elm-haskell-stm

Running the Haskell back-end

($ character denotes the beginning of a prompt, it should not be included.)

Install Stack

$ curl -sSL https://get.haskellstack.org/ | sh

Consult the installation guide if you’re on Windows.

Install elm-haskell-stm

$ git clone https://github.com/emilyhorsman/elm-haskell-stm.git
$ cd elm-haskell-stm
$ stack setup
$ stack build

Run the elm-haskell-stm server

$ stack exec elm-haskell-stm-exe

Running the Elm front-end

$ elm-package install
$ elm-reactor

Development Standards

• All Haskell is run through stylish-haskell and hlint
• All Elm is run through elm-format

Architecture

Source code

• app/Main.hs is merely an entry point and has no application logic.
• src/Lib.hs contains the server Application, creates the central channel, and handles each WebSocket connection.
• src/HighScores.hs contains the application logic and handles the message channels.

Server boots up

• The server creates a new TChan for CentralMessages. This is called the central channel. There is one for the entire server.
• The server forks a thread that will run for the entire lifecycle. This thread holds the server state and reads from the central message channel. This is called the central thread.

New client

• A browser opens a WebSocket connection to the application.
• The web server forks a thread to handle this connection.
• Lib.wsApp is called and accepts the connection.
  • wsApp creates a new TChan for ClientMessages. This is a client channel. There is one per WebSocket connection.
  • wsApp forks two threads that will run for the lifecycle of this client.
  • One thread reads from the newly created channel.
  • One thread reads from the WebSocket connection.
  • wsApp writes a NewUser CentralMessage to the central channel. It writes a reference to the client channel and WebSocket connection with the message.
    • HighScores.processCentralChan running on the central thread reads the NewUser message.
    • The central thread adds the client channel to the server state.
    • The central thread writes an AssignUsername message to the client channel.
      • The client thread reads the AssignUsername message and writes to the WebSocket connection.
        • The Elm application receives a WSReceiveMessage message in its update function.
    • The central thread writes an AssignScore client message for each existing score to the current client channel.
      • The client thread reads the AssignScore message and writes to the WebSocket connection.
        • The Elm application receives a WSReceiveMessage message in its update function.
    • The central thread writes an AssignScore client message about the new user to all other client channels.
      • Each of the other client threads reads this AssignScore message and writes to their WebSocket connections.
        • The Elm applications each receive a WSReceiveMessage message in their update function.

User clicks shape

• The Elm application receives a Click message in its update function.
• The update function returns a Cmd to send the associated username across the WebSocket connection.
• The thread reading that connection writes an Event central message to the central channel.
• The central thread reads the Event message.
• The central thread updates the score and writes an AssignScore client message to all client channels.
  • Each client thread reads this AssignScore message and writes to their WebSocket connections.
    • The Elm applications each receive a WSReceiveMessage message in their update function.