Nexy

Nexy is a middleware based TCP framework for Node. Inspired by Sencha's connect. Written for Multiplayer Games.

Warning: This is a work in progress. Please do not use yet.

Quickstart

Installation

npm install nexy

Simple Chat Server

var Nexy = require('nexy'),
    app = Nexy.createServer();

// see details about message keys below
app.set('msg:key', 'type');

// connection pool
app.set('clients', []);

// param middleware here (see below)

app.route('join', function(req, res) {
    var nick = req.params.nick;

    // add joining client to pool
    app.get('clients').push({ nickname: nick, socket: res });

    // tell all other connected clients that `nick` has joined
    app.get('clients').forEach(function(client, i, array) {
        client.socket.send({ type: 'joined', nick: nick });
    });
});

app.listen(2101);

Simple Chat Client

var Nexy = require('nexy'),
    app = Nexy.createClient();

// see details about message keys below
app.set('msg:key', 'type');

// param middleware here (see below)

// first message to initialize communication
app.connect(2101, function(res) {
    res.write(JSON.stringify({ type: 'join', nick: 'iAmMaj' }));
});

app.route('joined', function(req, res) {
    console.log(req.params.nick + ' has joined the chatroom');
});

Simple Middleware

Add this to the client and server so you can use req.params.*.

// param middleware
app.use(function(req, res, next) {
    req.params = req;
    next();
});

Configuration

###Message Key

Unlike HTTP servers, TCP server doesn't know where to route your request unless you specify what type of data you are sending on the message itself.

By default Nexy will expect the following payload:

{  method: 'roomchat', nick: 'iAmMaj', message: 'secret'  }

If you set the msg:key to:

app.set('msg:key', 'type');

Then Nexy will expect the following payload:

{  type: 'roomchat', nick: 'iAmMaj', message: 'secret'  }

If you set the msg:key to:

app.set('msg:key', 'MyCustomType');

Then Nexy will expect the following payload:

{  MyCustomType: 'roomchat', nick: 'iAmMaj', message: 'secret'  }

Note: In binary this is the identity.

Binary

JSON is a very heavy format and is not efficient enough, so we can use binary structures instead.

Format

< size > < id > < content >
----
size     : uint16
identity : uint16
content  : mix
order    : LittleEndian
----
< Buffer 05 00 01 00 03 >
size     : 5
identity : 1
content  : 3

###Example

Binary Chat Server

var Nexy = require('nexy'),
    app = Nexy.createServer();

// see details about message keys below
app.set('msg:key', 'type');

// connection pool
app.set('clients', []);

// param middleware here (see below)

app.route('join', function(req, res) {
    var nick = req.params.nick;

    // add joining client to pool
    app.get('clients').push({ nickname: nick, socket: res });

    // tell all other connected clients that `nick` has joined
    app.get('clients').forEach(function(client, i, array) {
        client.socket.send({ type: 'joined', nick: nick });
        client.socket.write('\x05\x00\x01\x00\x03');
    });
});

app.listen(2101);

Binary Chat Client

var Nexy = require('nexy'),
    app = Nexy.createClient();

// see details about message keys below
app.set('msg:key', 'type');

// param middleware here (see below)

// first message to initialize communication
app.connect(2101, function(res) {
    res.write(JSON.stringify({ type: 'join', nick: 'iAmMaj' }));
    res.write('\x05\x00\x01\x00\x03');
});

app.route('joined', function(req, res) {
    console.log(req.params.nick + ' has joined the chatroom');
});

Param Parser Middleware

// param middleware
app.use(function(req, res, next) {
    req.params = req;
    next();
});

TODO

• improve overall API
• add more features
• add more examples
• update README