autohost

autohost

An express-based http helper lib.

Ripped from the guts of Anvil.

Features

• Resource-based: define protocol-agnostic resources that interact via HTTP or WebSockets
• Auto-reload resource on file change
• WebSocket support (no fallback to other protocols)
• UI dashboard to review resources' routes, topics and hosted paths

UI Dashboard

Simple navigate to /_autohost to review the current set of resources:

Quick Start

var host = require( 'autohost' )();
host.init();

Configuration

Configuration can be provided optionally to the init call or during instantiation after the require. The object literal follows the format:

{
	processes: 1, // # of processes to spawn - not currently in use
	static: './public', // where to host static resources from, default value shown
	resources: './resource', // where to load resource modules from, default value shown
	port: 8800, // what port to host at, default shown
	allowedOrigin: 'leankit.com', // used to filter incoming web socket connections based on origin
	websockets: true // enables websockets
}

Resources

Resources are expected to be simple modules that return a parameterless function resulting in a JS literal that follows the format:

	{
		name: 'resource-name',
		resources: '', // relative path to static assets for this resource
		actions: [ 
			{
				alias: 'send', // not presently utilized
				verb: 'get', // http verb
				topic: 'send', // topic segment appended the resource name
				path: '', // url pattern appended to the resource name
				handle: function( envelope ) {
					// envelope.data, envelope.headers and envelope.params may contain
					// information about the request/message received

					// envelope reply takes a object literal with data property for
					// http body|websocket message					
				}
			}
		]
	}

API

Lots of methods are available but not generally intended for use outside the library. Other than init, there are two methods for interacting with connected websocket clients.

• sendToClient( id, topic, message ) - sends message to specific client via websocket (returns true if successful)
• notifyClients( topic, message ) - sends message to all clients via web sockets

Events

• 'socket.client.connected', { socket: socketConnection } - raised when a client connects
• 'socket.client.identified', { socket: socketConnection, id: id } - raised when client reports unique id

TO DO

• Add support for clustering (multiple listening processes)
• Add support for basic auth / token auth / custom auth
• Add support for rate limiting
• Better logging
• More thorough error handling
• Support either Socket.IO or WebSockets via config

License

MIT License - http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT