WebSockets for ECT WebAPI

Why do we consider WebSockets for WebAPI - GUI communication? Here are a few reasons:

• With WebSockets, the GUI is notified by any state changes, it doesn't need to poll for it using REST
• A highly responsive GUI requires numerous requests for polling state ** Progress changes from parallel tasks ** Data (workflow step) changes to multiple views
• This multiplies by number of users which we'll later have when using the WebAPI in the cloud

But: By using Cesium and/or OpenLayers for the GUI, we may still be forced to implement a local, RESTful tiled image service so we can display tiled image layers such as Web Map Tile Service and similar.

WebSockets Intro

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebSocket
• https://www.w3.org/TR/2011/WD-websockets-20110929/

WebSockets vs. REST

• Technology: https://www.pubnub.com/blog/2015-01-05-websockets-vs-rest-api-understanding-the-difference/
• Performance: http://blog.arungupta.me/rest-vs-websocket-comparison-benchmarks/
• Performance: http://www.gamesparks.com/blog/why-the-rest-dont-use-websockets/

Getting Started

• https://www.tutorialspoint.com/html5/html5_websocket.htm
• https://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/websockets/basics/