The Future of Content Management Systems

Aldair Gallardo
October 20, 2023
6
min read

In today's digital landscape, real-time interactions have become essential for enhancing user engagement and providing dynamic experiences. Whether it's live chats, notifications, or collaborative tools, integrating real-time features can significantly elevate your web applications. In this tutorial, we'll guide you through setting up real-time functionality using Webflow, Wized, and Xano. You'll learn how to create a live messaging system that updates instantly without the need for page refreshes

Introduction to Real-Time Features

Real-time features allow web applications to update content instantly, providing users with immediate feedback and interactions. This is particularly useful for:

  • Live chat systems
  • Real-time notifications
  • Collaborative editing tools
  • Live auctions or bidding systems

By leveraging Xano's real-time capabilities alongside Webflow and Wized, you can create powerful, dynamic applications without extensive backend development.

Setting Up Xano for Real-Time Communication

Enabling Real-Time Settings

  1. Access Your Xano Dashboard: Log in to your Xano account and navigate to your project dashboard.
  2. Go to Settings: Click on the Settings option in the sidebar.
  3. Enable Real-Time Features: Under Real-Time Settings, toggle the option to enable real-time features.
  4. Note: The first time you enable real-time features, it might take a couple of minutes to initialize.
  5. Copy the Connection Hash: Once enabled, Xano provides a Connection Hash. This unique identifier is essential for establishing real-time connections from your frontend application.

Creating a Real-Time Channel

Channels in Xano are communication pathways that clients can subscribe to for sending and receiving messages.

  1. Add a New Channel: In the Real-Time Settings, find the Channels section and click on Add Channel.
  2. Configure the Channel:
    • Name: Assign a unique name to your channel, e.g., test_channel.
    • Permissions: Set the permissions based on your application's needs. For testing purposes, you can:
      • Enable Client Public Messaging to allow public messages.
      • Enable Client Presence to track when clients join or leave the channel.
  3. Save the Channel: Click Save to finalize the channel creation.

Integrating with Webflow and Wized

With Xano set up, it's time to integrate the real-time features into your Webflow project using Wized.

Including Necessary Scripts

  1. Add the Xano Real-Time SDK: Xano provides a JavaScript SDK for real-time communication. Include the SDK in your Webflow project:

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@xano/js-sdk@latest/dist/xano.min.js"></script>

Writing JavaScript for Real-Time Events

  1. // Replace with your actual base URL and connection hash


<script>
const xanoClient = new XanoClient({
 instanceBaseUrl: "http://abc1-def2-ghi3.xano.io/",
 realtimeConnectionHash: "a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9",
});

const marvelChannel = this.xanoClient.channel("marvel-chat-room");

marvelChannel.on((message) => {
 console.log(message);
});
</script>

Conclusion

By integrating Xano's real-time features with Webflow and Wized, you've created a dynamic web application capable of instant communication. This setup opens the door to various applications, such as:

  • Live chat systems
  • Real-time collaborative tools
  • Live auctions or bidding platforms
  • Real-time notifications and alerts

Key Takeaways:

  • Xano provides robust real-time capabilities that can be easily integrated into your applications.
  • Webflow combined with Wized allows for dynamic frontend experiences without extensive coding.
  • Real-time features enhance user engagement and provide a modern, interactive user experience.

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