comjs

A vweb take of the Component Object Model architecture, spanning both native & browser environments, and inspired by the original COM.

Most infrastructure running on Windows today is based on COM, a C++ interface standard that allows for componetization, reuse, and host-agnostic rpc. The web differs from these fronts only in that instead of componentization (& the implied rigid hierarchies of OOP), the focus is on functional modularization (& the implied flexibility of a functional perspective without the domain-constraints imposed by strict OOP). Simply put, the most imporant difference is that instead of requiring dll presence on the disk, the model requires a valid url endpoint to a module that's loaded asynchronously & is JIT-compiled on the client.

The goal is to consolidate fragmented workflows in client/server systems for the web in a single language and a consistent API surface engineered around laconic & frinctionless development: use the minimum necessary steps & aim for the maximum performance.

The functionality currently scopes five recurring tasks:

• client-server rpc
• async module loading
• request routing
• file serving
• prototype-based class inheritance
• utilities, such as async iterators

The approach is inline with Javascript's laconism & orthogonal take on type-checking.

This is a recent merge of the define & web-kernel repos, and an open-source component of an experiment with an impossible enough goal to have become an obsession.

Getting started

Run npm install comjs to setup.

Best way is to go thru the example.

• Point your terminal to cb ./comjs/example/native
• Run node server and chrome localhost (F12 to see console output).
• Also check out the native client with a parallel node process node client.js.

API

ncom is the native implementation of the middleware & bcom is for the browser.

Http & Websocket server (ncom only)

// ============================================================================
// Http & WebSocket server
// ============================================================================
// - start
// - stop
// - registerRequests
// - registerFiles
// - registerServices
// ============================================================================

/**
 * Initializes server.
 * 
 * @param  {Object}   config Map of { port, requests, services, files }
 * @param  {Function} cb
 */
com.init(config, cb);

/**
 * Stops server.
 * 
 * @param  {Function} cb
 */
com.exit(cb);

/**
 * Registers files.
 * 
 * @param  {Array} registrations Collection of [ { route0: function (req, res) {} } ]
 */
com.registerRequests(registrations);

/**
 * Unregister requests.
 * 
 * @param  {Array} identifiers (can be String)
 */
com.unregisterRequests(identifiers);

/**
 * Registers files.
 * 
 * @param  {Array} registrations Collection of [ { route0: [filePath0] } ]
 */
com.registerFiles(registrations);

/**
 * Unregister files.
 * 
 * @param  {Array} identifiers (can be String)
 */
com.unregisterFiles(identifiers);

/**
 * Registers files.
 * 
 * @param  {Array} registrations Collection of [ { name0: { perms: ['foo-group'], taskBar: function () { res.done() }} } ]
 */
com.registerServices(registrations);

/**
 * Unregister services.
 * 
 * @param  {Array} identifiers (can be String)
 */
com.unregisterServices(names);

Websocket client (ncom & bcom)

// ============================================================================
// Websocket client
// ============================================================================
// - open
// - close
// - proxy
// ============================================================================

/**
 * Connects to websocket channel.
 *
 * @param  {Object}   config Connection endpoint as url string or config map of {path, auth, wss}
 * @param  {Function} cb     Callback
 */
com.open(config, cb);

/**
 * Closes websocket channel.
 */
com.close();

/**
 * Map of public and/or authorized proxies to native modules.
 *
 * @type {Object}
 */
com.proxy;

/**
 * Submits GET request.
 * 
 * @param  {String}   url      Request route, conditionally with parameters 
 * @param  {Object}   headers  Map of request headers (optional)
 * @param  {Function} cb       Passed response text, in JSON format if applicable
 */
com.submitGet(url, headers, cb);

/**
 * Submits PUT request.
 * 
 * @param  {String}   url      Request route, conditionally with parameters 
 * @param  {Object}   body     Request body (optional)
 * @param  {Object}   headers  Map of request headers (optional)
 * @param  {Function} cb       Passed response text, in JSON format if applicable
 */
com.submitPut(url, headers, cb);

/**
 * Submits POST request.
 * 
 * @param  {String}   url      Request route, conditionally with parameters 
 * @param  {Object}   body     Request body (optional)
 * @param  {Object}   headers  Map of request headers (optional)
 * @param  {Function} cb       Passed response text, in JSON format if applicable
 */
com.submitPost(url, body, headers, cb);

/**
 * Submits DELETE request.
 * 
 * @param  {String}   url      Request route
 * @param  {Object}   headers  Map of request headers (optional)
 * @param  {Function} cb       Passed response text, in JSON format if applicable
 */
com.submitDelete(url, headers, cb);

Async module loading (bcom only)

// ============================================================================
// Async module loading
// ============================================================================
// - declare
// - invoke
// - append
// ============================================================================

/**
 * Declares a module.
 * 
 * @param  {String}   identifier   Static path to module      
 * @param  {Array}    dependencies List of required dependecies/files
 * @param  {Function} module       Callback with module dependecies as args
 */
com.declare(identifier, dependencies, module);

/**
 * Invokes a module.
 * 
 * @param  {Array}    identifiers Static path(s) to modules/files
 * @param  {Function} cb          Callback with invoked modules as args    
 */
com.invoke(identifiers, cb);

/**
 * Appends js, css, html, txt to dom.
 * 
 * @param  {Array}    identifiers Static path(s) to assets; ([path, parentElement] entries are allowed)
 * @return {Function} cb          Callback
 */
com.append(identifiers, cb);

Prototypal class definition (ncom, bcom)

// ============================================================================
// Prototypal class definition
// ============================================================================
// - define
// ============================================================================

/**
 * Generates class definition given a collection of prototype
 * contracts.
 * 
 * @param  {Function} constr    
 * @param  {Array}    contracts (can also be single object)
 * @return {Function}          
 */
com.define(constr, contracts);

Async iteration (ncom, bcom)

// ============================================================================
// Async iteration
// ============================================================================
// - each
// - eachGroup
// ============================================================================

/**
 * Applies async task to items & propagates to cb when done.
 * 
 * @param  {Function} task  
 * @param  {Array}    items (Can be non-array/single item)
 * @param  {Function} cb    Passed array of res for each item applied to task
 */
function each (items, task, cb) { // adapted from https://github.com/caolan/async

    if ( !(items instanceof Array) )
        items = [items];

    var idx = 0,
        len = items.length,
        res = [];

    if (!len)
        return cb([]);

    var iter = function () {
        task(items[idx++], function (out) {
            res[res.length] = out;
            if (idx >= len)
                cb(res);
            else
                iter();
        });
    };
    
    iter();
};

/**
 * Applies async task to items for each group & propagates to cb when done.
 * (See each)
 * 
 * @param  {Array}    groups List of [ [items, task], ... ]
 * @param  {Function} cb     Passed array of results for each group
 */
function eachGroup (groups, cb) {

    if ( !(groups instanceof Array) )
        groups = [].concat(groups);
    
    each(groups, function (group, done) {
        each(group[0], group[1], done);
    }, cb);
};

Bugs

Possibly lurking. I'm actively working with this, so any fixes should make it here quickly.

License

Feel free to use non-commercially, but drop me a line for anything but for the sake of ~~yin-yang~~ win-win.

Changelog

• 0.0.1 -- Base functionality
• 0.0.2 -- Dependency injection order bugs
• 0.0.3 -- Refactored to single module scope for faster initialization & access
• 0.0.4 -- Fixed append* scenario with with no parent parameter
• 0.0.5 -- Fixed path inconsistency bug on request registeration
• 0.0.6 -- Exposed async iteration util & updated example's routes