unifile

#Unifile, unified access to cloud storage services.

Express middleware to provide REST API for accessing cloud storage services.

#Motivation

In 2013, team has developed the v2 of Silex, free and open source website builder for designers. Since Silex is a web app, running in the browser, we faced a choice: either we make people download and install Silex, or we host it in the cloud. But Silex Labs non profit organization can not afford paying hosting for our users.

So we have decided that Silex would edit the user's files on the user's Dropbox. It is not acceptable for a free project to force people to store their data on a service such as Dropbox, so we decided to make it an option. We have added the ability for Silex to edit files on the server on which it is installed. And then other services came to our minds.

We hope that other communities will benefit this way to use their cloud services before they install the web app locally.

#How to install

With node installed (download), clone unifile on your computer

$ npm install unifile

Then write a small node.js server like this

// node modules
var unifile = require('unifile');
var express = require('express');
var app = express();

// config
var options = unifile.defaultConfig;

// use unifile as a middleware
app.use(unifile.middleware(express, app, options));

// server 'loop'
app.listen(6805); // 6805 is the date of sexual revolution started in paris france 8-)

Save this as server.js and start it with

$ node server.js

Then start making calls with wget or your browser. For example...

http://localhost:6805/api/v1.0/services/list/

... will list the available services:

[
    {
        "name": "dropbox",
        "display_name": "Dropbox",
        "description": "Edit html files from your Dropbox.",
        "isLoggedIn": true,
        "isConnected": true,
        "user": {
            "display_name": "Alex Hoyau",
            "quota_info": {
                "available": 5234491392,
                "used": 4528634951
            }
        }
    },
    {
        "name": "www",
        "display_name": "Web server",
        "description": "Edit files on the server where Silex is installed.",
        "isLoggedIn": false,
        "isConnected": false
        "user": {
            "display_name": "admin",
        }
    }
]

#REST APIs

Let's take the example of the Dropbox service

Connect to the service

Basic login and such

GET    /api/v1.0/dropbox/connect/       returns an URL, which you will open and authorize unifile to access the service (this is an oauth2 authorization mechanism)
GET   /api/v1.0/dropbox/login/          now your have access to the service

GET   /api/v1.0/dropbox/account/        Get your account info, with your display_name at least
GET   /api/v1.0/dropbox/logout/         Log out from the service (connect and login will be required)

Execute commands

GET    /api/v1.0/dropbox/exec/ls/path/to/folder/                 list a directory
GET    /api/v1.0/dropbox/exec/rm/path/to/folder-or-file/         remove a file or directory
GET    /api/v1.0/dropbox/exec/mkdir/path/to/folder/              create a directory
GET    /api/v1.0/dropbox/exec/cp/path/to/src/:/path/to/dst/      copy a file or directory
GET    /api/v1.0/dropbox/exec/mv/path/to/src/:/path/to/dst/      move (rename) a file or directory
GET    /api/v1.0/dropbox/exec/get/path/to/file.txt               access a file
GET    /api/v1.0/dropbox/exec/put/path/to/file.txt:{string}      write data to a file
POST    /api/v1.0/dropbox/exec/put/path/to/file.txt              write data to a file

#License

license: GPL v2

#Developer guide

Here is how to contribute

##Add a service

The services in unifile are cloud storage services, e.g. Dropbox and google drive.

Each service is a Node.js class implementing a given set of functions, e.g. ls, rm, cp...

If you wish to add a service,

• add your .js file in lib/services/ (duplicate the lib/services/dropbox.js file in order to have all the required methods)
• edit core/router.js to make your service reachable
• if you use an external node.js library, add the dependency in package.json

Here is a list of services which could be useful

• github (they provides free hosting, see https://help.github.com/articles/user-organization-and-project-pages)
• FTP
• Box, SkyDrive, RapidShare, CloudMine, FilesAnywhere, RapidShare
• SugarSync
• Amazon S3 and WebDav

##Notes / roadmap

• http://localhost:6805/api/v1.0/www/connect/ bug
• doc: list of supported services (also in CE)
• service www: use jade templates

unifile archi, tests and readme

• doc: https://www.dreamfactory.com/developers/live_API
• https://npmjs.org/package/social-cms-backend
• tests http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11520170/unit-testing-oauth-js-with-mocha

to do

• better readme
• unit tests for get/put/cat
• pagination for ls commands
• security: make the "allowCrossDomain" function look for the api key and det if the domain is allowed
• best practices for the api http://www.startupcto.com/backend-tech/building-an-api-best-practices
• mimic unix commands : /v1.0/gdrive/exec/?cmd="cd /example1/test/ ; cp img1.jpg img2.jpg ; ls"
• make a Terminal in javascript to test the services
• add a new service : an example of social network, like facebook, g+ or twitter?