optimized fashion directly in the JS VM. Yeap, i pass few nested arrays

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