The What
The xmlrpc module is a pure JavaScript XML-RPC server and client for node.js.
Pure JavaScript means that the XML parsing and XML building use pure JavaScript libraries, so no extra C dependencies or build requirements. The xmlrpc module can be used as an XML-RPC server, receiving method calls and responding with method responses, or as an XML-RPC client, making method calls and receiving method responses, or as both.
The How
To Install
npm install xmlrpc
To Use
The file client_server.js in the example directory has a nicely commented example of using xmlrpc as an XML-RPC server and client (they even talk to each other!).
A brief example:
var xmlrpc = require('xmlrpc')
// Creates an XML-RPC server to listen to XML-RPC method calls
var server = xmlrpc.createServer({ host: 'localhost', port: 9090 })
// Handle methods not found
server.on('NotFound', function(method, params) {
console.log('Method ' + method + ' does not exist');
})
// Handle method calls by listening for events with the method call name
server.on('anAction', function (err, params, callback) {
console.log('Method call params for \'anAction\': ' + params)
// ...perform an action...
// Send a method response with a value
callback(null, 'aResult')
})
console.log('XML-RPC server listening on port 9091')
// Waits briefly to give the XML-RPC server time to start up and start
// listening
setTimeout(function () {
// Creates an XML-RPC client. Passes the host information on where to
// make the XML-RPC calls.
var client = xmlrpc.createClient({ host: 'localhost', port: 9090, path: '/'})
// Sends a method call to the XML-RPC server
client.methodCall('anAction', ['aParam'], function (error, value) {
// Results of the method response
console.log('Method response for \'anAction\': ' + value)
})
}, 1000)
Output from the example:
XML-RPC server listening on port 9090
Method call params for 'anAction': aParam
Method response for 'anAction': aResult
Cookies support
It is possible to turn on cookies support for XML-RPC client by special options flag. If turned on then all the cookies received from server will be bounced back with subsequent calls to the server. You also may manipulate cookies manually by the setCookie/getCookie call.
var client = xmlrpc.createClient({host: 'localhost', port: 9090, cookies: true});
client.setCookie('login', 'bilbo');
//This call will send provided cookie to the server
client.methodCall('someAction', [], function(error, value) {
//Here we may get cookie received from server if we know its name
console.log(client.getCookie('session'));
});
To Test
XML-RPC must be precise so there are an extensive set of test cases in the test directory. Vows is the testing framework and Travis CI is used for Continuous Integration.
To run the test suite:
make test
If submitting a bug fix, please update the appropriate test file too.
The License (MIT)
Released under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for the complete wording.
Contributors
Thank you to all the authors and everyone who has filed an issue to help make xmlrpc better.