simple-lastfm-desktop

Desktop Hooks for lastfm integrations

You are here because you are building an app(probably with Electron) which integrates to lastfm, but using the desktop integration flow with any of the existing npm libraries kind of sucks.

So here's extensions to simple-lastfm to support desktop authentication methods, as well as a conveinience method to handle the whole process.

account configuration

Make sure when you create your last.fm account you set your domain to localhost, so your application can open a port and the web browser can deliver the token to your app. The .ready() wrapup function uses http://localhost:8082/lastfm_return, so you should use that. If you are manually using .getDesktopSessionKey() and .getToken() you can use whatever you want (like something more complicated requiring a server).

desktop authentication methods

• api.getToken(<callback(result)>) calls with an object containing .status and .token or .error and requires .api_key and .api_secret are set
• api.getDesktopSessionKey(<callback(result)>, <authenticate(finishFunction)>) calls with an object containing .status and .token or .error and requires .token, .api_key and .api_secret are set.

To authenticate you need to open a server which can recieve the notification, then forward the user to the last.fm authentication endpoint( http://www.last.fm/api/auth/?api_key=<api key>&token=<token> ), after authenticating the app they will redirect to the URL you set when you obtain the key. If you want a host free setup, then use localhost and the website can notify your local webserver (this is automated in .ready() below).

.ready() ... the short, short version

.ready(<readyFunction>, <authenticationCompleteFunction>)

So, this requires a sql compatible database. I'm going to show how to use it with Mangrove, but you could also use anything that supports sql (just pass an object with a .query(<sql>, <callback>) signature). This will direct the user through last.fm's authentication flow in their default browser and return them to the application when complete (some browsers will not allow me to close the resulting window!). I'm using the fs sync functions just for brevity and the process requires port 8082 be available. When using this in your own project copy lastfm.html into your own app (this is the page served to users when they return from last.fm).

var db = new Mangrove(fs.readFileSync('services.json'))

api.ready(db, function(){
    //api is now ready to be used
}, function(){
	//switch back to the app window after auth in the browser
    window.show();
});

Then, when the application is closing:

fs.writeFileSync('services.json', db.toJSON())

That was as simple as I could make it, and really... that's not too bad.

Enjoy,

-Abbey Hawk Sparrow