Elixir/Phoenix chunked response example

The repository is HTTP chunked transfer encoding example for Elixir/Phoenix. a.k.a HTTP stream response or EventSource.

How to Run

mix deps.get
npm install
./node_modules/brunch/bin/brunch b -p
mix phoenix.server

Open http://localhost:4000, and push START button. Then, send start.sh results to client with HTTP chunked response.

How to send chunked response

1. Dependent libraries

• mix.exs :

def application do
  […,
   applications: […, :porcelain]]
end
defp deps do
  [
    …,
    {:porcelain, "~> 2.0"}
  ]
end

Porcelain library is for execute shell-script.

• package.json :

"dependencies": {
  …,
  "stream-http": "~2.4.0"
},

stream-http library is for client of chunked response.

2. Server code

• web/controller/page_controller.ex

def start(conn, _params) do
  # set-up chunked response
  conn = conn
  |> put_resp_content_type("text/event-stream")
  |> send_chunked(200)
  # send chunk data
  conn |> chunk("a")
  conn |> chunk("b")
  conn |> chunk("c")
end

3. Client code

• web/static/js/app.js

import "stream-http"

Add client library.

• web/templates/page/index.html

var http = require('stream-http')
var req = http.request(options, (res) => {
  res.setEncoding('utf8');
  res.on('data', (chunk) => {
    // Received chunked-response.
    // Add output text.
    document.getElementById('chunked-output').textContent = document.getElementById('chunked-output').textContent + chunk;
  });
  res.on('end', () => {
    // Received all data.
  });
});
req.write(postData);
req.end();

Note

If you use Nginx, you should add proxy_buffering off;. Nginx cache server response, cause client receive all response at on time.

References

• Protocols - Plug.Conn