Messenger.js - Fast Node.js Communication Library

Installation

npm install messenger

What is Messenger.js?

Messenger.js is a library that makes network communication via JSON dead simple and insanely fast!

Example:

var messenger = require('messenger');

client = messenger.createSpeaker(8000);
server = messenger.createListener(8000);

server.on('give it to me', function(message, data){
  message.reply({'you':'got it'})
});

setInterval(function(){
  client.request('give it to me', {hello:'world'}, function(data){
    console.log(data);
  });
}, 1000);

Output:

> {'you':'got it'}
> {'you':'got it'}
> ...etc...

Features

Messenger.js is very flexible and can handle everything you need.

• Supports Request / Reply Communication using round robin
• Supports Publish / Subscribe (fanout) Communication
• Supports Fire and Forget Communication
• Supports middleware plugin for messenger Listeners (servers)
• Extremely fast (disables TCP Nagle's algorithm)
• Fault tolerant: clients will reconnect to servers even if server goes down and comes back later
• Elegant API
• Easily involves multiple servers
• Zero dependencies on other libraries

Pub Sub Example - .shout

Example

var messenger = require('messenger');

// here we have 4 servers listening on 4 different ports
var server1 = messenger.createListener(8001);
var server2 = messenger.createListener(8002);
var server3 = messenger.createListener(8003);
var server4 = messenger.createListener('127.0.0.1:8004');

server1.on('a message came', function(m, data){
  // note that m.data and data are equivalent
  console.log('server 1 got data', data);
});

server2.on('a message came', function(m, data){
  console.log('server 2 got data', data);
});

server3.on('a message came', function(m, data){
  console.log('server 3 got data', data);
});

server4.on('a message came', function(m, data){
  console.log('server 4 got data', data);
});

// a client that can be used to emit to all the servers
var client = messenger.createSpeaker(8001, 8002, 8003, 8004);

setInterval(function(){
  client.shout('a message came', {some: data});
}, 1000);

Output

> server 1 got some data
> server 2 got some data
> server 3 got some data
> server 4 got some data
> ... repeat ....

Multi-Server Request Reply - .request

Messenger uses round robin to pick a server to send data to.

Example

var messenger = require('messenger');

// here we have 4 servers listening on 4 different ports
var server1 = messenger.createListener(8001);
var server2 = messenger.createListener(8002);
var server3 = messenger.createListener(8003);
var server4 = messenger.createListener('127.0.0.1:8004');

server1.on('a message came', function(m, data){
  m.reply({greetings:'server 1 got some data'});
});

server2.on('a message came', function(){
  m.reply({greetings:'server 2 got some data'});
});

server3.on('a message came', function(){
  m.reply({greetings:'server 3 got some data'});
});

server4.on('a message came', function(){
  m.reply({greetings:'server 4 got some data'});
});

// a client that can be used to emit to all the servers
var client = messenger.createSpeaker(8001, 8002, 8003, 8004);

setTimeout(function(){
  // request here instead of shout to only access 1 server
  client.request('a message came', {some: 'data'}, function(data){
    console.log(data.greetings);
  });
}, 2000);

Output

> server 1 got some data

Fire and Forget with Multiple Servers - .send

Again, using round robin to pick a server to send data to.

Example

var messenger = require('messenger');

// here we have 4 servers listening on 4 different ports
var server1 = messenger.createListener(8001);
var server2 = messenger.createListener(8002);
var server3 = messenger.createListener(8003);
var server4 = messenger.createListener('127.0.0.1:8004');

server1.on('a message came', function(m, data){
  console.log(data);
});

server2.on('a message came', function(){
  console.log(data);
});

server3.on('a message came', function(){
  console.log(data);
});

server4.on('a message came', function(){
  console.log(data);
});

// a client that can be used to emit to all the servers
var client = messenger.createSpeaker(8001, 8002, 8003, 8004);

setTimeout(function(){
  // use send instead of reply
  client.send('a message came', {some: 'data'});
}, 2000);

Output

// via one of the 4 servers
> {'some': 'data'} 

Plugin (Middleware) Example

Take a look at the function authRequired.
You may augment the value of data by changing m.data (see Example).

Example

var messenger = require('messenger');

var server = messenger.createListener(8000);
var client = messenger.createClient(8000);

function authRequired(m, data) {
  if (data.authorized) {
    m.data.coolness = 10; // modify m.data if you want it passed, not data
    m.next(); // continuation passing
    return;
  }
  m.reply({error:'not authorized'});
}

server.on('protected request', authRequired, function(m, data){
  m.reply({you:'got past security with a coolness factor of ' + data.coolness})
});

var auth = false;
setInterval(function(){
  
  client.request('protected request', {authorized:auth}, function(data){
    console.log(data);
  })
  
  if (auth === false) {
    auth = true;
  } else {
    auth = false;
  }
}, 2000);

Output

> {error: 'not authorized'}
> {you:'got past security'}
> {error: 'not authorized'}
> {you:'got past security'}
> ... etc ...