RTCDataChannel : EventTarget

Allows sending arbitrary data over a WebRTC connection. Created using RTCPeerConnection.createDataChannel().

Although WebRTC is a peer to peer protocol, the peers need some information about each other before they can communicate. Typically this is done with a Signaling Server, but any mechanism to transfer data can be used. The following demonstrates setting up the peer connection using the clipboard (via copy/paste) to transfer the connection data.

Offerer

This example demonstrates the peer that creates the offer.

Example:

<button id="copy" disabled>Copy Offer/Candidates to Clipboard</button><br>
<input id="paste" placeholder="Paste Answer/Candidates here" disabled>
<script>
  const peerConnection = new RTCPeerConnection({ iceServers: [ { urls: 'stun:stun.l.google.com:19302' } ] });
  const dataChannel = peerConnection.createDataChannel('mydatachannel');

  dataChannel.onopen = () => {
    console.log('dataChannel opened, sending message');
    dataChannel.send('message from offerer');
  };

  dataChannel.onmessage = e => {
    console.log('received:', e.data);
  };

  dataChannel.onerror = e => {
    console.log('error:', e);
  };

  dataChannel.onclose = () => {
    console.log('dataChannel closed');
  };

  // Save a list of ice candidates to send to the peer
  const iceCandidates = [];
  peerConnection.onicecandidate = e => {
    if (e.candidate) {
      iceCandidates.push(e.candidate);
    }
  };

  (async () => {
    const copyButton = document.getElementById('copy');

    peerConnection.onicegatheringstatechange = () => {
      if (peerConnection.iceGatheringState === 'complete') {
        copyButton.disabled = false;
        console.log('Offer ready, click copy button.');
      }
    };

    const offer = await peerConnection.createOffer();
    await peerConnection.setLocalDescription(offer);

    const pasteInput = document.getElementById('paste');

    copyButton.onclick = () => {
      navigator.clipboard.writeText(JSON.stringify({ offer, iceCandidates }));
      console.log('Offer copied/candidates. Paste in Answerer example.');

      pasteInput.disabled = false;
    };

    pasteInput.onpaste = async (e) => {
      const { answer, iceCandidates } = JSON.parse(e.clipboardData.getData('text/plain'));
      await peerConnection.setRemoteDescription(answer);
      iceCandidates.forEach(c => peerConnection.addIceCandidate(c));
    };
  })();
</script>

Run

Results:

Answerer

This example demonstrates the peer that receives the offer and creates the answer.

Example:

<input id="paste" placeholder="Paste Offer/Candidates here"><br>
<button id="copy" disabled>Copy Answer/Candidates to Clipboard</button><br>
<script>
  const peerConnection = new RTCPeerConnection({ iceServers: [ { urls: 'stun:stun.l.google.com:19302' } ] });

  peerConnection.ondatachannel = e => {
    const dataChannel = e.channel;

    dataChannel.onopen = () => {
      console.log(`dataChannel '${dataChannel.label}' opened, sending message`);
      dataChannel.send('message from answerer');
    };

    dataChannel.onmessage = e => {
      console.log('received:', e.data);
    };

    dataChannel.onerror = e => {
      console.log('error:', e);
    };

    dataChannel.onclose = () => {
      console.log('dataChannel closed');
    };
  };

 
  // Save a list of ice candidates to send to the peer
  const iceCandidates = [];
  peerConnection.onicecandidate = e => {
    if (e.candidate) {
      iceCandidates.push(e.candidate);
    }
  };

  const copyButton = document.getElementById('copy');
   
  document.getElementById('paste').onpaste = async (e) => {
    const { offer, iceCandidates } = JSON.parse(e.clipboardData.getData('text/plain'));

    peerConnection.onicegatheringstatechange = () => {
      if (peerConnection.iceGatheringState === 'complete') {
        copyButton.disabled = false;
        console.log('Answer ready, click copy button.');
      }
    };

    await peerConnection.setRemoteDescription(offer);
    const answer = await peerConnection.createAnswer();
    await peerConnection.setLocalDescription(answer);

    copyButton.onclick = () => {
      navigator.clipboard.writeText(JSON.stringify({ answer, iceCandidates }));
      console.log('Copied answer/candidates. Paste in Offerer example.');
    };

    iceCandidates.forEach(c => peerConnection.addIceCandidate(c));
  };
</script>

Run

Results:

Spec

Instance Properties

binaryType : String

bufferedAmount : Number readonly

bufferedAmountLowThreshold : Number

id : Number readonly

label : String readonly

maxPacketLifeTime : Number readonly

maxRetransmits : Number readonly

negotiated : Boolean readonly

ordered : Boolean readonly

protocol : String readonly

readyState : String readonly

One of 'connecting', 'open', 'closing', or 'closed'.

Instance Methods

close() : undefined

send 4 variants

send(data : String) : undefined

send(data : Blob) : undefined

send(data : ArrayBuffer) : undefined

send(data : ArrayBufferView) : undefined

Instance Events

onbufferedamountlow / 'bufferedamountlow' event

listener(event : Event) : undefined

onclose / 'close' event

listener(event : Event) : undefined

onclosing / 'closing' event

listener(event : Event) : undefined

onerror / 'error' event

listener(event : RTCErrorEvent) : undefined

onmessage / 'message' event

listener(event : MessageEvent) : undefined

onopen / 'open' event

listener(event : Event) : undefined

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