Apache Camel for NodeJS

Run Camel routes from NodeJS.

If you want to run Apache Camel routes from Kubernetes then consider Apache Camel K.

If your happy to use Java or a JVM then I suggest you use that rather than this, this is a way to avoid using JVM and still run Apache Camel from NodeJS.

Usage

npm install camelnodejs

Given a route.yaml

- route:
    from: "timer:yaml?period=3s"
    steps:
      - set-body:
          simple: "Timer fired ${header.CamelTimerCounter} times"
      - to:
          uri: "log:yaml"

Then the corrisponding index.js javascript

const camelnodejs = require('camelnodejs');

(async () => {
    await camelnodejs.startApacheCamel();
})()

Run with node, node index.js then it executes the Apache Camel route.

Notes

This is in early development, works on Windows only. (at this moment).

Description

Apache Camel allows for data integration between services through the use of pipelines. Apache Camel is on the JVM, the problem is that when using NodeJS it is unattractive to run a Java program or JVM from NodeJS. Especially when on cloud such as AWS Lambda, the memory limits are low and installing or running a JVM is very much not a good idea.

Solution

To avoid use of the JVM, Java code using Apache Camel as a library is compiled with Quarkus to a binary executable, this executable can then run the Camel route. NodeJS executes this executable. In a sample run the binary executable camel-quarkus-runner.exe file size was 55.6 MB and when running used 32.0 MB of memory which is reasonable.

Restrictions

• Not all Apache Camel components will be added, the addition of more components increases the file size of the executable so only common components are added.

Future directions and tasks

• Produce multiple binaries, Windows, Linux and OSX
• It would be better to move this to a library (DLL on Windows) rather than an executable, but how to compile Quarkus to a DLL? can it even be done?
• Handle application crashes and errors
• Add logging, don't output to stdout as it currently does
• Support Javascript routing, currently only supports YAML file routing
• Add example Apache Camel routes and test cases
• Tighter integration with NodeJS
• Support multiple YAML files and/or any number of YAML files within a directory
• Support YAML file name as a parameter rather than default of route.yaml