Have you built a chat tool on Bubble and how was the performance?

Need help
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Hi all.

A question for those who may have experimented with building a chat tool on Bubble. What I am interested in is if you have and how was the performance?

Before I embark on building an chat tool I would like to know if anyone has had a good or bad experience with real-time/ synchronous performance when implementing a group chat on Bubble?

Many thanks!

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Variably laggy - wait up to 5 mins at times if relying on a Bubble database field to be updated on the other client.

Better options are websocket from an external server direct to javascript, or a third party hosted solution.

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Thanks, had a feeling that might be tha case.

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On the websocket note, is it possible to integrate a websocket feed to Bubble? i.e. live charting. @mishav

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@gregjohnkeegan Yes I’ve done an ugly prototype. One catch, the server side is not Bubble, but can use Bubble’s API Connector and API workflow endpoints to communicate from the Bubble server.

For live charting, it might work by sending a signal via websocket, so the page knows when to retrieve the fresh data via database (workflow set RG data source, or some other method to override cache). Or just send the data via websocket.

Edit - live charting is more suited to SSE Server Side events than websockets. I’m assuming you mean charting using a Bubble source … external sources usually offer a javascript sdk.

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@mishav I would want to be able to pull in financial data using websocket feeds without saving to Bubble.

Here is an example of an exchange orderbook - https://github.com/binance-exchange/binance-official-api-docs/blob/master/web-socket-streams.md

The orders update in real time - would love to be able to generate my own unique view of this data. I’ve actually done it already with GET requests but it’s only useful if it can update via websocket and not via refresh.

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For real-time chat I am looking at pubnub.com they seem to have an extensive API and reasonably priced too.

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That’s kind of straightforward, not having to host the server, and the stream protocol is already defined.

PM me if you want to take this further than a thought experiment : )

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Hmmm not sure what all this has to do with my original question :thinking: but hey, glad I provided a forum for @gregjohnkeegan and @mishav to have a chat.

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Lol sorry for hijacking. Websocket talk gets me excited.

Pubnub looks pretty amazing, have you started to play with it yet?

I’m using the bubble database for a chat application on a Dedicated server and there isn’t much lag. It’s doable in my situation.

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Ha, on that note, I have a larger enterprise app which was built for me and uses Tornado websocket and has never missed a beat in the 3 years I have been using it.

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Interesting. What kind of data are you streaming?

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It basically keeping the connection open between multiple groups (client browsers) and sending metrics such as live survey results, chat, activity (who is doing what and when) actions (such as being able to activate certain things in the client browser). It’s fairly complex in its requirements.

But I suspect this is the kind of thing you are after: https://medium.com/@benjaminmbrown/real-time-data-visualization-with-d3-crossfilter-and-websockets-in-python-tutorial-dba5255e7f0e

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We’ve seen pubnub used in many/most video conferencing solutions because these solutions also need a real-time signaling layer (same as chat), so likely a good solution for real-time chat as well.

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Thanks @sridharan.s appreciate the info!

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Steven, Is a pluginn available for this ? Ready for integration into bubble ? How’s your experience with the Free plan ? Thanks.

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Hi @Prashant, no plugin unfortunately, but it maybe possible to use the API. Still trying to work that out.

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Any Progress on this Steven?

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Yes would love to know how, it seemes that building a chat with bubble database it a no-no

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How can i use that Tools