getting simple socketIO server to work with MRAA library on Edison

Question

I spent the last week working with the CylonJS framework on my edison using a Maxbotix sensor. Everyting works with a web client on the front end. However at the last moment I can't get the edison to talk to an existing AIR client which I must use. Something to do with how socketIO is implemented in Cylon.

The following simple socketIO server works for me. What I need to do is incorporate support for the mraa library and get analogue input from the Maxbotix sensor.

Can anyone please help? I'm up against a deadline!!!

var express = require('express');
    var app = express();
    var server = require('http').createServer(app);
    var io = require('socket.io').listen(server,{transports:['flashsocket', 'websocket', 'htmlfile', 'xhr-polling', 'jsonp-polling']});
     var port = Number(8080);
    server.listen(port);
     app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/'));
     var temp;
     var _this = this;
     io.on('connection', function (socket) {
      console.log('connection '+socket)
     socket.on("data",function(d){console.log('data from flash: ',d);});
      socket.emit("message","wtfwtwftwftwf hello from server");
      socket.on('disconnect', function (socket) {
      console.log("disconnect");
  });

  console.log('_this ='+_this);
  _this.socket=socket;


});