websocket-stream

What is websocket-stream?

The websocket-stream npm package allows you to use WebSockets as a streaming interface in Node.js. It integrates WebSockets with the Node.js stream API, making it easier to work with real-time data streams over WebSocket connections.

What are websocket-stream's main functionalities?

Creating a WebSocket Stream Server

This code sets up an HTTP server and attaches a WebSocket stream server to it. The WebSocket server listens for incoming connections and echoes back any data it receives.

const websocket = require('websocket-stream');
const http = require('http');

const server = http.createServer();
const wss = websocket.createServer({ server }, function(stream) {
  stream.pipe(stream); // Echoes back the received data
});

server.listen(8080, () => {
  console.log('WebSocket server is listening on port 8080');
});

Connecting to a WebSocket Stream Server

This code demonstrates how to connect to a WebSocket stream server and send data to it. It also listens for data from the server and logs it to the console.

const websocket = require('websocket-stream');

const stream = websocket('ws://localhost:8080');

stream.write('Hello, server!');
stream.on('data', function(data) {
  console.log('Received:', data.toString());
});

Using WebSocket Streams with Node.js Streams

This code shows how to pipe a file stream to a WebSocket stream. It reads data from a file and sends it over the WebSocket connection.

const websocket = require('websocket-stream');
const fs = require('fs');

const stream = websocket('ws://localhost:8080');
const fileStream = fs.createReadStream('example.txt');

fileStream.pipe(stream);

Other packages similar to websocket-stream

ws

The 'ws' package is a popular WebSocket implementation for Node.js. It provides a comprehensive set of features for working with WebSockets, including support for both client and server. Unlike websocket-stream, 'ws' does not integrate directly with the Node.js stream API, but it offers more control over WebSocket connections and is widely used in the community.

socket.io

The 'socket.io' package is a real-time communication library that provides both WebSocket and fallback support for other transport protocols. It is designed for building real-time applications and offers features like rooms, namespaces, and broadcasting. While it is more feature-rich than websocket-stream, it is also more complex and may be overkill for simple WebSocket streaming use cases.

websocket

The 'websocket' package is another WebSocket implementation for Node.js. It supports both client and server and provides a simple API for working with WebSocket connections. It does not integrate with the Node.js stream API like websocket-stream, but it is a solid choice for basic WebSocket functionality.

README

websocket-stream

npm install websocket-stream

use HTML5 websockets the node way -- with streams

in the browser

you can use browserify to package this module for browser use.

var websocket = require('websocket-stream')
var ws = websocket('ws://realtimecats.com')
ws.pipe(somewhereAwesome)

ws is a stream and speaks stream events: data, error and end. that means you can pipe output to anything that accepts streams. you can also pipe data into streams (such as a webcam feed or audio data)

browserify steps

npm install -g browserify // install browserify
cd node_modules/websocket-stream
npm install . // install dev dependencies
browserify index.js -s websocket-stream > websocket-stream.js // require websocket-stream.js in your client-side app

on the server

using the ws module you can make a websocket server and use this module to get websocket streams on the server:

var WebSocketServer = require('ws').Server
var websocket = require('websocket-stream')
var wss = new WebSocketServer({server: someHTTPServer})
wss.on('connection', function(ws) {
  var stream = websocket(ws)
  fs.createReadStream('bigdata.json').pipe(stream)
})

options

pass in options as the second argument like this:

websocketStream('ws://foobar', { type: someTypedArray })

// e.g. {type: Uint8Array} means you'll get Uint8Arrays back instead of ArrayBuffers

possible options are...

{ 
  protocol: // optional, string, specify websocket protocol
  type: // optional, TypedArray object, wraps the ArrayBuffer before emitting
}

binary sockets

To send binary data just write a Buffer or TypedArray to the stream. On the other end you will receive Buffer instances if it's the server and ArrayBuffer instances if it's the client. The client will default to ArrayBuffer objects but can also be configured to receive Blobs.

If you write binary data to a websocket on the server, the client will receive binary objects. Same thing goes for strings.

license

BSD LICENSE