Octopus RPC

Super easy bi-directional RPCs, for Node JS & the browser, that just work !

1. Handles an arbitrary mix of transports, including socket.io, Node forked (child) processes, websockets.
2. Pluggable architecture, so you can easily add your own custom transports.
3. RPC Calls are namespaced debug style ! ( ie local:child:* )
4. Namespaces can be set dynamically from either end of the connection (calling or providing), at any time.

In use @ :

St8Flo

Install

Use below commmand for Node. Browserify can be used to bundle for the browser.

npm install octopus-rpc --save

Demo

See demo folder for an example - simple microservice style usage with node child process.

1. Clone the repo
2. Run demo/index.js using Node

Usage

1. Create a new RPC endpoint on each participating node

Each node should add itself under a unique namespace. The namespaces are dynamic, and can be changed from either side of the rpc (ie, calling or providing )

const octopus = require('octopus-rpc');
var rpc = octopus('local:parent:parent1');

2. Add RPC commands & providers.

Providers are optional.
They are automatically set up across all transports, previously added to the RPC instance.

const octopus = require('octopus-rpc');
var rpc = octopus('local:parent:parent1');

var hello = rpc.command('hello');
hello.provide((data, prev, transportName)=> {
  // some action here
 });

3. Add transports & call RPCs with 'debug' like namespace filters !

Transports are a standard, direct connection (socket), between 2 participating entities. (for eg: client to server socket). Currently supported transports are socket.io, node forked (child) processes, websockets.

Octopus expects a ready socket connection and does not handle connection/reconnections. That is left to the user to implement.

const octopus = require('octopus-rpc');
var rpc = octopus('local:parent:parent1');

var hello = rpc.command('hello');
hello.provide((data, prev, transportName)=> {
  // some action here
 });

const { fork } = require('child_process');
const child1 = fork('child1.js');
const child2 = fork('child2.js');

var tasks = [];
tasks.push(rpc.over(child1, 'processRemote'));
tasks.push(rpc.over(child2, 'processRemote'));

Promise.all(tasks)
.then(()=>{
  hello.call('local:*', 'aloha')
    .then((res)=>console.log(res));
});

Transport type	String identifier
child process	'processRemote'
Socket.io	'socketio'
Websocket	'websocket'

Full example

Copied from the demo folder

index.js

const { fork } = require('child_process');
const octopus = require('octopus-rpc');
const child1 = fork('child1.js');
const child2 = fork('child2.js');

var rpc = octopus('local:parent:parent1');

var hello = rpc.command('hello');

hello.provide(function (data, prev, transportName) {
  return 'Parent :- Hey there ! ' + data.from;
});

var tasks = [];
tasks.push(rpc.over(child1, 'processRemote'));
tasks.push(rpc.over(child2, 'processRemote'));

Promise.all(tasks)
.then(()=>{

// Data passed to a call can be a value, or a function. If function, it is evaluated for every transport that matches the filter, and the return value of the function is used as data.

  hello.call('local:child:child1',{from:'Parent'})
    .then((resp) => console.log('\n\nGot "hello local:child:child1" response as :\n',resp));

  hello.call('local:child:child2',{from:'Parent'})
    .then((resp) => console.log('\n\nGot "hello local:child:child2" response as :\n',resp));

  hello.call('local:child:*',{from:'Parent'})
    .then((resp) => console.log('\n\nGot "hello local:child:*" response as :\n',resp));


});

child1.js

const octopus = require('octopus-rpc');
var rpc = octopus('local:child:child1');

rpc.over(process, 'processRemote');
var hello = rpc.command('hello');

hello.provide(function (data, prev, transportName) {
  return 'child1 :- Hey there ! ' + data.from;
});

child2.js

const octopus = require('octopus-rpc');
var rpc = octopus('local:child:child2');

rpc.over(process, 'processRemote');
var hello = rpc.command('hello');

hello.provide(function (data, prev, transportName) {
  return 'child2 :- Hey there ! ' + data.from;
});