Remove objects on disconnect socket.io

I’m using Nodejs and Socket.io. When the client connects, new JavaScript objects are created.

Do these objects just linger forever? Should they be deleted or removed when the client disconnects? Is it even possible to remove an object? I know delete won’t work…

Thanks – I guess this is more of a general question and any suggestions would be really helpful.

Thanks!

Answer

If you don’t cleanup, then yes, they will stay there forever since I assume you are making them global.

You should cleanup once a user disconnects by binding to the disconnect event listener:

var clients = {}
sockets.on('connection', function(socket) {
  clients[socket.id] = socket;

  socket.on('disconnect', function() {
    delete clients[socket.id];
  });
});