SCOUT CAMP

Dealing with server systems can be alleviated by systems which allow clear distinction between:

serving pages; and
powering applications.

Camp.js

We start the web server.

var camp = require('camp').start();

The start() function has the following properties:

documentRoot: the path to the directory containing the static files you serve (and the template files, potentially). If your website is made of HTML pages, this is where they are located. Defaults to ./web.
templateReader: the default template engine used. See below.
passphrase, key, cert, ca: in the case of a secure website (using HTTPS), those are fields you may specify to indicate where to find information about the website's security. Defaults include "https.key", "https.crt", and, as the CA (Certificate Authority, a list of certificates) an empty list.
setuid: once the server has made the connection, set the user id to something else. This is particularly useful if you don't want the server to run as the almighty root user. However, executing this requires to be root (so you will need to use sudo or the like to run the server).
saveRequestChunks: some requests will have their data processed by Camp before reaching your handlers, in order to fill the Augmented Request's req.data dictionary, but this means that you won't receive any of the processed chunks by doing req.on('data',function(chunk){}) in your handler. If you need to access these raw chunks (e.g. to pipe complete requests to a different server), you'll find them in req.chunks when saveRequestChunks is set to true.

The result of require('camp') can also be useful, for instance, to log warnings from the server. The logging system uses multilog.

var Camp = require('camp');
Camp.log.unpipe('warn', 'stderr');
// There are three streams: warn, error, and all.
// warn and error are individually piped to stderr by default.

Ajax

The Camp.js engine targets ease of use of both serving plain html files and ajax calls. By default, when given a request, it looks for files in the ./web/ directory. However, it also has the concept of Ajax actions.

camp.ajax.on('getinfo', function(json, end, ask) {
  console.log(json);
  end(json);   // Send that back to the client.
});

An action maps a string to the path request /$<string>. When a client asks for this resource, sending in information stored in the "json" parameter, Camp.js will send it back the object literal that the callback function gives.

In the example given, it merely sends back whatever information the client gives, which is a very contrived example.

The purpose of this distinction between normally served html pages and ajax actions is to treat servers more like applications. You first serve the graphical interface, in html and css, and then, you let the user interact with the server's data seemlessly through ajax calls.

Note that the json parameter given is a single object containing all parameters from the following sources:

the query string from GET requests
POST requests with enctype application/x-www-form-urlencoded
POST requests with enctype multipart/form-data. This one uses the same API as formidable for file objects.

You also get an Ask object, see below.

Before downloading POST Ajax data, you can hook a function up using the following code:

camp.ajaxReq.on('getinfo', function(ask) { … });

That can be useful to give information about the progress of an upload, for instance, using ask.form.on('progress', function(bytesReceived, bytesExpected) {}).

EventSource

Let's build a path named /path. When we receive a call on /talk, we send the data it gives us to the EventSource path.

// This is actually a full-fledged chat.
var chat = camp.eventSource ( '/all' );
camp.post('/talk', function(req, res) { chat.send(req.data); res.end(); });

This EventSource object we get has two methods:

The send method takes a JSON object and emits the message event to the client. It is meant to be used with es.onrecv.
The emit method takes an event name and a textual message and emits this event with that message to the client. It is meant to be used with es.on(event, callback).

WebSocket

We also include the raw duplex communication system provided by the WebSocket protocol.

camp.ws('/path', function(socket));

Every time a WebSocket connection is initiated (say, by a Web browser), the function is run. The socket is an instance of [ws.WebSocket] (https://github.com/einaros/ws/blob/master/doc/ws.md#class-wswebsocket). Usually, you only need to know about socket.on('message', function(data)), and socket.send(data).

This function returns an instance of a [WebSocket server] (https://github.com/einaros/ws/blob/master/doc/ws.md#class-wsserver) for that path. Most notably, it has a wsServer.clients list of opened sockets on a path.

A map from paths to WebSocket servers is available at:

camp.wsChannels[path];

For the purpose of broadcasting (ie, sending messages to every connected socket on the path), we provide the following function.

camp.wsBroadcast('/path', function recv(req, res))

The recv function is run once every time a client sends data.

Its req parameter provides req.data (the data that a client sent), and req.flags (req.flags.binary is true if binary data is received; req.flags.masked if the data was masked).
Its res parameter provides res.send(data), which sends the same data to each socket on the path.

Client-side, obviously, your browser needs to have a WebSocket API. The client-side code may look like this.

// `socket` is a genuine WebSocket instance.
var socket = new WebSocket('/path');
socket.send(JSON.stringify({ some: "data" }));

Socket.io

Be warned before you read on: the Socket.io interface is deprecated. Use the WebSocket interface provided above instead. Also, do not use both the socket.io interface and the WebSocket interface. That seems to be asking for trouble.

We also include the duplex communication system that socket.io provides. When you start the server, by default, socket.io is already launched. You can use its APIs as documented at https://socket.io#how-to-use from the camp.io object.

camp.io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) { … });

On the client-side, Scout.js also provides shortcuts, through its Scout.socket(namespace) function. Calling Scout.socket() returns the documented Socket.io object that you can use according to their API.

var io = Scout.socket();
io.emit('event name', {data: 'to send'});
io.on('event name', function (jsonObject) { … });

Handlers

If you want a bit of code to be executed on every request, or if you want to manually manage requests at a low level without all that fluff described above, you can add handlers to the server.

Each request goes through each handler you provided in the order you provided them. Unless a handler calls next(), the request gets caught by that handler:

None of the handlers after that one get called,
None of the subsequent layers of Camp (such as WebSocket, EventSource, Route…) get called.

Otherwise, all the handlers get called, and the request will get caught by one of the subsequent layers of Camp.

var addOSSHeader = function(req, res, next) {
  ask.res.setHeader('X-Open-Source', 'https://github.com/espadrine/sc/');
  next();
};
camp.handle(addOSSHeader);
// There's no reason to remove that amazing handler, but if that was what
// floated your boat, here is how you would do that:
camp.removeHandler(addOSSHeader);

Templates

An associated possibility, very much linked to the normal use of Camp.js, is to handle templates. Those are server-side preprocessed files.

Basic Usage

Mostly, you first decide where to put your template file. Let's say we have such a file at /first/post.html (from the root of the web/ or publish/ directory).

var posts = ['This is the f1rst p0st!'];

camp.path( 'first/post.html', function(req, res) {
  res.template({
    text: posts[0],
    comments: ['first comment!', 'second comment…']
  });
});

req is an Augmented Request, and res an Augmented Response. Therefore, if the request is /first/post.html?key=value, then req.data.key will be "value".

res.template(scope, templates) responds to the request with a list of templates (produced with Camp.template() or camp.template()), a single template, or no template: in the latter case, the URI's path will be treated as a template file on disk under documentRoot. This is the case here with "first/post.html".

The file /web/first/post.html might look like this:

<!doctype html><title></title>
<p>{{= text in html}}</p>
<ul>
{{for comment in comments {{
  <li>{{= comment in html}}</li>
}}}}
</ul>

Because it will be preprocessed server-side, the browser will actually receive the following file:

<!doctype html><title></title>
<p>This is the f1rst p0st!</p>
<ul>
  <li>first comment!</li>
  <li>second comment...</li>
</ul>

If you need to specify a different template, you can do so:

var postsTemplate = Camp.template( './templates/posts.html' );
camp.path('posts', function(req, res) {
  res.template({comments: comments}, postsTemplate);
});

Camp.template(paths, options) takes an Array of String paths to templating files (or a single path to a templating file), and the following options:

reader: the template reader function in use, defaulting to camp.templateReader, which defaults to Fleau.
asString: boolean; use the string as a template, not as a file path.
callback: function taking a function(scope) → readableStream. If you don't want the template creation to be synchronous, use this. We return nothing from the function if callback is set.

This function returns a function(scope) → readableStream, unless callback is set.

So this is how to be explicit about the template. On the opposite extreme, you can be extra implicit: the URL path will them be used as the template path on disk, and req.data will be used as the template's scope.

// Supports ?mobile=true
camp.path('blog.html');

Fall through

camp.notFound( 'blog/*', function(req, res) {
  res.file('/templates/404.html');
});

The camp.notFound() function works in exactly the same way as the camp.path() function, with two important differences:

It only gets used when nothing else matches the path, including paths and static files on disk under documentRoot,
It responds with a 404 (Not Found) status code.

Camp In Depth

In Camp.js, there is a lot more than meets the eye. Up until now, we have only discussed the default behaviour of ScoutCamp. For most uses, this is actually more than enough. Sometimes, however, you need to dig a little deeper.

The Camp Object

Camp.start is the simple way to launch the server in a single line. You may not know, however, that it returns an http.Server (or an https.Server) subclass instance. As a result, you can use all node.js' HTTP and HTTPS methods.

You may provide the start function with a JSON object defining the server's settings. It defaults to this:

{
  port: 80,       // The port to listen to.
  hostname: '::', // The hostname to use as a server
  security: {
    secure: true,
    key: 'https.key',  // Either the name of a file on disk,
    cert: 'https.crt', // or the content as a String.
    ca: ['https.ca']
  }
}

If you provide the relevant HTTPS files and set the secure option to true, the server will be secure.

Camp.createServer() creates a Camp instance directly, and Camp.createSecureServer(settings) creates an HTTPS Camp instance. The latter takes the same parameters as https.Server.

Camp.Camp and Camp.SecureCamp are the class constructors.

The stack

Camp is stack-based. When we receive a request, it goes through all the layers of the stack until it hits the bottom. It should never hit the bottom: each layer can either pass it on to the next, or end the request (by sending a response).

The default stack is defined this way:

campInstance.stack = [wsLayer, ajaxLayer, eventSourceLayer, pathLayer
                      routeLayer, staticLayer, notfoundLayer];

Each element of the stack function(req, res, next){} takes two parameters:

augmented IncomingMessage (req) and ServerResponse (res) (more on that below),
a next function, which the layer may call if it will not send an HTTP response itself. The layer that does catch the request and responds fully to it will not call next(), the others will call next().

You can add layers to the stack with handle(), which is described way above.

camp.handle(function(ask, next) {
  ask.res.setHeader('X-Open-Source', 'https://github.com/espadrine/sc/');
  next();
});

By default, it inserts it before the wsLayer, but after other inserted handlers. Its insertion point is at camp.stackInsertion (an integer).

Ask and Augmented Request

The Ask class is a way to provide a lot of useful elements associated with a request. It contains the following fields:

server: the Camp instance,
req: the http.IncomingMessage object.
res: the http.ServerResponse object.
uri: the URI.
path: the pathname associated with the request.
query: the query taken from the URI.
cookies: using the cookies library.
form: a formidable.IncomingForm object as specified by the formidable library API. Noteworthy are form.uploadDir (where the files are uploaded, this property is settable), form.path (where the uploaded file resides), and form.on('progress', function(bytesReceived, bytesExpected) {}).
username, password: in the case of a Basic Authentication HTTP request, parses the contents of the request and places the username and password as strings in those fields.

An Ask instance is provided as an extra parameter to camp.route(pattern, function(query, path, end, ask)) (see the start of section "Diving In"), and as a parameter in each function of the server's stack function(ask, next) (see the start of section "The stack").

An Augmented Request is an IncomingMessage which has several additional fields which you can also find in Ask: server, uri, form, path, data (which is the same as query), username, password, cookies.

It also contains form information for multipart/form-data requests in the following fields:

form: a formidable.IncomingForm object as specified by the formidable library API. Noteworthy are form.uploadDir (where the files are uploaded) and form.on('progress', function(bytesReceived, bytesExpected) {}).
fields: a map from the field name (eg, fieldname for <input name=fieldname>) to the corresponding form values.
files: a map from the field name (eg, fieldname for <input name=content type=file>) to a list of files, each with properties:
- path: the location on disk where the the file resides
- name: the name of the file, as asserted by the uploader.

An Augmented Response is a ServerResponse which also has:

template(scope, templates): responds to the request with a list of templates (produced with Camp.template() or camp.template()), a single template, or no template (in which case, the URI's path will be treated as a template file on disk under documentRoot). The scope is a JS object used to fill in the template.
file(path): responds to the request with the contents of the file at path, on disk under documentRoot.
json(data, replacer, space): responds to the request with stringified JSON data. Arguments are passed to JSON.stringify(), so you can use either res.json({a: 42}) (minified) or res.json({a: 42}, null, 2) (human-readable).
compressed(): returns a writable stream. All data sent to that stream gets compressed and sent as a response.
redirect(path): responds to the request with a 303 redirection to a path or URL.

Note: file(path) leverages browser caching by comparing If-Modified-Since request headers against actual file timestamps, and saves time and bandwidth by replying "304 Not Modified" with no content to requests where the browser already knows the latest version of a file. However, this header is limited to second-level precision by specification, so any file changes happening within the same second, or within a 2-second window in the case of leap seconds, cause a small risk of browsers fetching and caching a stale version of the file in between these changes. Such a cached version would remain stale until the next file change and subsequent browser request updating the cache.

Additionally, you can set the mime type of the response with req.mime('png'), for instance.

Default layers

The default layers provided are generated from what we call units, which are exported as shown below. Each unit is a function that takes a server instance and returns a layer (function(ask, next){}).

Camp.ajaxUnit (seen previously)
Camp.socketUnit (idem)
Camp.wsUnit (idem)
Camp.eventSourceUnit (idem)
Camp.pathUnit (idem)
Camp.routeUnit (idem)
Camp.staticUnit (idem, relies on camp.documentRoot which specifies the location of the root of your static web files. The default is "./web".
Camp.notfoundUnit (idem)

Scout.js

XHR

Browsers' built-in Ajax libraries are usually poor. They are not cross-browser (because of Internet Explorer) and they can quickly become a hassle. Scout.js is a javascript library to remove that hassle.

With Scout.js, one can easily target a specific element in the page which must trigger an XHR(XML Http Request) when a specific event is fired. This is what you do, most of the time, anyway. Otherwise, it is also easy to attach an XHR upon a "setTimeout", and so on.

Scout ( '#id-of-element' ).on ( 'click', function (params, evt, xhr) {
  params.action = 'getinfo';
  var sent = this.parentNode.textContent;
  params.data = { ready: true, data: sent };
  params.resp = function ( resp, xhr ) {
    if (resp.data === sent) {
      console.log ('Got exactly what we sent.');
    }
  };
});

// or...

setTimeout ( Scout.send ( function ( params, xhr ) { … } ), 1000 );

One thing that can bite is the fact that each Scout object only has one XHR object inside. If you do two Ajax roundtrips at the same time, with the same Scout object, one will cancel the other.

This behavior is very easy to spot. On the Web Inspector of your navigator, in the "Network" tab, if a $action POST request is red (or cancelled), it means that it was killed by another XHR call.

The cure is to create another Scout object through the var newScout = Scout.maker() call.

Server-Sent Events

All modern browsers support a mechanism for receiving a continuous, event-driven flow of information from the server. This technology is called Server-Sent Events.

The bad news about it is that it is a hassle to set up server-side. The good news is that you are using ScoutCamp, which makes it a breeze. Additionally, ScoutCamp makes it work even in IE7.

var es = Scout.eventSource('/path');

es.on('eventName', function (data) {
  // `data` is a string.
});

es.onrecv(function (json) {
  // `json` is a JSON object.
});

Thaddee Tyl, author of ScoutCamp.

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

Readme.md

Readme.md

SCOUT CAMP

Camp.js

Ajax

EventSource

WebSocket

Socket.io

Handlers

Templates

Basic Usage

Fall through

Camp In Depth

The Camp Object

The stack

Ask and Augmented Request

Default layers

Scout.js

XHR

Server-Sent Events

Files

Readme.md

Latest commit

History

Readme.md

File metadata and controls

SCOUT CAMP

Camp.js

Ajax

EventSource

WebSocket

Socket.io

Handlers

Templates

Basic Usage

Fall through

Camp In Depth

The Camp Object

The stack

Ask and Augmented Request

Default layers

Scout.js

XHR

Server-Sent Events