Jandal

An event handler for socket interfaces. It was built for use with SockJS, but can be used with any socket interface, such as node streams.

It has a similar feature set to Socket.io, including rooms and broadcasting.

Important

Jandal has a maximum of three arguments per event. This restriction vastly improves performance in most browsers and in nodejs.

This may sound harsh, but you probably don't need to use more than three args anyway. You can always store extra args in an array or object.

There is also the deprecated multi-args branch

• but it is not kept up to date.

Example Usage

Server

Add it to your project with npm install --save jandal.

var http, Jandal, sockjs, server, conn;
 
http   = require('http');
Jandal = require('jandal');
sockjs = require('sockjs');
 
// standard sockjs stuff
server = http.createServer();
conn = sockjs.createServer();
conn.installHandlers(server, { prefix: '/socket' });
server.listen(8080);
 
// Listen for new connections
conn.on('connection', function (socket) {
    var jandal;
 
    // wrap the socket in a Jandal
    jandal = new Jandal(socket, 'stream');
 
    // listening for the 'log' event
    jandal.on('log', function (text) {
        console.log('log: ' + text);
    });
 
    // listening for an event with a callback
    jandal.on('echo', function (text, callback) {
        callback(text);
    });
 
    // send an event to the client
    jandal.emit('weclome', {
        id: socket.id,
        time: Date.now()
    });
 
});

Client

Grab a copy of /client.js from this repo, or use CommonJS compiler and require jandal/client.

var conn, socket;
 
// use browserify
// or load the libraries as seperate scripts
require('sockjs');
require('jandal/client');
 
conn = new SockJS('http://localhost:8080/socket');
socket = new Jandal(conn, 'websocket');
 
// Wait for socket to connect
socket.on('socket.open', function () {
 
    // listen for events
    socket.on('welcome', function (info) {
        console.log(info);
    });
 
    // send a message to the server
    socket.emit('log', 'the time is' + Date.now());
 
    // Send a message to the server with a callback
    socket.emit('echo', 'hello', function (reply) {
        assert(reply === 'hello');
    });
 
});

Rooms

 
conn.on('connection', function (socket) {
    var jandal;
 
    // wrap the socket
    jandal = new Jandal(socket, 'stream');
 
    // add it to a room
    jandal.join('my_room');
 
    // emit to all other sockets in a room
    jandal.broadcast.to('my_room').emit('a new socket has joined', jandal.id);
 
    // remove it from a room
    jandal.leave('my_room');
 
});

Jandal Class

Static Properties

The Jandal class has a couple of static properties useful for managing connected sockets.

Jandal.all

This is a Room instance that holds all the connected sockets. See the Room docs for more info.

Example:

// Emitting
Jandal.all.emit('hello', 1, 2,3);
 
// Broadcasting
Jandal.all.broadcast('socket-id', 'hello', 1, 2, 3);

Jandal.in(room)

Easily access any sockets in any room. See the Room docs for more info.

Parameters:

• room (string) : the name of the room

Example:

Jandal.in('my-room').emit('hello');

Instance Properties

Every Jandal instance extends the NodeJS EventEmitter so you can also use methods like: once, removeAllListeners and setMaxListeners. See the EventEmitter docs for more information.

jandal.rooms

An array that holds all the rooms the socket is currently joined to.

jandal.connect

Parameters:

• socket (object) : an object that represents a socket
• handle (string|object) : a handle name or an object to use as a handle

Example:

var jandal, conn;
 
jandal = new Jandal();
conn = new SockJS(config.url);
 
jandal.connect(conn, 'websocket');

Example with custom handles:

var jandal, handle, socket;
 
jandal = new Jandal();
 
socket = new EventEmitter();
 
handle = {
    write: function (socket, message) {
        socket.emit('message', message);
    },
    onread: (socket, fn) {
        socket.on('message', fn);
    },
    ...
};
 
jandal.connect(socket, handle);

jandal.emit

This is very similar to the NodeJS EventEmitter, but you are limited to three arguments.

Parameters:

• event (string) : the event to emit
• arg1 (dynamic)
• arg2 (dynamic)
• arg3 (dynamic)

Arguments can be strings, numbers, booleans, dates, objects, arrays, etc... Basically anything that JSON.stringify can handle.

Callbacks:

You can also send one function for use as a callback.

• It must always be passed as the last argument.
• Callbacks will only be run once.
• They can take 0 to 3 arguments.

Example:

var jandal;
jandal = new Jandal();
 
// lots of different data types
jandal.emit('my-event', 'arg 1', ['arg 2'], {arg: 3})
 
// passing functions as callbacks
jandal.emit('my-callback', 'some data', function (response) {
    console.log('running the callback with', response);
});

jandal.on

Works very similar to the EventEmitter.

Parameters:

• event (string) : event to listen for
• listener (function) : function to run when the event is emitted

Example:

jandal.on('my-event', function (arg1, arg2, arg3) {
    console.log('"my-event" has been emitted with', arguments);
});
 
// listening for a namespace + event
jandal.on('task.create', listener);
 
// this is the same as
jandal.namespace('task').on('create', listener);

jandal.namespace

Return a new Namespace instance. If the namespace already exists, it will use that instead of creating a new one. See the Namespace docs for more info.

Parameters:

• name (string) : namespace name

Example:

var jandal, ns;
 
jandal = new Jandal();
ns = jandal.namespace('app');
 
// sends "app.hello()"
ns.emit('hello');
 
// listens for "app.goodbye"
ns.on('goodbye', function () {
    console.log('bye');
});

jandal.join

Put the socket in a room.

Parameters:

• room (string) : name of the room

Example:

jandal.join('my-room');

jandal.leave

Remove the socket from a room.

Parameters:

• room (string) : name of the room

Example:

jandal.leave('my-room');

jandal.room

Returns a room. Same as Jandal.in.

Parameters:

• room (string) : name of the room

Example:

// add the socket to the room
jandal.join('my-room');
 
// get the room
var room = jandal.room('my-room');
 
// emit to all the sockets in the room
room.emit('hello');

jandal.release

Remove the socket from all the rooms it is currently in.

Example:

jandal.release();

Room Class

Instance Methods

Rooms are just a collection of sockets. You can add or remove sockets from them, and emit events to all sockets in that room, or broadcast events from a socket to all other sockets.

Every socket is added to the 'all' room, which can be acessed through Jandal.all.

room.length

Returns the number of connected sockets in a room.

Parameters:

No parameters

Example:

Jandal.in('my-room').length();

room.contains

Check if a socket is in a room. Returns true or false.

Parameters

• jandal (Jandal) : an instance of a Jandal

Example:

var a, b;
 
a = new Jandal();
a.join('my-room');
 
b = new Jandal();
 
Jandal.in('my-room').contains(a); // true
Jandal.in('my-room').contains(b); // false

room.emit

Exactly the same as jandal.emit but will be sent to all connected sockets.

Parameters:

• event (string) : name of the event
• arg1 (dynamic)
• arg2 (dynamic)
• arg3 (dynamic)

Example:

Jandal.in('my-room').emit('hello', 1, 2, 3);

room.broadcast

Just like emit, but will not send to the 'sender' socket.

Parameters:

• sender (dynamic)
• event (string)
• arg1 (dynamic)
• arg2 (dynamic)
• arg3 (dynamic)

Example:

Jandal.in('my-room').broadcast('some-id', 'bye', 1, 2, 3);

room.namespace

Get a namespace for a room.

Parameters:

• name (string) : the name of the namespace

Example:

Jandal.in('my-room').namespace('tasks').emit('create', 'something');

room.destroy

Destroy all sockets in a room

Jandal.in('my-room').destroy()

Handle

Handles are used as an interface between Jandal and a socket.

There are two handles bundled by default: stream and websocket.

Default Handles

Stream

Works with SockJS-Node

Source Code:

stream: {
    identify: function (socket) {
        return socket.id;
    },
    write: function (socket, message) {
        socket.write(message);
    },
    onread: function (socket, fn) {
        socket.on('data', fn);
    },
    onclose: function (socket, fn) {
        socket.on('close', fn);
    },
    onerror: function(socket, fn) {
        socket.on('error', fn);
    },
    onopen: function(socket, fn) {
        setTimeout(fn, 0);
    },
    release: function (socket) {
        socket.removeAllListeners('data');
        socket.removeAllListeners('close');
        socket.removeAllListeners('error');
    }
}

WebSocket

Works with the WebSocket API (and also SockJS-Client).

Source Code:

websocketsId = 0;
 
...
 
websocket: {
    identify: function (socket) {
        if (socket.hasOwnProperty('id')) return socket.id;
        socket.id = ++websocketsId;
        return socket.id;
    },
    write: function (socket, message) {
        socket.send(message);
    },
    onread: function (socket, fn) {
        socket.onmessage = function (e) { fn(e.data); };
    },
    onclose: function (socket, fn) {
        socket.onclose = fn;
    },
    onerror: function(socket, fn) {
        socket.onerror = fn;
    },
    onopen: function(socket, fn) {
        socket.onopen = fn;
    },
    release: function (socket) {
        delete socket.onmessage;
        delete socket.onclose;
        delete socket.onerror;
        delete socket.onopen;
    }
}

Methods

identify

Return something that identifies this socket, like an ID.

Parameters:

• socket (Socket) : the socket to identify

Example:

var handler = {
    identify: function (socket) {
 
        // if your sockets already have an id
        return socket.id;
 
        // maybe assign an id?
        // HINT: better to use
        return socket.id || socket.id = ++someNumber;
 
        // if you don't care about anything
        return socket;
 
    }
};

write

Write a message to the socket. Will be called whenever a message needs to be sent.

Parameters:

• socket (socket) : the socket to send the message with
• message (string) : the message to send

Example:

var handler = {
    write: function (socket, message) {
        socket.write(message);
    }
};

onread

Listen for messages. Will be called once per each socket. Expects the fn callback to be passed a message whenever one is sent.

Parameters:

• socket (socket) : the socket to listen to
• fn (function) : the callback to run

Callback Parameters:

• message (string) : the message that has been sent to the socket

Example:

var handler = {
    onread: function (socket, fn) {
        socket.on('read', fn);
    }
};

onerror(socket, fn)

Listen for errors on the socket. Will be called only once per each socket. Expects fn to be called whenever the socket has an error. Accepts one argument that will be be passed through to the socket.error event.

Parameters:

• socket (socket) : the socket to listen to
• fn (function) : the callback to run

Callback Parameters:

• err (dynamic) : an error message

Example:

var handler = {
    onerror: function (socket, fn) {
        socket.on('error', function (err) {
            fn(err);
        });
    }
};

onopen(socket, fn)

Listen for the socket connection to be opened. Will be called once per each socket. Expects the fn callback to called once when the socket has connected. If the socket is already open, the you can run the callback immediately. Will be passed through to the socket.open event.

Parameters:

• socket (socket) : the socket to listen to
• fn (function) : the callback to run

Callback Parameters:

• event (dymanic) : an optional argument to pass through to socket.open

Example:

var handler = {
    onopen: function (socket, fn) {
        socket.on('open', fn);
    }
};

onclose(socket, fn)

Listen for the socket to be closed. Will be called once per each socket. Expects the fn callback to be called only once, and only when the socket has been closed. Arguments will be passed through to the socket.close event.

Parameters:

• socket (socket) : the socket to listen to
• fn (function) : the callback to run

Callback Parameters:

• status (number) : error code
• message (string) : error message

Example:

var handler = {
    onclose: function (socket, fn) {
        socket.on('close', fn);
    }
};

release(socket)

Disconnect the raw socket from the jandal instance.

Parameters:

• socket (socket) : the socket to listen to

Example:

var handler = {
    release: function (socket) {
        socket.off('data');
        socket.off('open');
        socket.off('close');
        socket.off('error');
    }
};

Protocol

Jandal uses a simple protocol for encoding messages. It's based on the javascript syntax for objects and functions. Arguments are encoded using JSON.stringify.

There are four parts to a message:

• namespace
• event
• args
• callback

The namespace and callback are both optional.

Example messages:

// event + single arg
fetch("info")
 
// event + multiple args
fetch("info",{"count":40})
 
// event + arg + callback
fetch("info").fn(10)
 
// namespace + event + arg
user.load("numbers",[10,20,30])
 
// namespace + event + arg + callback
task.create({"name":"this is a new task"}).fn(1)

Callbacks:

Each message can have a single callback. The callback must be the last arguments, and can only be called once.

Callbacks are just like regular events, so you can also have a callback on a callback.

// send a message with a callback
app.login('username', 'password').fn(32)
 
// response running the callback with args
socket.fn_23({login: success})
 
// callback with a callback
socket.fn_24({login: fail}).fn(25)

Browsers

The same code can be run in the browser by using Browserify.

This also allows you to use the library to communicate between servers, as it acts as the client and the server.

To compile for the browser:

npm run-script build

And then either copy/paste the client.js file into your project, or include it via require('jandal/client');.

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2014 George Czabania

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Changelog

0.0.15

• When broadcasting from a socket, check socket.id !== sender instead of socket !== sender. This requires all sockets to have an 'id' attribute.
• Use the socket namespace instead of Jandal for handling callbacks.
• Make serialize and parse private methods of a Jandal instance.
• Make namespaces and callbacks private properties of a Jandal instance.
• Fix bug where Jandal would crash if a callback is called more than once
• Make Room.prototype.join and Room.prototype.leave private.
• Fix bug where a socket could be added to the same room twice
• Remove Jandal.handle(). Instead pass the handler to the Jandal constructor. e.g: new Jandal(socket, 'stream');.
• Replace room.destroy() with room.empty(). No longer destroys room, just removes all the connected sockets.
• Remove Room.remove().
• Add MIT License
• Switch from var = a, b, c; to var a = 1; \n var b = 2; var c = 3;

0.0.14

• Rebuild client.js

0.0.13

• The onclose handler now accepts two arguments that will be passed through to the socket.close event.

0.0.12

• Move client.js to the root directory. You should now use require('jandal/client').
• Allow users to supply a custom socket handler.

0.0.11

• Add socket events: socket.open, socket.close, socket.error.
• Fix an off by error with Socket.prototype.serialize, where callbacks could not be the last argument.

0.0.10

• Use .fn(20) instead of __fn__20 for callbacks.
• Make sure that Socket.prototype.parse will only accept strings.

0.0.9

• Protect Socket.prototype.parse against crashing on invalid messages.

0.0.8

• Add Socket.prototype.room to access rooms from a jandal instance.
• Limit event arguments to a maximum of three.

0.0.7

• Clean up code.
• Add examples to readme.

0.0.6

• Use browserify to compile for browsers.
• Use uglify to minify client.js.

0.0.5

• Set main to source/jandal.js.

0.0.4

• Add namespaces to broadcasting
• Redo the room api

0.0.3

• Split code into multiple files.
• Add support for sorting sockets into rooms

0.0.2

• Use handles to interface betwen jandals and sockets.
• Fix bug with parsing messages.
• Add Jandal.noConflict for browsers.

0.0.1

• Start project
• Write jandal.js and tests
• Can serialize and parse messages
• Add namespaces
• Can emit messages and listen for them
• Add callback functions