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.
websocket-stream
Use HTML5 websockets using the Node Streams API. Works in Node or in Browsers.
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)
In the example above ws
is a duplex stream. 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).
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)
})
run the tests
server-side tests
npm test
client side tests
first start the echo server by running node test-server.js
then run npm start
and open localhost:9966
in your browser and open the Dev Tools console to see test output
license
BSD LICENSE