crocket

Minimal node.js cross platform IPC communication library.

• Communcates over TCP, unix sockets or windows pipe.
• Works both locally and remotely.
• Works on Linux, Windows AND macOS.
• Pluggable event mediator, uses EventEmitter by default. But can be extended with something like qbus for extended functionality.

Installation

npm install crocket

Usage

Host process

var crocket = require("crocket"),
	server = new crocket();

// Start listening, this example communicate by file sockets
server.listen({ "path": "/tmp/crocket-test.sock" }, (e) => { 

	// Fatal errors are supplied as the first parameter to callback
	if(e) throw e; 

	// All is well if we got this far
	console.log('IPC listening on /tmp/crocket-test.sock');

});

// Events are handled by EventEmitter by default ...
server.on('/request/food', function (payload) {
	
	// Respond to the query
	server.emit('/response', 'You asked for food and supplied ' + payload);

});


// React to communication errors
server.on('error', (e) => { console.error('Communication error occurred: ', e); });

Output

> node test-server.js
IPC listening on /tmp/crocket-test.sock

Client process

var crocket = require("crocket"),
	client = new crocket();
	
client.connect({ "path": "/tmp/crocket-test.sock" }, (e) => { 

    // Connection errors are supplied as the first parameter to callback
    if(e) throw e; 

    // Instantly a message to the server
    client.emit('/request/food', 'cash');

});

// Expect a reply on '/response'
client.on('/response', function (what) {

    // Should print 'Server said: You asked for food and supplied cash'
    console.log('Server said: ' + what);

    // Work is done now, no need to keep a connection open
    client.close();

});

Output

> node test-client.js
Server said: You asked for food and supplied cash

Replacing EventEmitter

Host process

var crocket = require("crocket"),

	// Require the alternative event handler
	qbus = require("qbus"),

	// Pass the mediator to the constructor
	server = new crocket(qbus);

// Start listening, this example communicate by file sockets
server.listen({ "path": "/tmp/crocket-test.sock" }, (e) => { 

	// Fatal errors are supplied as the first parameter to callback
	if(e) throw e; 

	// All is well if we got this far
	console.log('IPC listening on /tmp/crocket-test.sock');

});

// Now we're using qbus to handle events
//   Documentation:	https://github.com/unkelpehr/qbus
//   Query tester: 	http://unkelpehr.github.io/qbus/
server.on('/request/:what', function (what, payload) {
	
	// Respond to the query
	server.emit('/response', 'You asked for ' + what + ' and supplied ' + payload);

});

// React to communication errors
server.on('error', (e) => { console.error('Communication error occurred: ', e); });

Output

> node test-server.js
IPC listening on /tmp/crocket-test.sock

Options

All available options for server.listen

Server

{
	"path": "/tmp/node-crocket.sock",
	"host": null,
	"port": null,
	"encoding": "utf8"
}

All available options for client.connect

Client

{
	"path": "/tmp/node-crocket.sock",
	"host": null,
	"port": null,
	"reconnect": -1,
	"timeout": 5000,
	"encoding": "utf8"
}

Path is a file-socket path, normalized by xpipe. As an example, /tmp/my.sock is unchanged on Linux/OS X, while it is transformed to //./pipe/tmp/my.sock on Windows.

Port is specified if you want to use TCP instead of file sockets.

Host Only used in TCP mode. For server, 0.0.0.0 makes crocket listen on any IPv4-interface. :: Is the equivalent for IPv6. For client, you specify the host address.

Reconnect is the number of milliseconds to wait before reviving a broken listener/connection, or -1 to disable automtic revive.

Encoding the encoding used by the underlaying sockets, in most cases this should be left at default.

License

MIT