node-rest-client

REST Client for Node.js

NOTE: by mistake version 0.7.10-s of NODE-REST-CLIENT has a bug. If you have downloaded this version previously, please download current version to fix it

Allows connecting to any API REST and get results as js Object. The client has the following features:

• Transparent HTTP/HTTPS connection to remote API sites.
• Allows simple HTTP basic authentication.
• Allows most common HTTP operations: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH.
• Direct or through proxy connection to remote API sites.
• Register remote API operations as client own methods, simplifying reuse.
• Automatic parsing of XML and JSON response documents as js objects.
• Dynamic path and query parameters and request headers.
• Improved Error handling mechanism (client or specific request)
• Added support for compressed responses: gzip and deflate

Installation

$ npm install node-rest-client

Usages

Simple HTTP GET

Client has 2 ways to call a REST service: direct or using registered methods

var Client = require('node-rest-client').Client;

client = new Client();

// direct way
client.get("http://remote.site/rest/xml/method", function(data, response){
			// parsed response body as js object
			console.log(data);
			// raw response
			console.log(response);
		});

// registering remote methods
client.registerMethod("jsonMethod", "http://remote.site/rest/json/method", "GET");

client.methods.jsonMethod(function(data,response){
	// parsed response body as js object
	console.log(data);
	// raw response
	console.log(response);
});

HTTP POST

POST, PUT or PATCH method invocation are configured like GET calls with the difference that you have to set "Content-Type" header in args passed to client method invocation:

//Example POST method invocation
var Client = require('node-rest-client').Client;

var client = new Client();

// set content-type header and data as json in args parameter
var args = {
  data: { test: "hello" },
  headers:{"Content-Type": "application/json"} 
};

client.post("http://remote.site/rest/xml/method", args, function(data,response) {
  	// parsed response body as js object
	console.log(data);
	// raw response
	console.log(response);
});

// registering remote methods
client.registerMethod("postMethod", "http://remote.site/rest/json/method", "POST");

client.methods.postMethod(args, function(data,response){
	// parsed response body as js object
	console.log(data);
	// raw response
	console.log(response);
});

If no "Content-Type" header is set as client arg POST,PUT and PATCH methods will not work properly.

Passing args to registered methods

You can pass diferents args to registered methods, simplifying reuse: path replace parameters, query parameters, custom headers

var Client = require('node-rest-client').Client;

// direct way
client = new Client();

args ={
		data:{test:"hello"}, // data passed to REST method (only useful in POST, PUT or PATCH methods)
		path:{"id":120}, // path substitution var
		parameters:{arg1:"hello",arg2:"world"}, // query parameter substitution vars
		headers:{"test-header":"client-api"} // request headers
	  };


client.get("http://remote.site/rest/json/${id}/method?arg1=hello&arg2=world", args, 
			function(data, response){
			// parsed response body as js object
			console.log(data);
			// raw response
			console.log(response);
});


// registering remote methods
client.registerMethod("jsonMethod", "http://remote.site/rest/json/${id}/method", "GET");



/* this would construct the following URL before invocation
 *
 * http://remote.site/rest/json/120/method?arg1=hello&arg2=world
 *
 */ 
client.methods.jsonMethod(args,function(data,response){
	// parsed response body as js object
	console.log(data);
	// raw response
	console.log(response);
});

You can even use path placeholders in query string in direct connection:

var Client = require('node-rest-client').Client;

// direct way
client = new Client();

args ={
		path:{"id":120,"arg1":"hello","arg2":"world"},
		parameters:{arg1:"hello",arg2:"world"},
		headers:{"test-header":"client-api"}
	  };

client.get("http://remote.site/rest/json/${id}/method?arg1=${arg1}&arg2=${arg2}", args, 
		function(data, response){
			// parsed response body as js object
			console.log(data);
			// raw response
			console.log(response);
});

HTTP POST and PUT methods

To send data to remote site using POST or PUT methods, just add a data attribute to args object:

var Client = require('node-rest-client').Client;

// direct way
client = new Client();

args ={
		path:{"id":120},
		parameters:{arg1:"hello",arg2:"world"},
		headers:{"test-header":"client-api"},
		data:"<xml><arg1>hello</arg1><arg2>world</arg2></xml>"
	  };

client.post("http://remote.site/rest/xml/${id}/method?arg1=hello&arg2=world", args, function(data, response){
			// parsed response body as js object
			console.log(data);
			// raw response
			console.log(response);
});

// registering remote methods
client.registerMethod("xmlMethod", "http://remote.site/rest/xml/${id}/method", "POST");


client.methods.xmlMethod(args,function(data,response){
	// parsed response body as js object
	console.log(data);
	// raw response
	console.log(response);
});

// posted data can be js object
args_js ={
		path:{"id":120},
		parameters:{arg1:"hello",arg2:"world"},
		headers:{"test-header":"client-api"},
		data:{"arg1":"hello","arg2":123}
	  };

client.methods.xmlMethod(args_js,function(data,response){
	// parsed response body as js object
	console.log(data);
	// raw response
	console.log(response);
});

Connect through proxy

Just pass proxy configuration as option to client.

var Client = require('node-rest-client').Client;

// configure proxy
var options_proxy={
		proxy:{
			host:"proxy.foo.com",
			port:8080,
			user:"proxyuser",
			password:"123",
			tunnel:true
		}
	},

client = new Client(options_proxy);

client has 2 ways to connect to target site through a proxy server: tunnel or direct request, the first one is the default option so if you want to use direct request you must set tunnel off.

var Client = require('node-rest-client').Client;

// configure proxy
var options_proxy={
		proxy:{
			host:"proxy.foo.com",
			port:8080,
			user:"proxyuser",
			password:"123",
			tunnel:false // use direct request to proxy
		}
	},

client = new Client(options_proxy);

Basic HTTP auth

Just pass username and password as option to client. Every request done with the client will pass username and password as basic authorization header.

var Client = require('node-rest-client').Client;

// configure basic http auth for every request
var options_auth={user:"admin",password:"123"};

client = new Client(options_auth);

Options parameters

You can pass the following args when creating a new client:

var options ={
	// proxy configuration
	proxy:{
			host:"proxy.foo.com", // proxy host
			port:8080, // proxy port
			user:"ellen", // proxy username if required
			password:"ripley" // proxy pass if required
		},
	// aditional connection options passed to node http.request y https.request methods 
	// (ie: options to connect to IIS with SSL)	
	connection:{	
		secureOptions: constants.SSL_OP_NO_TLSv1_2,
		ciphers:'ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:AES256-SHA:RC4-SHA:RC4:HIGH:!MD5:!aNULL:!EDH:!AESGCM',
		honorCipherOrder: true
	},
	// customize mime types for json or xml connections
	mimetypes:{
		json:["application/json","application/json;charset=utf-8"],
		xml:["application/xml","application/xml;charset=utf-8"]
	},	
	user:"admin", // basic http auth username if required
	password:"123" // basic http auth password if required
};

Managing Requests

Each REST method invocation returns a request object with specific request options and error handler.

var Client = require('node-rest-client').Client;

client = new Client();

// direct way
var req1 = client.get("http://remote.site/rest/xml/method", function(data, response){
			// parsed response body as js object
			console.log(data);
			// raw response
			console.log(response);
		});

// view req1 options		
console.log(req1.options);

// registering remote methods
client.registerMethod("jsonMethod", "http://remote.site/rest/json/method", "GET");

var req2=client.methods.jsonMethod(function(data,response){
	// parsed response body as js object
	console.log(data);
	// raw response
	console.log(response);
});

// handling specific req2 errors
req2.on('error',function(err){
	console.log('something went wrong on req2!!', err.request.options);
});

Error Handling

Now you can handle error events in two places: on client or on each request.

client = new Client(options_auth);

// handling request error events
client.get("http://remote.site/rest/xml/method", function(data, response){
			// parsed response body as js object
			console.log(data);
			// raw response
			console.log(response);
		}).on('error',function(err){
			console.log('something went wrong on the request', err.request.options);
		});

// handling client error events
client.on('error',function(err){
	console.error('Something went wrong on the client', err);
});