I have successfully created demo project where i can control an infrared transmitter using the Amazon Echo Alexa.
Moving forward with my project I'm not sure what the best practices would be in relation to performance and mostly important security. I will explain the project below and elaborate on the issues:
Installed nodejs server on a Raspberry pi running on port 1234
Installed web_lirc to be able to have an nodejs api interface to LIRC
Created an AWS-lambda skill based on the HelloWorld nodejs template with my own simple "hack" working but not pretty :) See code snippet below:
var http = require('http');
var host = '12.34.56.78'; // (no http/https !)
var port = 3000;
var cmd = '';
function performMacroRequest(endpoint, data)
{
cmd = '/macros/' + endpoint;
//console.log('cmd: ' + cmd);
var options = {
host : host,
port : port,
path : cmd, // the rest of the url with parameters if needed
method : 'POST'
};
http.request(options, function(res)
{
console.log('performMacroRequest - STATUS: ' + res.statusCode);
res.on('data', function (chunk)
{
console.log(cmd + ': '+ chunk);
});
}).end();
}
//
var APP_ID = "protected by me"; // Amazon Alexa hardware ID
HelloWorld.prototype.intentHandlers = {
// register custom intent handlers
"HelloWorldIntent": function (intent, session, response)
{
response.tellWithCard("Hello World!", "Hello World", "Hello World!");
},
"IRIntent": function (intent, session, response)
{
performMacroRequest('TESTTV','');
},
"AMAZON.HelpIntent": function (intent, session, response) {
response.ask("You can say hello or cake to me!", "You can say hello or cake to me!");
}
};
The issues as i see them, but are not sure how to address:
The best and most secure way to control my Raspberry web service from AWS. What would be the best option to control external hardware, is that using a webservice and what about protection?
Currently i need to have the port open in my router, so basically everyone with access to my IP could control my raspberry using JSON POST/GET commands. What could be a potential solution, is that to add an overlaying web interface with password protection?
Is it possible to have Alexa talking directly with my hardware on LAN without going trough AWS Lambda?
Overall i think I'm asking for the best practices(technically/security) on having Alexa to access local nodejs server.
Please let me know if anything has to be elaborated or explained in more details.
/Thomas
Related
Am newbie in node.js and would like to grab all events types.
In this case i already did my homework.I found from far this one.
In link, Continuosly throwing below error.
Error :
TypeError: esl.createCallServer is not a function
I am expecting : If any call has been started and forward to the gateway.So on the realtime would like to get gateway name in node.js to check which gateway is using
Might be possible,I understand is not correct way but below also one more try to achieve this but that not giving me gateway information.
call_handler = require('seem');
const esl = require("esl");
const port = 4041;
const server = esl.server(call_handler).listen(port);
server.listen(port, function() {
console.log("Server listening for connection requests on socket localhost:"+port);
});
esl.client(call_handler).connect(4050);
server.on("connection", function(chunk) {
console.log("Connection has been established");
chunk.on("data", (data) => {
console.log("Channel Park info");
var data_string = data.toString();
var data_arr= data_string.replace(/\r\n/g, "\r").replace(/\n/g, "\r").split(/\r/);
var data_array= JSON.stringify( data_arr );
console.log(data_array);
chunk.end();
});
});
Node.js server have port is 4050.
From Freeswitch dialplan, I am executing below line
<action application="socket" data="127.0.0.1:4041 full"/>
Expected Output :
Whenever call is bridge on any gateway then after and before complete call am able to get bridge line from node.js
Also parameters which are added in dialplan as set/export that also must be get on node.js
Anyone like to share some hints for this problem ?
This isn’t a specific issue question, but I’m trying to wrap my head around the concept of REST APIs and calling an API within your own API.
For example, if I develop an App called “BeesBees”, where users can buy bees, and I have a database of logins and passwords and obviously the bees, and how much each cost, I understand that I can used my own apps BeesBees API to get the list of bees (and if I make it open for other people, they can also use my GET /bees point to get, well, the bees)
But if I want to allow customers to buy the bees, and I don’t want to build a whole platform for doing so, so I integrate Stripe - could I have a POST /:users/charges/:priceOfBee API call that, in turn, called the Stripe API function somewhere somehow? For example, pointing to the URL of a Node.js project that will make the charge using Stripe’s Node.js SDK.
Or, in a case like this, would it be better to just implement the Stripe SDK for my device’s platform and make the charge using the device?
I have no code base so there’s nothing to pick apart, but I couldn’t think of anywhere else to ask, sorry y’all
You can certainly wrap APIs with other APIs, it's really just a form of composition, delegate to other services where it makes sense to do so.
Stripe integration might well be a good example of where it could make sense to follow this pattern. You certainly don't want to roll your own payment service.
Here's a trivial example of a local Express server making an API request:
const express = require("express");
const port = 3000;
const app = express();
const request = require('request');
app.get("/api/example", (req, res) => {
// Make external REST request here...
let options = {
url: 'https://httpbin.org/get',
qs: { parameter1: 42 },
json: true
}
request(options, (err, response, body) => {
if (err) {
res.status(500).send(err.message);
} else {
res.status(200).send(body);
}
});
});
var server = app.listen(3000, function () {
var host = server.address().address;
var port = server.address().port;
console.log('running at http://' + host + ':' + port)
});
console.log(`Serving at http://localhost:${port}`);
I'm trying to get a Skype bot up and running based off of the echo example but I'm struggling to make a successful POST to my app. When I send a post to /v1/chat I get back a status of 201 (successful creation), and nothing in the body. My console.log does not print anything either, which leads me to believe that the botService.on('personalMessage', ...) function is not being run. Does anyone have any insight into how these POST requests should be formatted? I cannot seem to find anything in the documentation.
My code:
const fs = require('fs');
const restify = require('restify');
const skype = require('skype-sdk');
const botService = new skype.BotService({
messaging: {
botId: '28:<bot’s id="ID176db9ab-e313-4d76-a60c-bc2a280e9825">',
serverUrl : "https://apis.skype.com",
requestTimeout : 15000,
appId: process.env.APP_ID,
appSecret: process.env.APP_SECRET
}
});
botService.on('contactAdded', (bot, data) => {
console.log('contact added');
bot.reply('Hello ${data.fromDisplayName}!', true);
});
botService.on('personalMessage', (bot, data) => {
console.log('message incoming');
console.log(data);
bot.reply('Hey ${data.from}. Thank you for your message: "${data.content}".', true);
});
const server = restify.createServer();
server.post('/v1/chat', skype.messagingHandler(botService));
const port = process.env.PORT || 8080;
server.listen(port);
console.log('Listening for incoming requests on port ' + port);
Final Edit & Solution: I think the problem caused by Heroku somehow(it could be something with their free tier ,1 dyno). After some effort, I uploaded the program to Azure, and it is now working perfectly.
Potential Solution: You need to change the server address in the server.post command. If you run your program in "https:\www.yourwebsite.com/v1/chat" , you need to modify this;
server.post('/v1/chat', skype.messagingHandler(botService));
to this;
server.post('https:\\www.yourwebsite.com/v1/chat', skype.messagingHandler(botService));
Of course, don't forget to specify your app id, bot id, and app secret. If you don't have one, you need to generate a password in your Skype application page.
I have the exact problem with the OP. I followed the tutorial, and it doesn't specify how to modify our code to comply with our server. So, after running the program it only returns this;
{"code":"ResourceNotFound","message":"/ does not exist"}
In the Echo example in the Skype Bot Webpage; it says;
"We'll assume the bot's URL for messaging was set to https://echobot.azurewebsites.net/v1/chat during registration."
Make sure that Procfile and worker processes are setup.
My bot is working fine on heroku itself
I am choosing a XMPP server, and currently trying NodeXMPP.
I installed complete NodeXMPP (core,server,client,component,dependencies...).
What is striking me is that I have to do all the back-end stuff : making clients speak to each other etc. Other XMPP servers (tigase ejabberd ...) do this stuff from scratch.
My tiny instance :
I create a server and store clients in an array, then search for a client when an other try to speak :
var xmpp = require('../index')
var c2s = new xmpp.C2SServer({
port: 5222,
domain: 'localhost'
})
var clients = new Array();
c2s.on('connect', function(client) {
client.on('authenticate', function(opts, cb) {
console.log('AUTH' + opts.jid + ' -> ' +opts.password)
clients.push(client);
})
client.on('stanza', function(stanza) {
if (stanza.is('message') && (stanza.attrs.type !== 'error')) {
var interlocuteur = getClient(stanza.attrs.to)
if (interlocuteur)
interlocuteur.send(stanza)
}
})
client.on('disconnect', function() {
console.log('DISCONNECT')
})
client.on('online', function() {
console.log('ONLINE')
client.send(new xmpp.Message({ type: 'chat' }).c('body').t('Hello there, little client.'))
})
})
And my question : do I really need to code these basic operations by myself ?
If so, what is the point of Node-XMPP ? Maybe it's to use NodeJS over an other XMPP server like prosody ?
node-xmpp is "just" a library of components that allows you to build your own XMPP client, component or even server.
Being a library, it does not provide a complete solution for particular use case, but a set of building blocks allowing to build one.
If you are in the market of a complete, already made, boxed XMPP server solution, installing Prosody is a good bet. :^)
I'm building a settings manager for my http server. I want to be able to change settings without having to kill the whole process. One of the settings I would like to be able to change is change the port number, and I've come up with a variety of solutions:
Kill the process and restart it
Call server.close() and then do the first approach
Call server.close() and initialize a new server in the same process
The problem is, I'm not sure what the repercussions of each approach is. I know that the first will work, but I'd really like to accomplish these things:
Respond to existing requests without accepting new ones
Maintain data in memory on the new server
Lose as little uptime as possible
Is there any way to get everything I want? The API for server.close() gives me hope:
server.close(): Stops the server from accepting new connections.
My server will only be accessible by clients I create and by a very limited number of clients connecting through a browser, so I will be able to notify them of a port change. I understand that changing ports is generally a bad idea, but I want to allow for the edge-case where it is convenient or possibly necessary.
P.S. I'm using connect if that changes anything.
P.P.S. Relatively unrelated, but what would change if I were to use UNIX server sockets or change the host name? This might be a more relevant use-case.
P.P.P.S. This code illustrates the problem of using server.close(). None of the previous servers are killed, but more are created with access to the same resources...
var http = require("http");
var server = false,
curPort = 8888;
function OnRequest(req,res){
res.end("You are on port " + curPort);
CreateServer(curPort + 1);
}
function CreateServer(port){
if(server){
server.close();
server = false;
}
curPort = port;
server = http.createServer(OnRequest);
server.listen(curPort);
}
CreateServer(curPort);
Resources:
http://nodejs.org/docs/v0.4.4/api/http.html#server.close
I tested the close() function. It seems to do absolute nothing. The server still accepts connections on his port. restarting the process was the only way for me.
I used the following code:
var http = require("http");
var server = false;
function OnRequest(req,res){
res.end("server now listens on port "+8889);
CreateServer(8889);
}
function CreateServer(port){
if(server){
server.close();
server = false;
}
server = http.createServer(OnRequest);
server.listen(port);
}
CreateServer(8888);
I was about to file an issue on the node github page when I decided to test my code thoroughly to see if it really is a bug (I hate filing bug reports when it's user error). I realized that the problem only manifests itself in the browser, because apparently browsers do some weird kind of HTTP request keep alive thing where it can still access dead ports because there's still a connection with the server.
What I've learned is this:
Browser caches keep ports alive unless the process on the server is killed
Utilities that do not keep caches by default (curl, wget, etc) work as expected
HTTP requests in node also don't keep the same type of cache that browsers do
For example, I used this code to prove that node http clients don't have access to old ports:
Client-side code:
var http = require('http'),
client,
request;
function createClient (port) {
client = http.createClient(port, 'localhost');
request = client.request('GET', '/create');
request.end();
request.on('response', function (response) {
response.on('end', function () {
console.log("Request ended on port " + port);
setTimeout(function () {
createClient(port);
}, 5000);
});
});
}
createClient(8888);
And server-side code:
var http = require("http");
var server,
curPort = 8888;
function CreateServer(port){
if(server){
server.close();
server = undefined;
}
curPort = port;
server = http.createServer(function (req, res) {
res.end("You are on port " + curPort);
if (req.url === "/create") {
CreateServer(curPort);
}
});
server.listen(curPort);
console.log("Server listening on port " + curPort);
}
CreateServer(curPort);
Thanks everyone for the responses.
What about using cluster?
http://learnboost.github.com/cluster/docs/reload.html
It looks interesting!