Channel Uniform

API for performing http(s) request and opening websockets uniformly across node.js and browsers.

• Use require("channel-uniform/node") inside node applications.
• Use require("channel-uniform/browser") inside modules to be browserified.

// Uncomment one of the two lines below:
// var Channel = require("channel-uniform/node");
// var Channel = require("channel-uniform/browser");
 
// request
var channel1 = Channel("httpbin.org");
var response = channel1.request("GET", "/ip", {}, "");
console.log("\nhttp-sync\n", response);
channel1.request("GET", "/ip", {}, "", function (error, response) {
  if (error)
    throw error;
  console.log("\nhttp-async\n", response);
});
 
// websocket
var channel2 = Channel("echo.websocket.org")
var ws = channel2.websocket("/");
ws.onopen = function () {
  ws.onmessage = function (event) {
    console.log("\nws\n", event.data);
  };
  ws.send("Hello!");
};

http-sync
 { status: 200,
  reason: 'OK',
  headers: 
   { server: 'meinheld/0.6.1',
     date: 'Thu, 18 May 2017 13:30:07 GMT',
     'content-type': 'application/json',
     'access-control-allow-origin': '*',
     'access-control-allow-credentials': 'true',
     'x-powered-by': 'Flask',
     'x-processed-time': '0.000710010528564',
     'content-length': '32',
     via: '1.1 vegur' },
  body: '{\n  "origin": "81.164.22.111"\n}\n' }

http-async
 { status: 200,
  reason: 'OK',
  headers: 
   { connection: 'close',
     server: 'meinheld/0.6.1',
     date: 'Thu, 18 May 2017 13:30:08 GMT',
     'content-type': 'application/json',
     'access-control-allow-origin': '*',
     'access-control-allow-credentials': 'true',
     'x-powered-by': 'Flask',
     'x-processed-time': '0.000776052474976',
     'content-length': '32',
     via: '1.1 vegur' },
  body: '{\n  "origin": "81.164.22.111"\n}\n' }

ws
 Hello!

channel = Channel(host, secure)

Instantiate a new channel.

• host(string): defines the other end point of the channel, understand the formats detailed below.

  Format	Example	Remark
  host and port	"www.example.org:80"
  host only	"www.example.org"	A default port is used: 80 for plain connections and 443 for encrypted connection
  port only	"8080"	Local port, equivalent to "localhost:8080"
  path	"/path/to/unix-socket"	Absolute path to a unix-domain-socket, faster but works only on node

• secure(boolean): indicates whether the communication should be encrypted or not.

• channel(object): instance of this module.

response = channel.request(method, path, headers, body)

Perform a synchronous http(s) request, may throw an error.

• channel(object): instance of this module.
• method(string): http method (eg: "GET" or "POST").
• path(string): path of the http(s) request
• headers(object): mapping from header keys to header values
• body(string): body of the http(s) request.
• response(object): buffered response object
  • response.status(number): http status code (eg: 200 or 404).
  • response.reason(string): reason stated in the status line
  • response.headers(object): mapping from header keys to header values
  • response.body(string): body of the response

channel.request(method, path, headers, body, callback)

Perform an asynchronous http(s) request.

• callback(function|any):
  • If callback is a function it will be called once the request is completed with two arguments:
    1. an instance of Error if it failed and null if it succeed
    2. a response object similar as with synchronous requests
  • Else if callback is a truthy value, the response will not be parsed (faster).
  • Else a synchronous request will actually be performed.

Attention: On node, when the callback parameter is a function, the request will only be fired only after resuming to the event loop which is the expected behavior of http.request. Every other communication in this module are fired immediately.

websocket = channel.websocket(path)

• path(string): path for the http(s) upgrade request.
• websocket(object): instance of window.WebSocket in browsers and an instance of ws in node, both provide the same basic API:

  var websocket = channel.websocket(path);
  websocket.onopen = function () { ... };
  websocket.onclose = function (code, reason) { ... };
  websocket.onerror = function (error) { ... };
  websocket.onmessage = function (event) {
    var message = event.data;
    ...
  };
  // once open //
  websocket.send(message);
  websocket.close(code, reason);