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I have a working WebRTC JavaScript application. Here is the problem: if during a web call there is a bad network connection, the call is stopped without WebRTC attempting to reconnect.

I would like to improve the code of my application by adding an automatic reconnection attempt system, however, in order to do so I need to understand some theory about WebRTC (and I think this can be very useful for many other developers).

Here are my questions:

  1. Does WebRTC have a native functionality to attempt reconnection if the network is bad or should I listen for some "disconnection tigger" and call "a function" to start a new connection from zero?

  2. If things cannot be done magically, what is/are the right "disconnection tigger/s" and "the function" from which the reconnection attempt process should restart? Is there something that can (or should) be taken from the previous connection?

  3. I have read about an {iceRestart: true} parameter. Should this be used for the first call (then WebRTC will magically handle disconnection by attempting to reconnect) or should I use it ONLY when my code attempts to reconnect (on the 2nd, 3rd times...)?

  4. What is the difference between connectionState "disconnected", "failed" and "closed" and does it have something to do with attempting to reconnect with bad network?

  5. What is the best way to avoid attempting to reconnect in an infinite loop if there is no hope to reconnect (i.e: internet completely down)?

  6. What is the difference between oniceconnectionstatechange and onconnectionstatechange? which is relevant in my case?

Thanks!

Luca

Luca Pennisi
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  • Actually a quick google on "webrtc reconnection" will bring you to your answer. In stack overflow, questions are usually supported by codes, where we can provide you with debugging your errors ( error stack, stack overflow... gotcha ) – Someone Special Mar 02 '22 at 11:15
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    Answer to your point 6 can also be found in google search rank 1 (stack overflow answer) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/64613423/webrtc-what-is-the-difference-between-oniceconnectionchange-and-onconnectioncha – Someone Special Mar 02 '22 at 11:18
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    I hope the above helps, looking forward to your example codes so we can provide you with better advice! – Someone Special Mar 02 '22 at 11:19
  • @someone special: Search done. Information about that very unclear and messed up. Hopefully this post will rank in page 1 of Google thanks to stack overflow. IMHO – Luca Pennisi Mar 02 '22 at 11:19
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    https://www.npmjs.com/package/reconnecting-simple-peer may not be what you need, but quick look on the source will show you how to identify disconnection, and how to start a new connection – Someone Special Mar 02 '22 at 11:22

1 Answers1

2

I was able to find the (JavaScript) solution through experimenting...

1) Does WebRTC have a native functionality to attempt reconnection if the network is bad or should I listen for some "disconnection tigger" and call "a function" to start a new connection from zero?

Yes, it does it by default in JavaScript, unless your code handles disconnection by proactively terminating the call through additional lines of instructions.

2) If things cannot be done magically, what is/are the right "disconnection tigger/s" and "the function" from which the reconnection attempt process should restart? Is there something that can (or should) be taken from the previous connection?

Things already happen under the hood (by magic). If the code terminates the call, it is probably because the disconnection trigger (ICE connection state = disconnected OR connection state = disconnected) triggers some additional code from the app you copy/pasted from somewhere.

3) I have read about an {iceRestart: true} parameter. Should this be used for the first call (then WebRTC will magically handle disconnection by attempting to reconnect) or should I use it ONLY when my code attempts to reconnect (on the 2nd, 3rd times...)?

Not useful in this scenario.

4) What is the difference between connectionState "disconnected", "failed" and "closed" and does it have something to do with attempting to reconnect with bad network?

You have to listen for connectionState = disconnected, the other ones don't matter for this purpose.

5) What is the best way to avoid attempting to reconnect in an infinite loop if there is no hope to reconnect (i.e: internet completely down)?

No problem, the reconnection WebRTC handles automatically will not cost anything in terms of signaling, therefore, you can try to reconnect as many times as you want, the user will eventually exit the call on his own if things are too slow.

6) What is the difference between oniceconnectionstatechange and onconnectionstatechange? which is relevant in my case?

No difference in this case, the only difference is that the ice state change is triggered right before the connection state change.

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I hope this will be helpful to somebody!

Luca Pennisi
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