Node.js modules you should know about: request

Hey everyone! This is the fourth post in my new node.js modules you should know about article series.

The first post was about dnode - the freestyle rpc library for node, the second was about optimist - the lightweight options parser for node, the third was about lazy - lazy lists for node.

This time I'll introduce you to a very awesome module called request by Mikeal Rogers. Request is the swiss army knife of HTTP streaming.

Check this out:

var fs = require('fs')
var request = require('request');

request('http://google.com/doodle.png').pipe(fs.createWriteStream('doodle.png'))

Pow! You just streamed the response of HTTP request to

http://google.com/doodle.png

into

doodle.png

local file!

Here is more awesome stuff:

var fs = require('fs')
var request = require('request');

fs.readStream('file.json').pipe(request.put('http://mysite.com/obj.json'))

Pow! It streamed your local file

file.json

to

http://mysite.com/obj.json

as HTTP PUT request!

var request = require('request');

request.get('http://google.com/img.png').pipe(request.put('http://mysite.com/img.png'))

Pow! This just streamed a HTTP GET from

http://google.com/img.png

to HTTP PUT to

http://mysite.com/img.png

.

At Browserling we use this module for streaming data to and from couchdb. Here is an example that saves a JSON document at mikeal's test couchdb:

var request = require('request')
var rand = Math.floor(Math.random()*100000000).toString()

request({
method: 'PUT',
uri: 'http://mikeal.iriscouch.com/testjs/' + rand,
multipart: [
{
'content-type': 'application/json',
'body': JSON.stringify({
foo: 'bar',
_attachments: {
'message.txt': {
follows: true,
length: 18,
'content_type': 'text/plain'
}
}
})
},
{ body: 'I am an attachment' }
]
}, function (error, response, body) {
if(response.statusCode == 201){
console.log('document saved as: http://mikeal.iriscouch.com/testjs/'+ rand);
} else {
console.log('error: '+ response.statusCode);
console.log(body);
}
})

Install it via npm, as always:

npm install request

Sponsor this blog series!

Doing a node.js company and want your ad to appear in the series? The ad will go out to 14,000 rss subscribers, 7,000 email subscribers, and it will get viewed by thousands of my blog visitors! Email me and we'll set it up!

See ya!

If you love these articles, subscribe to my blog for more, follow me on Twitter to find about my adventures, and watch me produce code on GitHub!

source : http://www.catonmat.net/blog/nodejs-modules-request/