light-weight, edge of network, application builder

easy to use, drag and drop interface

allows the developer to focus on the task at hand

*pssst - do the first demo

A long time ago in a galaxy far,
far away....

Function Node

Uses vm.createScript under the covers to sandbox execution

console, util, Buffer included for convenience, but easy to add anything via settings

Function Node

Returning messages

 return msg;

 return [msg1, msg2, msg3];

 return [msg1, [msgA, msgB] ];

Function Context

Each function node has its own context object to save state between calls.

  context.count = (context.count||0);
  context.count += 1;
  var countMessage = { payload: context.count };
  return [msg, countMessage];

Function Global Context

in settings.js

  ...
  functionGlobalContext: {
      arDrone: require('ar-drone')
  }
  ...

then...

the first steps towards Node-RED-copter

  context.client = context.client||context.global.arDrone.createClient();
    
  if (msg.payload == "takeoff") {
      context.client.takeoff();
  } else if (msg.payload == "land") {
      context.client.land();
  }

Easy to wrap any npm module into a palette node*

Each node defined in a pair of files:

.js : server-side behaviour
.html : appearance in editor & help

For example, sentiment*:

var sentiment = require('sentiment');
sentiment('Cats are stupid.',
    function (err, result) {
        console.dir(result); // Score: -2
    }
);

sentiment('Cats are totally amazing!',
    function (err, result) {
        console.dir(result); // Score: 4
    }
);

var RED = require("../../red/red");
var sentiment = require('sentiment');

function SentimentNode(n) {
    RED.nodes.createNode(this,n);

    this.on("input", function(msg) {
            var node = this;
            sentiment(msg.payload, function (err, result) {
                msg.sentiment = result;
                node.send(msg);
            });
    });
}

RED.nodes.registerType("sentiment",SentimentNode);

72-sentiment.js

<script type="text/javascript">
   RED.nodes.registerType('sentiment',{
       category: 'analysis-function',
       color:"#E6E0F8",
       defaults: {
           name: {value:""},
       },
       inputs:1,
       outputs:1,
       icon: "arrow-in.png",
       label: function() {
           return this.name||"sentiment";
       },
       labelStyle: function() {
           return this.name?"node_label_italic":"";
       }
   });
</script>
<script type="text/x-red" data-template-name="sentiment">
  <div class="form-row">
     <label for="node-input-name"> Name </label>
     <input type="text" id="node-input-name">
  </div>
</script>

72-sentiment.html

*pssst - do the next demo

-

       ...
       defaults: {
            server: {value:"server",required:true},
            port: {
                value:"",
                required: true,
                validate: RED.validators.number()
            },
            host: {
                value:"",
                validate: function(v) {
                    return (this.server == "server")||v.length > 0;
                }
            }
       }
       ...

       ...
       oneditprepare: function() {
          // called when the edit dialog is being built
       },
       oneditsave: function() {
          // called when the edit dialog has been closed (not cancelled)
      }
      ...

step 1 : add Eclipse Orion build files

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="built-editor.css"/>
<script src="built-editor.min.js"></script>

step 2 : initialise the editor when editing function node

oneditprepare: function() {
   ...
    require(["orion/editor/edit"], function(edit) {
        edit({
            parent:document.getElementById('node-input-func-editor'),
            lang:"js",
            contents: $("#node-input-func").val()
        });
   ...
}

"My God, it's full of JSON"

[{"id": "3e4aa4b4.c1b55c", "type": "inject", "name": "", "topic": "", "payload": "Hello devWorks Days 2013", "repeat": "", "crontab": "", "once": false, "x": 98, "y": 174, "wires": [["b347e57e.4cb818"]]},  {"id": "b347e57e.4cb818", "type": "debug", "name": "", "active": true, "complete": false, "x": 358, "y": 211, "wires": []}]

What's next?

Go get it: http://nodered.org

Just added to npm - work in progress

 $ npm install node-red
 $ npm start node-red
 $ open http://localhost:1880

Online sharing of functions and flows - gist based

Allow individual nodes to be npm-installable

More Documentation (of course)

Questions?