Raptor RPC

Raptor RPC is a transport-agnostic RPC server with middleware support and an easy to use api. It will allow you to have a server up and running in a matter of minutes, without limiting you to a specific transport.

It works out of the box with the standard transports provided by Node.js and also with some popular frameworks.

Installation

npm install --save raptor-rpc

Usage

// Raptor library
const Raptor = require('raptor-rpc')
 
// Example libraries
const fetch = require('node-fetch')
const readJsonFile = require('read-json-file')
 
const app = new Raptor()
 
app.use(function (req, next) {
  console.log('Incoming request!')
  return next()
})
 
app.method('ping', function (req) {
  return 'pong'
})
 
app.method('get-package-name', function (req) {
  return readJsonFile('package.json')
    .then(pkg => pkg.name)
})
 
app.method('random-name', function (req) {
  return fetch('http://uinames.com/api/')
    .then(res => res.json())
    .then(body => `${body.name} ${body.surname}`)
})
 
app.serve('http', 1337, function () {
  console.log('Listening on http://localhost:1337/')
})

API

Raptor

.use(fn)

Add middleware to the server.

• fn: Middleware function with the signature (req, next) => Promise

The middleware function should return a promise of a response. Calling next will return a promise of the next middleware or, if no other middleware exists, the method handler.

.method(name, fn)

Register a method with the server.

• name: The method name
• fn: Method handler with the signature (req) => Promise

The method handler should return a promise of what to respond with. It's also acceptable to return the value right away, since the handler is wrapped in a .then call. This also means that any errors thrown will be caught correctly.

.handle(...)

Handle a request, accepts a number of different parameters.

Read more under Transports.

.attach(server)

Attaches Raptor to the server, accepts a number of different parameters.

Read more under Transports.

.serve(type, port[, cb])

Starts a server and accepts connections.

• type: Which transport to use (dgram, http, net)
• port: Which port to listen to
• cb: Function to be called when accepting connections

Returns the server instance (dgram.Socket, http.Server or net.Server).

Request

.id

The jsonrpc id of the request, can be undefined. This variable is read-only.

.method

The method name of the request. This variable is read-only.

.params

The params object as passed from the client. Can be Array or Object.

.param(key, defValue)

Helper function to get a parameter or a default value if it wasn't provided.

• key: Key to fetch, can be Number or String
• defValue: Value to return if key wasn't provided, is undefined if not specified.

.require(key, type)

Helper function to require the presence a parameter and optionally check it's type. Will send an Invalid params error (-32602) back to the client, and stop execution, if the parameter is not present. It also returns the value of the parameter.

• key: Key to require, can be Number or String
• type: If specified, also require the parameter to be of this type

Valid values for type is specified in the JSON Schema: core definitions and terminology and RFC 4627.

This is implemented by throwing an Error if the key isn't present, or is of the wrong type.

.source

The source of the connection, i.e. the stream that was piped to the connection.

.remote

Info about the other end of the connection. Includes three keys:

• type: Type of the transport (unknown, dgram, http, net)
• address: Ip address of the remote
• port: The remote port

Error handling

If you reject within a middleware or a method handler, that error will be sent back to the client. The description will be err.toString() and the code err.rpcCode. If rpcCode is undefined the code sent will be 0.

You can also include additional data by providing err.rpcData. rpcData can be of any type.

Transports

Express

const app = express()
const raptor = new Raptor()
 
app.post('/api', raptor.handle)
app.listen(1337)

Dgram

const raptor = new Raptor()
const socket = dgram.createSocket('udp4')
 
raptor.attach(socket);
socket.bind(1337);

Net

const raptor = new Raptor()
const server = net.createServer({ allowHalfOpen: true })
 
raptor.attach(server);
server.listen(1337);

Http

const raptor = new Raptor()
const server = http.createServer()
 
raptor.attach(server);
server.listen(1337);

License

Copyright © 2014 Linus Unnebäck
Licensed under the MIT License (MIT)