OpenTok Node SDK

The OpenTok Node SDK lets you generate sessions and tokens for OpenTok applications, and archive OpenTok 2.0 sessions.

If you are updating from a previous version of this SDK, see Important changes since v2.2.

Installation using npm (recommended):

npm helps manage dependencies for node projects. Find more info here: http://npmjs.org

Run this command to install the package and adding it to your package.json:

$ npm install opentok --save

Usage

Initializing

Import the module to get a constructor function for an OpenTok object, then call it with new to initantiate it with your own API Key and API Secret.

var OpenTok = require('opentok'),
    opentok = new OpenTok(apiKey, apiSecret);

Creating Sessions

To create an OpenTok Session, use the opentok.createSession(properties, callback) method. The properties parameter is an optional object used to specify whether the session uses the OpenTok Media Router and to specify a location hint. The callback has the signature function(error, session). The session returned in the callback is an instance of Session. Session objects have a sessionId property that is useful to be saved to a persistent store (such as a database).

// Create a session that will attempt to transmit streams directly between
// clients. If clients cannot connect, the session uses the OpenTok TURN server:
opentok.createSession(function(err, session) {
  if (err) return console.log(err);

  // save the sessionId
  db.save('session', session.sessionId, done);
});

// The session will the OpenTok Media Router:
opentok.createSession({mediaMode:"routed"}, function(err, session) {
  if (err) return console.log(err);

  // save the sessionId
  db.save('session', session.sessionId, done);
});

// A Session with a location hint
opentok.createSession({location:'12.34.56.78'}, function(err, session) {
  if (err) return console.log(err);

  // save the sessionId
  db.save('session', session.sessionId, done);
});

Generating Tokens

Once a Session is created, you can start generating Tokens for clients to use when connecting to it. You can generate a token by calling the opentok.generateToken(sessionId, options) method. Another way is to call the session.generateToken(options) method of a Session object. The options parameter is an optional object used to set the role, expire time, and connection data of the Token.

// Generate a Token from just a sessionId (fetched from a database)
token = opentok.generateToken(sessionId);

// Genrate a Token from a session object (returned from createSession)
token = session.generateToken();

// Set some options in a Token
token = session.generateToken({
  role :       'moderator',
  expireTime : (new Date().getTime() / 1000)+(7 * 24 * 60 * 60), // in one week
  data :       'name=Johnny'
});

Working with archives

You can start the recording of an OpenTok Session using the opentok.startArchive(sessionId, options, callback) method. The options parameter is an optional object used to set the name of the Archive. The callback has the signature function(err, archive). The archive returned in the callback is an instance of Archive. Note that you can only start an archive on a Session with connected clients.

opentok.startArchive(sessionId, { name: 'Important Presentation' }, function(err, archive) {
  if (err) return console.log(err);

  // The id property is useful to save off into a database
  console.log("new archive:" + archive.id);
});

You can stop the recording of a started Archive using the opentok.stopArchive(archiveId, callback) method. You can also do this using the archive.stop(callback) method an Archive instance. The callback has a signature function(err, archive). The archive returned in the callback is an instance of Archive.

opentok.stopArchive(archiveId, function(err, archive) {
  if (err) return console.log(err);

  console.log("Stopped archive:" + archive.id);
});

archive.stop(function(err, archive) {
  if (err) return console.log(err);
});

To get an Archive instance (and all the information about it) from an archiveId, use the opentok.getArchive(archiveId, callback) method. The callback has a function signature function(err, archive). You can inspect the properties of the archive for more details.

opentok.getArchive(archiveId, function(err, archive) {
  if (err) return console.log(err);

  console.log(archive);
});

To delete an Archive, you can call the opentok.deleteArchive(archiveId, callback) method or the delete(callback) method of an Archive instance. The callback has a signature function(err).

// Delete an Archive from an archiveId (fetched from database)
opentok.deleteArchive(archiveId, function(err) {
  if (err) console.log(err);
});

// Delete an Archive from an Archive instance (returned from archives.create, archives.find)
archive.delete(function(err) {
  if (err) console.log(err);
});

You can also get a list of all the Archives you've created (up to 1000) with your API Key. This is done using the opentok.listArchives(options, callback) method. The parameter options is an optional object used to specify an offset and count to help you paginate through the results. The callback has a signature function(err, archives, totalCount). The archives returned from the callback is an array of Archive instances. The totalCount returned from the callback is the total number of archives your API Key has generated.

opentok.listArchives({offset:100, count:50}, function(error, archives, totalCount) {
  if (error) return console.log("error:", error);

  console.log(totalCount + " archives");
  for (var i = 0; i < archives.length; i++) {
    console.log(archives[i].id);
  }
});

Samples

There are two sample applications included in this repository. To get going as fast as possible, clone the whole repository and follow the Walkthroughs:

• HelloWorld
• Archiving

Documentation

Reference documentation is available at http://www.tokbox.com/opentok/libraries/server/node/reference/index.html and in the docs directory of the SDK.

Requirements

You need an OpenTok API key and API secret, which you can obtain at https://dashboard.tokbox.com.

The OpenTok Node SDK requires node 0.10 or higher.

Release Notes

See the Releases page for details about each release.

Important changes since v2.2.0

Changes in v2.2.3:

The default setting for the createSession() method is to create a session with the media mode set to relayed. In previous versions of the SDK, the default setting was to use the OpenTok Media Router (media mode set to routed). In a relayed session, clients will attempt to send streams directly between each other (peer-to-peer); if clients cannot connect due to firewall restrictions, the session uses the OpenTok TURN server to relay audio-video streams.

Changes in v2.2.0:

This version of the SDK includes support for working with OpenTok 2.0 archives. (This API does not work with OpenTok 1.0 archives.)

The createSession() method has changed to take one parameter: an options object that has location and mediaMode properties. The mediaMode property replaces the properties.p2p.preference parameter in the previous version of the SDK.

The generateToken() has changed to take two parameters: the session ID and an options object that has role, expireTime and data properties.

See the reference documentation http://www.tokbox.com/opentok/libraries/server/node/reference/index.html and in the docs directory of the SDK.

Development and Contributing

Interested in contributing? We ❤️ pull requests! See the Development and Contribution guidelines.

Support

See https://support.tokbox.com for all our support options.

Find a bug? File it on the Issues page. Hint: test cases are really helpful!