Documentation

NowJS User Manual

Installing NowJS is very easy. In order to get started, you'll first need to have node.js and npm.

Note: The API reference information below may be out of date. For the most current API check the http://nowjs.com/jsdoc/index.html

Installing

At your command line, simply enter npm install now.

Setup on the server

NowJS needs an instance of a node.js http server in order to communicate. If your application is already using an http server, NowJS can use the existing instance. Otherwise, you will need to create one. Here's an example server:

var yourHttpServer = require('http').createServer(function(req, response){ /* Serve your static files */ });
yourHttpServer.listen(8080);

Using this http server, get NowJS and use it to get a reference to the everyone object, a group that contains every connected user.

var nowjs = require('now');
var everyone = nowjs.initialize(yourHttpServer);

Setup on the client

On pages that you would like to use NowJS on, simply include this script tag in your HTML head: <script src="/nowjs/now.js"></script>

Using NowJS

The secret to NowJS lies in two magic objects called now and everyone.now. In the Setup on the server section, we created the everyone object. Including the script tag in Setup on the client automatically added the now object to the browser document's global namespace.

###The shared namespaces Each client has a now object, which is a namespace that is shared between the server and that particular client. Any variables or functions that are changed/added in this shared namespace get synced automatically to the server.

The server has the everyone.now object, which is a namespace that is shared between the server and all clients. When the server adds/changes variables and functions in everyone.now, those changes are reflected in each client's now namespace. Variables added or changed in the everyone.now object will be reflected in all currently connected clients as well as all future clients.

You can also create custom groups that behave just like everyone.now, but only include a subset of connected users.

###Remote function calls Syncing variables is useful but the true power of NowJS lies in remote function calls. This means that the client can call functions that execute on the server, or vice-versa.

Functions that are placed in a shared namespace can be called by either the server or the client. Functions are executed on the machine on which the function was created. When calling a remote function, pass in the arguments as usual; closures and callbacks work fine.

Note that when making a remote function call, return values are ignored. Any type of value you need to return should be in a callback. Quick example:

now.sayHi = function() {
  return "hi"
}

Should be changed to

now.sayHi = function(callback) {
  callback("hi")
}

This change is because return is a synchronous operation while communication over the network with Node is asynchronous. Callbacks allow greater flexibility without blocking the main thread.

When a remote machine invokes a function, the now namespace that is shared between it and the remote machine is in scope. This namespace can be accessed in the function body through the this.now object (i.e. this client's now). If the function is being executed on the server, the everyone.now namespace also remains available.

###Special behavior of everyone.now When you call a function inside the everyone.now namespace, NowJS will attempt to call the corresponding function in each connected client's now namespace. If the corresponding function exists, a remote function call will be made to that client. If not, a call will not be made.

Setting variables inside the everyone.now namespace will set the same value uniformly across all clients' now namespaces. It is possible to also get/read values from everyone.now, but since clients may change the value of the variable in their own now namespace, the returned value is indeterminate/meaningless.

The this.now and this.user object

Each connected user in NowJS has a scope it shares with the server. The everyone.now object is used to control the now scopes across all clients, but they can also be manipulated individually. This is exposed via the this.now object

For example

 everyone.now.testFunc = function(){
     // this.now.doSomething();
     console.log(this.user.clientId);
 }

 everyone.now.testFunc();

Would list the clientId of every user connected to the client. Note that when you call everyone.now.testFunc(), testFunc is actually called many times, once for each user, each time with that user's specific this.now and this.user.

You can also add your own properties to this.user (for example, this.user.loggedIn = true;), this is not shared with the client but will be available wherever this.user is available.

###Client connected/disconnected events on the server NowJS allows you to specify a callback to be fired when a client connects or disconnects on the server. To set a listener for the events, do the following:

everyone.connected(function(){});
everyone.disconnected(function(){});

The callbacks are run in the context this.now and this.user. This makes it easy to access information about that client for setup or setdown procedures.

###Client ready event on the client NowJS allows you to specify a callback to be fired when the client has successfully connected to the NowJS server. To set a listener for the events, do the following:

now.ready(function(){});

###Client disconnect event on the client If the client loses communication with the server, a event is fired

now.core.on('disconnect', function(){})

In the current version of NowJS, automatic reconnects are not fully supported.

###Accessing clientId on the client To access the clientId the server uses to identify client on the client side, simply access

now.core.clientId;

##The NowJS module object

Calling require('now') on the server returns a reference to the NowJS module object. You should store this in a variable for easy access like this:

var nowjs = require('now');

In previous versions of NowJS, before 0.5.0, it was common practice to immediately chain an initialize call after requiring the module, rather than storing a reference to the module object. Such code would look like this:

var everyone = require('now').initialize(httpServer);    // pre 0.5.0

As of NowJS 0.5.0, it is strongly encouraged to break this up into two different calls, so that a reference to the NowJS module object can be stored, like this:

var nowjs = require('now');
var everyone = nowjs.initialize(httpServer);

The module object exposes several methods that can be used:

###.initialize(httpServer, [options]) The initialize function takes a Node.js http server such as the one available in the http module or a module like Express. Returns a reference to the everyone object.

You can also pass in an options object. Here are the currently available options and there defaults

options: {
  clientWrite: true, // Enable syncing of changes to variables that originate from the client (browser)
  socketio: {}   // This is the options object passed into io.listen(port, options)
}

###.getGroup(groupName) Returns a group named groupName if it exists; else creates a new group named groupName and returns it.

###.getClient(clientId, function(){}) Experimental. This method may change in future versions

Accesses a single client by its clientId, which is simply the this.user.clientId of the client. The second parameter is the callback you wish to be called with the client scope. Inside the callback you can access this.user and this.now for the clientId given.

If the clientId given does not exist, the callback is called with an err parameter

##Groups in NowJS While the everyone object is used to perform actions on all connected clients, it is sometimes useful to be able to address only a subset of the clients. For this reason, NowJS 0.5.0 and above exposes the groups API.

A group is created or retrieved by passing a string to the getGroup method of the NowJS module object. Calling this method returns a group object. For example, to create a group called "foo," one would do this:

var fooGroup = nowjs.getGroup("foo");`

Users can be added to a group by passing their this.user.clientId string to the addUser method of the group object. Similarly, removeUser is used to remove users from a group. Continuing the example above, one could do this:

everyone.now.addToFooGroup = function(){
  var fooGroup = nowjs.getGroup("foo");
  fooGroup.addUser(this.user.clientId);
}

everyone.now.removeFromGroup = function(){
  var fooGroup = nowjs.getGroup("foo");
  fooGroup.removeUser(this.user.clientId);
}

The groups behave similarly to the everyone object explained earlier. Each group has a now namespace that can be used to perform actions on all members of that group. For example,

everyone.now.sendToFooGroup = function(){
  var fooGroup = nowjs.getGroup("foo");
  fooGroup.now.receiveMessage("Hello, members of foo group");
}

In the above function, receiveMessage would be called on only users who have been previously added to the group named "foo."

While the everyone object and group objects expose similar functionality, there are subtle yet crucial differences in how they work. For that reason, the everyone object cannot be retrived like a regular group using getGroup. It is also highly discouraged to use groups to set variables for only a subset of users, like this: fooGroup.now.x = 3. A discussion of this topic can be found in the Best Practices document.

###Group objects ###.addUser(clientId) Takes a user's this.user.clientId, and adds that user to the group. Throws an error if clientId is not a valid sessionId.

###.removeUser(clientId) Takes a user's this.user.clientId and removes that user to the group. Throws an error if clientId is not a valid sessionId.

###.now A now namespace similar to everyone.now. Actions to this namespace affect all users that are members of the group. For example, actions on 'fooGroup.now' from the above example affects all users in the group 'foo'.

###.on(connect/disconnect, function(){}) Deprecated: As of 0.7.0 use join/leave events for groups.

Every group receives two events connect and disconnect. Connect is triggered when a user is added to the group. Disconnect is triggered when a user is removed from the group or is disconnected from the server. You can access that users this.now and this.user objects from the callback

 everyone.on('connect', function(){
   //this.now.setup();
 });

 everyone.on('disconnect', function(){
   //this.now.destruct();
 });

###.hasClient(clientId) Experimental. This method may change in future versions

Takes a clientId and returns a boolean true or false indicating whether the clientId is a member of the group

###.count Experimental. This method may change in future versions

This variable is the number of users in the group For example, to find the number of users in the everyone group

everyone.count;

###.exclude(clientIds) Experimental. This method may change in future versions

Returns a new group that is identical to the calling group, excluding the specified clients.

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