node-red-contrib-sysmessage

This module provides a node for Node-RED to quickly show or speak a message at the host system (OSX, Windows, Linux).

It is distributed on NPM node-red-contrib-sysmessage.

Pre-requisites

This requires Node-RED version 0.14 or newer.

No extra binaries needed. None are included in the package.

Install

Run the following commands to install the node-module in your Node-RED user directory (typically ~/.node-red):

$ cd ~/.node-red
$ npm install node-red-contrib-sysmessage

you might need to use npm install -g node-red-contrib-sysmessage instead, if you get an error about [sysmessage] not being able to find "is_uft8"

Open your Node-RED instance and you should have the node available in the palette and a new system tab in right side panel.

Features

It supports OSX and Windows:

• OSX Alert
  • A basic OS message box.
• OSX Notification
  • Right hand notification banner, will also be added to the notification center.
• OSX Message / iMessage
  • Sends messages through the messages.app to any buddy in your list, including iMessages (Hint: add yourself to send to)
• OSX Say
  • Uses OSX own speech synthesis to speak the provided input.
• WIN Alert
  • A basic OS message box (all fields will be parsed in the message area without newlines, but supports a receiver), at least Win 7
• WIN Alert (mshta)
  • A basic OS message box (title is shown correctly as well as newlines). At least Win XP.
  • Does not support a receiver.
• WIN Notification
  • Requires POWERSHELL to be available - means at least Win 8 (or earlier with POWERSHELL manually installed).
  • Will not be added to the notification center.
  • Does not support a receiver.
• WIN Say
  • Uses WIN own speech synthesis to speak the provided input, using POWERSHELL.
  • Does not support a receiver.
• WIN Say (mshta)
  • Uses WIN own speech synthesis to speak the provided input, using mshta without POWERSHELL (for older windows).
  • Starts the speach faster.
  • ! Focus from the current window, is taken on the host, while mshta creates a window + speaks + closes it.
  • Does not support a receiver.
• LINUX Say (festival) [use for RaspberryPI]
  • Needs festival to be installed first.
  • Does not support a receiver.
• LINUX Say (espeak) [use for RaspberryPI]
  • Needs espeak to be installed first.
  • Does not support a receiver.
• LINUX Say (google) [use for RaspberryPI]
  • Needs mplayer to be installed first, requires the google domains to be reachable.
  • Does not support a receiver.

Mind:

1. Some commands support a receiver, usually a target machines name with the same OS.
   • Except for OSX Message / iMessage, here its the buddy / phonenumber or email.
2. To show a message on a different OS, send the payload with an TCP OUT server, and receive it there with an TCP IN to pass it into sysmessage.
3. For Remote Apple Events to work, you need to enable them at: System Preferences > Sharing > Remote Apple Events on the Mac you want execute the events at.
4. For Windows Remote Execution you might get a login box to be able to send/receive the commands.
5. For Linux, you might read how to install the TTS engines: RPi_Text_to_Speech_(Speech_Synthesis)

Note

It is completely based on CLI commands. The message field supports mustache, using the msg fields. If no receiver is set, it uses the current host system (not a remote) to show the message.

The nodes mount points

• 1 IN: the payload
• 1 OUT [optional]: any console error or message created, use for error debugging

Example flow

How to: Import using the Menu->Import->Clipboard.

Simple trigger by button press:

1. Server: Button -> SysMessage:alert -> debug out

[{"id":"72013ad3.c27184","type":"sysmessage","z":"2fc3038e.7502e4","command":"osxalert","title":"tit","subtitle":"st","op1":"asd 'fsdf\\n123","op1type":"str","receiver":"","name":"","x":247,"y":260,"wires":[["8c391e4.bfe5be"]]},{"id":"8c391e4.bfe5be","type":"debug","z":"2fc3038e.7502e4","name":"Show debug result","active":true,"console":"true","complete":"payload","x":403,"y":334,"wires":[]},{"id":"c6834579.0edbc","type":"inject","z":"2fc3038e.7502e4","name":"","topic":"","payload":"Button: test it.","payloadType":"str","repeat":"","crontab":"","once":false,"x":154,"y":173,"wires":[["72013ad3.c27184"]]}]

Generic Triggering an alert on a remote Machine using Node-RED

1. Client: Button -> Template/msg -> TCP out
2. Server: TCP in -> SysMessage:WinNotification

[{"id":"6e5c0cc8.004fd4","type":"inject","z":"5bf58f7.236367","name":"","topic":"","payload":"Button: test it.","payloadType":"str","repeat":"","crontab":"","once":false,"x":210,"y":560,"wires":[["ea40d552.664718"]]},{"id":"feb826be.cfcb48","type":"tcp out","z":"5bf58f7.236367","host":"localhost","port":"1029","beserver":"client","base64":false,"end":true,"name":"","x":450,"y":700,"wires":[]},{"id":"ea40d552.664718","type":"template","z":"5bf58f7.236367","name":"msg","field":"payload","fieldType":"msg","format":"handlebars","syntax":"mustache","template":"This is a message from the trigger.","x":330,"y":640,"wires":[["feb826be.cfcb48"]]},{"id":"a782f989.cc0c88","type":"tcp in","z":"5bf58f7.236367","name":"","server":"server","host":"","port":"1029","datamode":"single","datatype":"utf8","newline":"","topic":"","base64":false,"x":660,"y":560,"wires":[["cfb0ec5f.65722"]]},{"id":"cfb0ec5f.65722","type":"sysmessage","z":"5bf58f7.236367","command":"winnotification","title":"New Message","subtitle":"","op1":"","op1type":"pay","receiver":"","name":"","x":800,"y":640,"wires":[[]]}]