Webrtc-signal-http NPM

webrtc-signal-http

opinionated webrtc signal provider using http as a protocol :spider_web: :signal_strength:

logo gif

We needed a simple to use, easy to extend WebRTC signaling server that communicated over regular old HTTP/1.1 for 3DStreamingToolkit - this is it. It's designed to mirror the WebRTC example server at an API level, while allowing developers to consume and extend the base functionality.

Getting started

Learn about the RESTful API via the OpenAPI doc (raw or hosted) to understand how clients should interact with the service.

To install the server cli npm install -g webrtc-signal-http. To run it, just use webrtc-signal-http from the command line, using the PORT environment variable to configure it's listening port.

To run locally run npm run build and npm run start

To consume this server as a basis but add some extended functionality, npm install webrtc-signal-http and then run some code like the following:

import * as express from "express";
import { signalRouterCreator } from "webrtc-signal-http";

const app = express()
const router = signalRouterCreator({
    enableLogging: true
})

app.use(router)
app.get('/new-endpoint', (req, res) => { res.send('hello') })

app.listen(process.env.PORT || 3000)

RESTful API

For example clients, see the following:

webrtc-native-peerconnection

GET /sign_in

Takes peer_name query parameter

Indicates a peer is available to peer with. The response will contain the unique peer_id assigned to the caller in the Pragma header, and a csv formatted list of peers in the body.

GET http://localhost:3000/sign_in?peer_name=test HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:3000

=>

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Pragma: 1
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 8

test,1,1

GET /sign_out

Takes peer_id query parameter

Indicates a peer is no longer available to peer with. It is expected this method be called when a peer is no longer intending to use signaling. The response will be empty.

GET http://localhost:3000/sign_out?peer_id=1 HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:3000

=>

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Length: 0

POST /message

Takes peer_id (indicating the caller id) and to (indicating whom we're sending to)

Provides a messaging mechanism for one peer to send data to another. There are no requirements around the type of data that can be sent. The message may be buffered until the receiving peer connects to the service. The response will be empty.

POST http://localhost:3000/message?peer_id=2&to=3 HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:3000
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Length: 12

test content

=>

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Length: 0

GET /wait

Takes peer_id query parameter

Provides a mechanism for simulated server push, using vanilla http long polling. That is, the TCP socket behind this request will remain open to the server until there is content the server needs to send. In the event of a TCP timeout the client should reconnect. Messages that contain a Pragma value that matches the client peer_id are peer status updates and should be handled the same as the status update provided in the GET /sign_in response. Content-Type headers will not reflect the type of the original content.

Peer status update:

GET http://localhost:3000/wait?peer_id=2 HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:3000

=>

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Pragma: 2
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 18

test2,3,1
test,2,0

Peer message:

GET http://localhost:3000/wait?peer_id=2 HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:3000

=>

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Pragma: 3
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 12

test content

Extension API

For example extensions, see the following:

webrtc-signal-http-heartbeat

module.exports

This is the exported behavior, you access it with require('webrtc-signal-http)

Function - takes a SignalOpts indicating if the bunyan logger should be enabled. Returns an express router object.

router.peerList

Object - can be used to retrieve a PeerList from the express router. Returns a PeerList object.

PeerList

Class - Represents a collection of WebRTC peers on which signaling operations are possible.

events

These events will be emitted from the instance, and can be caught with on, once, off, etc. For more information, see EventEmitter.

addPeer:pre

Fired just before a peer is added, with the argument name - it indicates the peer name.

addPeer

Fired when a peer is being added, with the argument peer - it is the fully formed peer object.

addPeer:post

Fired after a peer is added, with the argument peer - it is the fully formed peer object that has been inserted into the peer list.

removePeer:pre

Fired just before a peer is removed, with the argument id - it indicates the peer id.

removePeer

Fired when a peer is being removed, with the argument peer - it is the fully formed peer object.

removePeer:post

Fired after a peer is removed, with the argument peer - it is the fully formed peer object that has been removed from the peer list.

addPeer

Function - takes name (a string), res (a http.Response object), and req (a http.Request object). Creates a representation of the peer for signaling. Returns a Number that shall be used as a unique id for the peer.

removePeer

Function - takes id (a Number). Removes the representation of the peer from signaling. Returns nothing.

getPeer

Function - takes id (a Number). Retrieves the representation of the peer from signaling. Returns a Peer object.

getPeerIds

Function - takes nothing. Retrieves all the peer id's in the PeerList. Returns an Array of id's (Numbers).

setPeerSocket

Function - takes id (a Number), res (a http.Response object), and res (a http.Request object). Updates a representation of the peer with a new response object for signaling. Returns nothing.

pushPeerData

Function - takes srcId (a Number), destId (a Number), data (an Object). Pushs arbitrary data onto a stack for a particular destination peer. Returns nothing.

popPeerData

Function - takes id (a Number). Retrives arbitrary data from the stack for the particular peer. Returns a PeerData object.

format

Function - takes nothing. Formats a csv (without headers) list of the peers in the format of peerName, peerId, peerConnectionStatusAsInt. It's worth noting that peerConnectionStatusAsInt is a 0 or 1 literal that represents if the peer is currently connected to the server. Returns a string.