socket.emit doesn't work inside setTimeout() nodejs

Question

The first playerHandler.nextTurn() will return the first player from the player list with his corresponding socket id .But calling currsocket.emit won't do anything. I then tried io.emit which emits to all other players . Since I have max of 2 players , the event doesn't trigger inside the first player client socket. Calling the second player currsocket.emit would work properly . It seems there is some issue with the setTimeout() , since in my other code , this works without any issues (without timeout).

 socket.on('add-player', (player) => {
//console.log('socket add player hits');
console.log("add user name :" + player.name);
//add the new player
var newPlayer = { 'id': socket.id.toString(), 'name': player.name };
//dont use this. for the var declared above
var canWeKeepHim = { value: false };
var package = playerHandler.methods.addNewPlayer(newPlayer, canWeKeepHim);

//on successful addition of new player add him to gameroom socket room
if (canWeKeepHim.value) {
  socket.join('gameroom');
  console.log(player.name + 'joined socket room');
}

socket.emit('add-player-message', { type: 'success-message', package: package });
io.emit('add-player-list', playerHandler.methods.getNewPlayer());


//is the async nature of socket events a problem , the start-game never seems to be true;

if (GameHandler.currentGameState == GameHandler.yetToStartGame && playerHandler.methods.doWeHaveMaxPlayers()) {
  GameHandler.changeCurrentGameState(GameHandler.gameHasStarted);
  var delay = 3000;
  io.to('gameroom').emit('start-game', { value: true, delay: delay });
  //if the game state is still gameHasStarted after delay then fire the gameplay events
  GameHandler.gameArenaRedirectTimer = setTimeout(() => {
    if (GameHandler.currentGameState == GameHandler.gameHasStarted) {
      console.log('hey this works after 10s');
      var currentPlayerTurn = playerHandler.methods.nextTurn();
      currentPlayerTurn = playerHandler.methods.nextTurn();;
      var currsocket = io.sockets.sockets[currentPlayerTurn.id];
      currsocket.emit('next-turn', { myturn: true });
      //console.log(io.sockets.so)
      // io.emit('next-turn', { myturn: false, playerName: currentPlayerTurn.name });
      //io.to('gameroom').emit('next-turn', { myturn: false, playerName: currentPlayerTurn.name });
    }

  }, delay);

}

});

Answer 1

Try passing socket to your setTimout

  GameHandler.gameArenaRedirectTimer = setTimeout((socket) => {
        if (GameHandler.currentGameState == GameHandler.gameHasStarted) {
          console.log('hey this works after 10s');
          var currentPlayerTurn = playerHandler.methods.nextTurn();
          currentPlayerTurn = playerHandler.methods.nextTurn();;
          var currsocket = io.sockets.sockets[currentPlayerTurn.id];
          currsocket.emit('next-turn', { myturn: true });
          //console.log(io.sockets.so)
          // io.emit('next-turn', { myturn: false, playerName: currentPlayerTurn.name });
          //io.to('gameroom').emit('next-turn', { myturn: false, playerName: currentPlayerTurn.name });
        }

      }, delay,socket);

Answer 2

I found out that moving the setTimeout out of the socket.on event listener callback and out of the io.on event listener fixed the issue.

function startCountDownToStartGame(callback, delay, arg) {
if (GameHandler.currentGameState == GameHandler.gameHasStarted) {
GameHandler.gameArenaRedirectTimer = setTimeout(callback, delay, arg);
 }

};
io.on('connection', (socket) => {
 console.log('user connected :' + socket.id);

 socket.on('disconnect', function () {
 console.log('user disconnected');
//TODO : remove player from the player list once hes disconnected
});

socket.on('add-player', (player) => {
//console.log('socket add player hits');
console.log("add user name :" + player.name);
//add the new player
var newPlayer = { 'id': socket.id.toString(), 'name': player.name };
//dont use this. for the var declared above
var canWeKeepHim = { value: false };
var package = playerHandler.methods.addNewPlayer(newPlayer, canWeKeepHim);

//on successful addition of new player add him to gameroom socket room
if (canWeKeepHim.value) {
  socket.join('gameroom');
  console.log(player.name + 'joined socket room');
}

socket.emit('add-player-message', { type: 'success-message', package: package });
io.emit('add-player-list', playerHandler.methods.getNewPlayer());

if (GameHandler.currentGameState == GameHandler.yetToStartGame && playerHandler.methods.doWeHaveMaxPlayers()) {
  GameHandler.changeCurrentGameState(GameHandler.gameHasStarted);
  var delay = 3000;
  io.to('gameroom').emit('start-game', { value: true, delay: delay });
  delay += 1000;// this is a temp fix
  //it seems calling the settimeout within the socket.on will somehow affect the emit functions for all other socket
  //other than the current socket , by placing the settimeout outside , it fixed the problem .
  startCountDownToStartGame((socket) => {
    var currentPlayerTurn = playerHandler.methods.nextTurn();
    var currsocket = io.sockets.sockets[currentPlayerTurn.id];
    currsocket.emit('next-turn', { myturn: true });
    currsocket.broadcast.to('gameroom').emit('next-turn', { myturn: false, playerName: currentPlayerTurn.name });
  }, delay, socket);

}



});

 }