from2

What is from2?

The 'from2' npm package is a utility for creating readable streams using a simple API. It is particularly useful for stream-based operations where data needs to be generated or transformed on the fly. The package simplifies the process of creating custom readable streams by handling the underlying Node.js stream mechanics.

What are from2's main functionalities?

Creating a readable stream from a data source

This feature allows you to create a readable stream that emits data from an array. The stream reads data from the array and pushes it to the consumer until there's no data left, at which point it signals the end of the stream.

const from2 = require('from2');

const data = ['hello', 'world'];
const stream = from2(function(size, next) {
  if (data.length === 0) return next(null, null);
  next(null, data.shift());
});

stream.on('data', (chunk) => {
  console.log(chunk.toString());
});
stream.on('end', () => {
  console.log('Stream ended');
});

Creating a stream from an asynchronous data source

This example demonstrates how to create a readable stream that reads data from a file asynchronously. The stream uses the 'fs.readFile' method to read data and then pushes it to the stream consumer.

const from2 = require('from2');
const fs = require('fs');

const stream = from2(function(size, next) {
  fs.readFile('/path/to/file.txt', (err, data) => {
    if (err) return next(err);
    next(null, data);
  });
});

stream.on('data', (chunk) => {
  console.log(chunk.toString());
});
stream.on('end', () => {
  console.log('Stream ended');
});

Other packages similar to from2

through2

Through2 is a tiny wrapper around Node.js streams.Transform (Streams2/3) to avoid explicit subclassing noise. It is similar to from2 but focuses more on transforming streams rather than creating readable streams from data sources.

readable-stream

This package is a mirror of the Streams2 and Streams3 implementations in Node-core. Similar to from2, it provides utilities for creating custom stream implementations but offers a broader API surface for handling both readable and writable streams.

README

from2

from2 is a high-level module for creating readable streams that properly handle backpressure.

Convience wrapper for readable-stream's ReadableStream base class, with an API lifted from from and through2.

Usage

stream = from2([opts], read)

Where opts are the options to pass on to the ReadableStream constructor, and read(size, next) is called when data is requested from the stream.

• size is the recommended amount of data (in bytes) to retrieve.
• next(err) should be called when you're ready to emit more data.

For example, here's a readable stream that emits the contents of a given string:

var from = require('from2')

module.exports = fromString

function fromString(string) {
  return from(function(size, next) {
    // if there's no more content
    // left in the string, close the stream.
    if (string.length <= 0) return this.push(null)

    // Pull in a new chunk of text,
    // removing it from the string.
    var chunk = string.slice(0, size)
    string = string.slice(size)

    // Emit "chunk" from the stream.
    next(null, chunk)
  })
}

// pipe "hello world" out
// to stdout.
fromString('hello world').pipe(process.stdout)

stream = from2.obj([opts], read)

Shorthand for from2({ objectMode: true }, read).

createStream = from2.ctor([opts], read)

If you're creating similar streams in quick succession you can improve performance by generating a stream constructor that you can reuse instead of creating one-off streams on each call.

Takes the same options as from2, instead returning a constructor which you can use to create new streams.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.md for details.