brow

෴ browserver-node ෴

This is a browserver proxy for node.js.

Use browserver-node to create servers that act as a two-way proxies between an HTTP server and a WebSocket server, by

• forwarding incoming HTTP requests on to WebSocket connected clients, and back.
• forwarding incoming WebSocket messages to other HTTP servers, and back.

This library, along with browserver-client, is all the code you need to set up your own browserver.

Example

// http, websocket, and browservers
var http   = require("http")
var engine = require("engine.io")
var brow   = require("brow")
 
function handler(req, res) {
  // your usual HTTP server logic
}
 
// instantiate http and websocket servers
var httpServer = http.createServer(handler)
var wsServer   = engine.attach(httpServer)
 
// pass each to a new browserver...
var browServer = new brow.Server({
  http: httpServer,
  ws: wsServer,
  host: "*.mydomain.org"
})
 
// ... and start listening!
httpServer.listen(80, function() {
  // wait for incoming/outgoing browser connections...
})

Installation

browserver is available through npm.

npm install brow

API

browserver = new brow.Server(options)

This joins a WebSocket server and HTTP server, returning a new browserver instance. The options argument accepts the following properties:

• ws: Required. Must be an instance of a WebSocket server (such as ws) or compatible shim (such as socket.io, engine.io) that emits socket instances through connection events.

• http: Optional. If specified, must be an instance of http.Server. If omitted, an instance will be instantiated and bound to port 3572 (the Unicode codepoint for the brow ෴).

• host Optional. If specified, must be a string containing one and only one asterisk (*), which is replaced with a socket id when a WebSocket connection is established. Note that this means you will need a wildcard CNAME or A record in your DNS settings that resolves to the appropriate domain or IP address. If omitted, CloudFoundry's *.vcap.me domain is used, which resolves all domains/subdomains to 127.0.0.1.

browserver.on("connection", function(client){ ... })

The browserver server emits a connection event with a WebSocket-connected browserver client, whenever one connects. Each client is an instance of brow.Client, with an id property that defaults to a random lowercase alphanumeric string generated upon instantiation. How these ids are generated can be customized by overriding the static brow.Client.id method.

client.on("close", function(){ ... })

browserver clients emit a close event when their underlying WebSocket is closed.

TODO

• Add integrated hooks for authorization and authentication of requests, both incoming and outgoing.