reconnecting-socket

Generic state machine for sockets. Provides granular state handling, and start/stop functionality. Decouples socket creation and destruction in tandem with reconnect, start and stop logic, from what the socket is acually doing.

npm install reconnecting-socket

Usage

const ReconnectingSocket = require('reconnecting-socket')
const net = require('net')
 
const reconnectingTCP = new ReconnectingSocket({
  backoff: {
    failAfter: 4
  },
  create () {
    const socket = new net.Socket()
    // You are also free to redirect this info.
    // Indicate the socket is exausted/failed/done.
    socket.once('close', this.close)
    // Capture errors.  The last one will be availabl in onfail
    socket.once('error', this.error)
    // Notify the socket is open/connected/ready for use
    socket.once('connect', this.open)
    socket.connect(8124)
 
    return socket
  },
  destroy (socket) {
    // Clean up and stop a socket when reconnectingTCP.stop() is called
    socket.destroy()
  },
  onopen (socket, firstOpen) {
    // Do stuff with the socket here
    // pump(socket, something, socket)
  },
  onclose (socket) {
    // Remove event listeners, stop intervals etc.
  },
  onfail (err) {
    console.error(err)
    // Handle the final error that was emitted that caused retry to stop.
  }
})
 
// Hook reactive UIs to these events
reconnectingTCP.on('info', console.log) // debugging info
reconnectingTCP.on('state', console.log) // state inof

You can also extend ReconnectingSocket if you would prefer a class.

const ReconnectingSocket = require('reconnecting-socket')
const net = require('net')
 
class ReconnectingTCP extends ReconnectingSocket {
  constructor (opts) {
    super(opts)
 
    this.someHandler = this.someHandler.bind(this)
  }
 
  create () {
    const socket = new net.Socket()
    socket.on('close', this.close)
    socket.on('error', this.error)
    socket.on('connect', this.open)
    socket.connect(8124)
 
    return socket
  }
 
  destroy (socket) {
    socket.destroy()
  }
 
  someHandler (buf) {
    // whatever
  }
 
  onopen (socket, firstOpen) {
    socket.on('data', this.someHandler)
  }
 
  onclose (socket) {
    socket.removeListener('data', this.somehandler)
  }
 
  onfail (err) {
    console.error(err)
    // Handle the final error that was emitted that caused retry to stop.
  }
}
 
module.exports = ReconnectingTCP

API

const ReconnectingSocket = require('reconnecting-socket')

Require the ReconnectingSocket class.

reconnectingSocket = new ReconnectingSocket(opts)

Create a new reconnecting socket instance. The opts object can receive the user implemented methods listed below as well as the following optional options:

{
  backoff: {
    strategy: 'fibonacci', // the backoff strategey to use
    failAfter: null, // the number of consecutive times to attemt a reconnect before failing
    ...backoffOptions // all the options from the backoff module
  }
}

See full set of backoff options here: MathieuTurcotte/node-backoff

reconnectingSocket Events

• state: The state emmits the following state strings:
  • stopped
  • opening
  • opened
  • closing
  • closed
  • reopening
  • failed
• info: Messages that can be used for debugging.

reconnectingSocket.start()

Start the reconnecting socket.

reconnectingSocket.stop()

Stop the reconnecting socket.

User Implemented Methods

socket = reconnectingSocket.create()

Implement the .create method that is run when a new socket should be created. The method should return a socket, and attatch listeners or callbacks to trigger the following methods:

• this.open(): Called when the socket is connected or ready.
• this.error(err): Called when the socket encounters an error. Used to capture the last error emited to be returned onfail.
• this.close(): Called when the socket is fully closed or exausted. This triggers the reconnect.

The returned socket will be passed to various other hooks and events.

reconnectingSocket.destroy(socket)

The body of this method should destroy the socket (e.g. socket.destroy()). This is called when reconnectingSocket.stop() is called.

reconnectingSocket.onopen(socket, firstOpen)

This method is called whenever a new socket is created and the this.open() method has been called, so the socket should be live and ready for data. It receives the socket as well as firstOpen boolean which indicates if this is the first successful connection since calling reconnectingSocket.start(). Interact with the socket in this function body.

reconnectingSocket.onclose(socket)

This method is called when the this.close() method is called. Use this to clean up any event listeners or intervals used on the socket.

reconnectingSocket.onfail(err)

This method is called when the reconnectignSocket fails to connect after failAfter concecutive attempts. It receives the last error emitted by the various moving parts.

See also

• reconnecting-simple-websocket

License

MIT