whisper: detail the internals of the JS example (#19481)

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@ -4,7 +4,63 @@ title: Whisper JavaScript example
[This link](https://github.com/gballet/whisper-chat-example) contains a full-fledged example of how to use Whisper in a small chat application.
Let's now have a look at the `sendMessage` function:
The app is a simple Vue single page application that works in several steps. In the first step, the user configures the RPC service that they wish to connect to. Typically, this would be a `geth` client with the `--shh` option enabled.
Then one can install the application locally by typing:
```
$ git clone https://github.com/gballet/whisper-chat-example
$ cd whisper-chat-example
$ npm install
```
The application is then started by typing:
```
$ npm run dev
```
The application will then be available at `http://localhost:8080` (Note the http here, which is because it's a **demo application** and should not be used in production)
## User workflow
The app starts by asking the user for their user name and whether they want a symmetric or asymmetric connection. If it's asymmetric, the geth server will propose a public key. If it's symmetric, a key has to be provided.
Then the user presses "Start" and the conversation begins.
## The app's state
```javascript
let data = {
msgs: [],
text: "",
symKeyId: null,
name: "",
asymKeyId: null,
sympw: "",
asym: true,
configured: false,
topic: defaultTopic,
recipientPubKey: defaultRecipientPubKey,
asymPubKey: ""
};
```
This is how the current, transient, state of the application is represented:
* `msgs` is the list of messages in the current conversation
* `text` contains the text that the current user is typing
* `name` is the name of the current user, which is used to identify them in conversations
* `asymKeyId` and `symKeyId` represent handles to the corresponding keys in `geth`'s memory
* `recipientPubKey` is a hex string representing the public key that an asymmetric message is sent to
* `topic` is a hex string representing the message's topic
* `asymPubKey` is a hex string representing the user's own public key
* `configured` is a flag that is set to true when the user has choosen either a public key or a symmetric key, and a user name
* `sympw` contains the symmetric password
## The `sendMessage` callback
The `sendMessage` callback is called every time the user clicks on "Send" or presses the return key. It is responsible for creating the RPC request that instructs the `geth` node to encrypt and send the message.
```javascript
sendMessage() {
@ -17,6 +73,7 @@ sendMessage() {
};
// (code elided for clarity)
// ...
// Create the data object that will be sent to the RPC endpoint.
let postData = {
@ -39,5 +96,14 @@ sendMessage() {
this.shh.post(postData);
// (code elided for clarity)
// ...
}
```
```
The `msg` object is created. The format chosen for the object is specific to this demo application. It just contains a text and the name of the sender. This is obviously not secure enough for a real-world application.
That object is converted to a string and then encoded as a hexadecimal string, in the `payload` member of the request's `POST` data object. Other fields include the `topic` of the message, how much work the sending server should do and other parameters.
Next, depending whether the "asymmetric" checkbox has been ticked, the value of `this.asym` will be true or false. Based on this, the system will update the request object with the relevant information.
Finally, the request is being sent with `this.shh.post(postData)`, which calls Web3's `shh.post` function to send the message.