messenger

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:

``javascript
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:

`javascript
> {'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

`javascript
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

`javascript
> 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

`javascript
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

`javascript
> 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

`javascript
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

`javascript
// 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

`javascript
var messenger = require('messenger');

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

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