Beams

Beams is a long-polling Node.js server extension and client library.

Quick Start

Install beams in your project:

npm install --save beams

Then here's a simple chat server and client:

var server = require('express')();
server.listen(80);
var beams = require('beams');
beams.setServer(server);
var messages = [];
beams
  .connect(function (beam) {
    beam.emit('messages', messages);
  })
  .on('message', function (text) {
    var message = {from: this.id, text: data};
    messages.push(message);
    beams.emit('messages', [message]);
  });

<script src="http://localhost/beams-client.min.js"></script>
<script>
Beams()
  .on('messages', function (data) {
    console.log(data);
    beam.emit('my other event', { my: 'data' });
  });
</script>

API

beams.setServer(Server server)

Pass an Express-like server to setServer, and it will create a Beams server on top of the server. route on any assets that you'd like to route via server.get

beams.connect(function callback)

Run a callback when a client connects.

beams.on(string name, function callback)

When a message with a given name is received, run a callback on each client. The callback takes a data argument, and its this context is the client on which it is being run.

beams.handle(string name, function callback)

Remove any existing handlers for the specified message name, and replace with a single callback, like calling beams.on only once. This is useful for frameworks that reload modules in dev mode rather than restarting the server.

beams.emit(string name, object data)

Send a named message with some data to every client.

beams.each(callback)

Run a callback on each client. The callback takes a client argument.

Array beams.clients

A list of the clients that are connected.

Object beams.handlers

Arrays of message handlers keyed by message name.

number beams.pollTimeout

How long (in milliseconds) to wait before forcing clients to reconnect.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all of the amazing people who use, support, promote, enhance, document, patch, and submit comments & issues. Beams couldn't exist without you.

Additionally, huge thanks go to Goin’ for employing and supporting Beams project maintainers, and for being an epically awesome place to work (and play).

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2014 Sam Eubank

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.

How to Contribute

We welcome contributions from the community and are happy to have them. Please follow this guide when logging issues or making code changes.

Logging Issues

All issues should be created using the new issue form. Please describe the issue including steps to reproduce. Also, make sure to indicate the version that has the issue.

Changing Code

Code changes are welcome and encouraged! Please follow our process:

1. Fork the repository on GitHub.
2. Fix the issue ensuring that your code follows the style guide.
3. Add tests for your new code, ensuring that you have 100% code coverage. (If necessary, we can help you reach 100% prior to merging.)
   • Run npm test to run tests quickly, without testing coverage.
   • Run npm run cover to test coverage and generate a report.
   • Run npm run report to open the coverage report you generated.
4. Pull requests should be made to the master branch.

Contributor Code of Conduct

As contributors and maintainers of Beams, we pledge to respect all people who contribute through reporting issues, posting feature requests, updating documentation, submitting pull requests or patches, and other activities.

If any participant in this project has issues or takes exception with a contribution, they are obligated to provide constructive feedback and never resort to personal attacks, trolling, public or private harassment, insults, or other unprofessional conduct.

Project maintainers have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or reject comments, commits, code, edits, issues, and other contributions that are not aligned with this Code of Conduct. Project maintainers who do not follow the Code of Conduct may be removed from the project team.

Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported by opening an issue or contacting one or more of the project maintainers.

We promise to extend courtesy and respect to everyone involved in this project regardless of gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability or disability, ethnicity, religion, age, location, native language, or level of experience.