# Sails.JS's publish method doesn't work in a controller, but works in the console

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/sails-jss-publish-method-doesnt-work-in-a-controller-but-works-in-the-console/648023>\
**Category:** programming\
**Created:** [June 23, 2021, 6:29am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/sails-jss-publish-method-doesnt-work-in-a-controller-but-works-in-the-console/648023 "2021-06-23T06:29:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jacob\_Hays](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/jacob_hays/32/14769_2.png) [@Jacob\_Hays](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Jacob_Hays)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 6:29am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/sails-jss-publish-method-doesnt-work-in-a-controller-but-works-in-the-console/648023/1 "2021-06-23T06:29:01Z")

</div>

Currently, I’m exploring web development to see what all the hype is about. Except for following a small ‘create your first CRUD app in Node.JS’ and some formal training in JavaScript, I have no experience.

I’m new to JavaScript, NodeJS, Sails.JS, and WebSockets.

My current problem is this:

The app I’m trying to develop receives POST calls with a JSON object. This is the input part of the application. These POST calls originate from any random host.

The output is a webpage that updates itself by listening on a Sails.JS powered WebSocket system called sails.io.js.

Basically, each POST from any host should result in an event on the WebSocket.

Since I’m not building a formal REST API, I have to define some parts myself in Sails.JS. I do have blueprints enabled.

First, in the controller that handles the POST call, I can call the code below so existing WebSockets can receive an event of a new ServiceHeartBeatSession being created. All the server side code mentioned here is located in the controller or executed in the console.

```
sails.sockets.addRoomMembersToRooms(ServiceHeartBeatSession._classRoom()
 , ServiceHeartBeatSession._room(session.id) );

```

Then, the invoke method is executed to send this event to all listening WebSockets.

`ServiceHeartBeatSession.publish([session.id], { "verb": "created" });`

However, the .publish method does not result in a event to an existing WebSocket. Unless I execute it myself in the console. The WebSocket is registered like this:

```
io.socket.on('serviceheartbeatsession', function(resData) {
    alert('Something changed!!!!');
  });

```

I did some digging into the sourcecode and made some attempts at debugging this myself. Here’s what I’ve found so far:

- Running the .publish call in the console produces the desired result.
- It appears that the .addRoomMembersToRooms is a requirement for the .publish to work in the console. So I’m assuming that .addRoomMembersToRooms works as intended.
- I tried the alternative below, but that doesn’t work in the controller. However, it does work in the Node console.

`sails.sockets.broadcast([ServiceHeartBeatSession._room(session.id)], "serviceheartbeatsession", 'hi!');`

- The following works as intended, but I prefer not to use that.

`sails.io.sockets.emit('serviceheartbeatsession', { verb: 'created' });`

- The above attempt lacked a room selection, so I dug a little deeper. The calls below where the result of a .publish method. However, only after repeating this in the console, it worked.

Check more information in the article: [https://adevait.com/nodejs/building-nodejs-apis-with-sailsjs](https://adevait.com/nodejs/building-nodejs-apis-with-sailsjs)  
Anyone have any ideas?