Question
People commonly ask on the Zoom Developer Forum:
Why do Web Meeting SDK applications intermittently get stuck on “joining” or “connecting to audio” when waiting rooms are enabled, particularly when the host admits participants before the SDK has fully loaded the waiting room? What are the known causes, reliable workarounds, and best practices to mitigate these connectivity problems?
Answer
The issues experienced with the Web Meeting SDK when waiting rooms are enabled are primarily due to race conditions that occur during the initialization and admission process. Here are the key points and solutions based on community feedback:
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Race Condition: The problem arises when the host admits a participant from the waiting room before the SDK has fully initialized and displayed the waiting room interface. This can lead to the Client View getting stuck on “joining” while the Component View may join without audio.
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Update the SDK: Always ensure you are using the latest version of the Web Meeting SDK. Community reports indicate that many issues have been resolved in the latest releases, particularly in versions beyond v2.17.0.
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Timing Guards for Admission: - Avoid admitting participants immediately after they enter the waiting room. Wait until the waiting room UI is fully loaded (e.g., the participant sees “The host will let you in soon”). - If automating the “Join Audio” process, introduce a delay to ensure that the meeting is fully joined before attempting to join audio.
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Fallback Mechanism: - Implement a mechanism to detect when the meeting status is unhealthy. Listen for the meeting status event and check if the attendee list is available after joining. - If the attendee list is not available, perform a full page reload to reinitialize the SDK. This has been reported to help mitigate hanging issues.
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Environment Considerations: Be aware that these issues are more likely to occur on lower-resource servers or devices. Testing on various environments can help identify the best timing and operational strategies.
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Operational Mitigation: If you encounter issues, consider having hosts admit participants only after confirming that the SDK has fully loaded the waiting room.
By following these guidelines, developers can significantly reduce the likelihood of encountering connectivity problems when using the Web Meeting SDK with waiting rooms enabled.
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