Node.js/Socket.io/Passport.js LOGOUT issue

Question

Node.js/Socket.io/Passport.js LOGOUT issue

I'm creating a website using Node.js (Express Framework) and use Passportjs for authentication. I use socket.io for communicating between client and server. My website shows which users are online. All I want is that when client closes his tab or the browser itself without logging out of the website, I want the user to be logged out from the website when 'disconnect' event fires. Code fragment should look like on server side.

io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
socket.on('disconnect', function()  {
    console.log("|||||| DISCONNECTED ||||||");
    //LOGOUT USER CODE
});
});

I'm using Passportjs' local strategy. It searches for user in CouchDB database and logs in if Username/Password combination is correct.

My solution which obviously doesn't work:

app.configure(function() {
  app.set('views', __dirname + '/views');
  app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
  app.use(express.logger());
  app.use(express.cookieParser());
  app.use(express.bodyParser());
  app.use(express.methodOverride());
  app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/'));
  app.use(express.session({ secret: 'keyboard cat'}));
  // Initialize Passport!  Also use passport.session() middleware, to support
  // persistent login sessions (recommended).
  app.use(passport.initialize());
  app.use(passport.session());
  app.use(app.router);

  //a new custom middleware to logout the user when the pathname is '/exit'      

  app.use(function(req, res, next)  {
      var pathname = url.parse(req.url).pathname;
      if(pathname == '/exit')
        req.logout();
      next();
  });
});

I used a node module called xmlhttprequest defined like this to create http requests.

var XMLHttpRequest = require("xmlhttprequest").XMLHttpRequest;

and then in my socket's disconnect event I added the following lines.

io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
socket.on('disconnect', function()  {
    console.log("|||||| DISCONNECTED ||||||");
    var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();      
    xhr.open("GET", "http://localhost:3000/exit");
    xhr.send();
});
});

This doesn't work and the user is not logged out when disconnect event fires. I can see this message |||||| DISCONNECTED |||||| on console. Also if I enter http://localhost:3000/exit in my browser address bar and then press enter, I see this message: Cannot GET /exit in my browser but on pressing back and refreshing the page the user is logged out.

node.js
socket.io
passport.js

Answer 1

This code is no good.

 app.use(function(req, res, next)  {
      var pathname = url.parse(req.url).pathname;
      if(pathname == '/exit')
        req.logout();
        //try adding this line, so that it doesn't just show the "can't retrieve"
        res.end('<html><head>logged out</head><body>logged out</body></html>');
      next();
  });

EDIT:

socket.on('disconnect', function()  {
    console.log("|||||| DISCONNECTED ||||||");
    var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();      
    //this won't work, don't do this
    xhr.open("GET", "http://localhost:3000/exit");
    xhr.send();
});

instead, do this:

socket.on('disconnect', function()  {
    console.log("|||||| DISCONNECTED ||||||");
    user.logout();
});

I suggest doing a redirect from the page at this point, to exit, and have exit send another redirect to another page. It's how I would do it.