[![Build Status](https://secure.travis-ci.org/einaros/ws.png)](http://travis-ci.org/einaros/ws)
 
# ws: a node.js websocket implementation #

`ws` is a simple to use websocket implementation, up-to-date against RFC-6455. 

It is probably also the fastest websocket library running on node.js (http://hobbycoding.posterous.com/the-fastest-websocket-module-for-nodejs). 

Passes the quite extensible Autobahn test suite. See http://einaros.github.com/ws for the full reports.

The module also comes with a command line utility, `wscat`, which can either act as a server (--listen), or client (--connect); Use it to debug simple websocket services.

## Protocol support ##

* **Hixie drafts 76** (Old and terribly outdated, but still in use by Safari and Opera. Server only for now.)
* **HyBi drafts 07-12** (Use the option `protocolVersion: 8`, or argument `-p 8` for wscat)
* **HyBi drafts 13-17** (Current default, alternatively option `protocolVersion: 13`, or argument `-p 13` for wscat)

See the echo.websocket.org example below for how to use the `protocolVersion` option.

## Usage ##

### Installing ###

`npm install ws`

### Sending and receiving text data ###

```js
var WebSocket = require('ws');
var ws = new WebSocket('ws://www.host.com/path');
ws.on('open', function() {
    ws.send('something');
});
ws.on('message', function(data, flags) {
    // flags.binary will be set if a binary data is received
    // flags.masked will be set if the data was masked
});
```
    
### Sending binary data ###

```js
var WebSocket = require('ws');
var ws = new WebSocket('ws://www.host.com/path');
ws.on('open', function() {
    var array = new Float32Array(5);
    for (var i = 0; i < array.length; ++i) array[i] = i / 2;
    ws.send(array, {binary: true, mask: true});
});
```

Setting `mask`, as done for the send options above, will cause the data to be masked according to the websocket protocol. The same option applies for text data.

### Server example ###

```js
var WebSocketServer = require('ws').Server
  , wss = new WebSocketServer({port: 8080});
wss.on('connection', function(ws) {
    ws.on('message', function(message) {
        console.log('received: %s', message);
    });
    ws.send('something');
});
```

### echo.websocket.org demo ###

```js
var WebSocket = require('ws');
var ws = new WebSocket('ws://echo.websocket.org/', {protocolVersion: 8, origin: 'http://websocket.org'});
ws.on('open', function() {
    console.log('connected');
    ws.send(Date.now().toString(), {mask: true});
});
ws.on('close', function() {
    console.log('disconnected');
});
ws.on('message', function(data, flags) {
    console.log('Roundtrip time: ' + (Date.now() - parseInt(data)) + 'ms', flags);
    setTimeout(function() {
        ws.send(Date.now().toString(), {mask: true});
    }, 500);
});
```

### wscat against echo.websocket.org ###

    $ npm install -g ws
    $ wscat -c ws://echo.websocket.org -p 8
    connected (press CTRL+C to quit)
    > hi there
    < hi there
    > are you a happy parrot?
    < are you a happy parrot?

### Other examples ###

See the test cases.

### Running the tests ###

`make test`

## Todos ##

* Expose Sender and Receiver configuration options through WebSocket, and test that properly.
* Cleanup configuration for Sender, and add similar bits to Receiver.
* Either expose a configurable setting indicating favoring speed or memory use, or do a timer based shrink of Receiver's pools.
* Make necessary changes to also support the even older hixie-75? Or at least write a few more tests for Hixie-76 to verify that fragmented nonce transfers really work.

## License ##

(The MIT License)

Copyright (c) 2011 Einar Otto Stangvik &lt;einaros@gmail.com&gt;

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.