Bonjour-hap NPM

A Bonjour/Zeroconf protocol implementation in pure JavaScript. Publish services on the local network or discover existing services using multicast DNS.

Notice

The bonjour-hap library was used in HAP-NodeJS in versions prior to v0.8.0. bonjour-hap does NOT correctly implement mdns service discovery as it does not correctly implement RFC 6762 or RFC 6763. The library heavily congest the network with unnecessary traffic, does not implement certain features and does not behave as expected from a mdns responder (or querier). It SHOULD NOT be used anymore. It is not maintained anymore. The code should not be taken as reference for anything.

bonjour-hap was replaced by the ciao library, which is basically a rewrite and strongly adheres to the mentioned RFCs. Ciao is used in HAP-NodeJS since v0.8.0.

Installation

npm install bonjour-hap

Usage

var bonjour = require('bonjour-hap')()

// advertise an HTTP server on port 3000
bonjour.publish({ name: 'My Web Server', type: 'http', port: 3000 })

// browse for all http services
bonjour.find({ type: 'http' }, function (service) {
  console.log('Found an HTTP server:', service)
})

API

Initializing

var bonjour = require('bonjour-hap')([options])

The options are optional and will be used when initializing the underlying multicast-dns server. For details see the multicast-dns documentation.

Publishing

`var service = bonjour.publish(options)`

Publishes a new service.

Options are:

name (string)
host (string, optional) - defaults to local hostname
port (number)
type (string)
subtypes (array of strings, optional)
protocol (string, optional) - udp or tcp (default)
txt (object, optional) - a key/value object to broadcast as the TXT record

IANA maintains a list of official service types and port numbers.

`bonjour.unpublishAll([callback])`

Unpublish all services. The optional callback will be called when the services have been unpublished.

`bonjour.destroy()`

Destroy the mdns instance. Closes the udp socket.

Browser

`var browser = bonjour.find(options[, onup])`

Listen for services advertised on the network. An optional callback can be provided as the 2nd argument and will be added as an event listener for the up event.

Options (all optional):

type (string)
subtypes (array of strings)
protocol (string) - defaults to tcp
txt (object) - passed into dns-txt module contructor. Set to { binary: true } if you want to keep the TXT records in binary

`var browser = bonjour.findOne(options[, callback])`

Listen for and call the callback with the first instance of a service matching the options. If no callback is given, it's expected that you listen for the up event. The returned browser will automatically stop it self after the first matching service.

Options are the same as given in the browser.find function.

`Event: up`

Emitted every time a new service is found that matches the browser.

`Event: update`

Emitted every time an update is received for existing service is found that matches the browser.

`Event: down`

Emitted every time an existing service emmits a goodbye message.

`browser.services`

An array of services known by the browser to be online.

`browser.start()`

Start looking for matching services.

`browser.stop()`

Stop looking for matching services.

`browser.update()`

Broadcast the query again.

Service

`Event: up`

Emitted when the service is up, and if the txt record of the service is updated service.updateTxt(object).

`Event: error`

Emitted if an error occurrs while publishing the service.

`service.stop([callback])`

Unpublish the service. The optional callback will be called when the service have been unpublished.

`service.start()`

Publish the service.

`service.updateTxt(object)`

Update the txt record of the service.

`service.name`

The name of the service, e.g. Apple TV.

`service.type`

The type of the service, e.g. http.

`service.subtypes`

An array of subtypes. Note that this property might be null.

`service.protocol`

The protocol used by the service, e.g. tcp.

`service.host`

The hostname or ip address where the service resides.

`service.port`

The port on which the service listens, e.g. 5000.

`service.fqdn`

The fully qualified domain name of the service. E.g. if given the name Foo Bar, the type http and the protocol tcp, the service.fqdn property will be Foo Bar._http._tcp.local.