Specific Client Messaging in Go with Gorilla Websocket

In the world of websocket communication, the ability to send messages to specific clients is crucial for building real-time applications. However, default websocket examples often demonstrate broadcasting messages to all connected clients simultaneously.

To address this, we can adopt an approach where each client is assigned a unique connection ID. This ID serves as an identifier for the client and enables targeted message delivery.

Solution Using Database and User ID Linking:

One way to achieve specific client messaging is to leverage a database or key-value store like Redis. When a user connects to the websocket server, generate a unique connection ID and store it in the database alongside the user's ID. This establishes a link between the connection ID and the user identity.

Selective Message Sending:

With the connection ID and user ID linked, the server can now selectively send messages to specific clients. For instance, if a user receives a notification or message, the server can retrieve the user's connection ID from the database and use it to target the appropriate client with the relevant message. This ensures that only the intended recipient receives the communication.

Implementation with Gorilla Websocket:

To implement this solution using Gorilla Websocket in Go, you can modify the existing chat hub structure to include a field for the user ID within each connection. When a new client connects, generate a unique connection ID and associate it with the user ID. Then, add a method to the hub that allows sending private messages to a specific client based on their user ID.

This approach provides the necessary functionality for sending targeted messages to individual clients in a Go websocket application.