| # websocket-extensions [](http://travis-ci.org/faye/websocket-extensions-node) | |
| A minimal framework that supports the implementation of WebSocket extensions in | |
| a way that's decoupled from the main protocol. This library aims to allow a | |
| WebSocket extension to be written and used with any protocol library, by | |
| defining abstract representations of frames and messages that allow modules to | |
| co-operate. | |
| `websocket-extensions` provides a container for registering extension plugins, | |
| and provides all the functions required to negotiate which extensions to use | |
| during a session via the `Sec-WebSocket-Extensions` header. By implementing the | |
| APIs defined in this document, an extension may be used by any WebSocket library | |
| based on this framework. | |
| ## Installation | |
| ``` | |
| $ npm install websocket-extensions | |
| ``` | |
| ## Usage | |
| There are two main audiences for this library: authors implementing the | |
| WebSocket protocol, and authors implementing extensions. End users of a | |
| WebSocket library or an extension should be able to use any extension by passing | |
| it as an argument to their chosen protocol library, without needing to know how | |
| either of them work, or how the `websocket-extensions` framework operates. | |
| The library is designed with the aim that any protocol implementation and any | |
| extension can be used together, so long as they support the same abstract | |
| representation of frames and messages. | |
| ### Data types | |
| The APIs provided by the framework rely on two data types; extensions will | |
| expect to be given data and to be able to return data in these formats: | |
| #### *Frame* | |
| *Frame* is a structure representing a single WebSocket frame of any type. Frames | |
| are simple objects that must have at least the following properties, which | |
| represent the data encoded in the frame: | |
| | property | description | | |
| | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | | |
| | `final` | `true` if the `FIN` bit is set, `false` otherwise | | |
| | `rsv1` | `true` if the `RSV1` bit is set, `false` otherwise | | |
| | `rsv2` | `true` if the `RSV2` bit is set, `false` otherwise | | |
| | `rsv3` | `true` if the `RSV3` bit is set, `false` otherwise | | |
| | `opcode` | the numeric opcode (`0`, `1`, `2`, `8`, `9`, or `10`) of the frame | | |
| | `masked` | `true` if the `MASK` bit is set, `false` otherwise | | |
| | `maskingKey` | a 4-byte `Buffer` if `masked` is `true`, otherwise `null` | | |
| | `payload` | a `Buffer` containing the (unmasked) application data | | |
| #### *Message* | |
| A *Message* represents a complete application message, which can be formed from | |
| text, binary and continuation frames. It has the following properties: | |
| | property | description | | |
| | -------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | |
| | `rsv1` | `true` if the first frame of the message has the `RSV1` bit set | | |
| | `rsv2` | `true` if the first frame of the message has the `RSV2` bit set | | |
| | `rsv3` | `true` if the first frame of the message has the `RSV3` bit set | | |
| | `opcode` | the numeric opcode (`1` or `2`) of the first frame of the message | | |
| | `data` | the concatenation of all the frame payloads in the message | | |
| ### For driver authors | |
| A driver author is someone implementing the WebSocket protocol proper, and who | |
| wishes end users to be able to use WebSocket extensions with their library. | |
| At the start of a WebSocket session, on both the client and the server side, | |
| they should begin by creating an extension container and adding whichever | |
| extensions they want to use. | |
| ```js | |
| var Extensions = require('websocket-extensions'), | |
| deflate = require('permessage-deflate'); | |
| var exts = new Extensions(); | |
| exts.add(deflate); | |
| ``` | |
| In the following examples, `exts` refers to this `Extensions` instance. | |
| #### Client sessions | |
| Clients will use the methods `generateOffer()` and `activate(header)`. | |
| As part of the handshake process, the client must send a | |
| `Sec-WebSocket-Extensions` header to advertise that it supports the registered | |
| extensions. This header should be generated using: | |
| ```js | |
| request.headers['sec-websocket-extensions'] = exts.generateOffer(); | |
| ``` | |
| This returns a string, for example `"permessage-deflate; | |
| client_max_window_bits"`, that represents all the extensions the client is | |
| offering to use, and their parameters. This string may contain multiple offers | |
| for the same extension. | |
| When the client receives the handshake response from the server, it should pass | |
| the incoming `Sec-WebSocket-Extensions` header in to `exts` to activate the | |
| extensions the server has accepted: | |
| ```js | |
| exts.activate(response.headers['sec-websocket-extensions']); | |
| ``` | |
| If the server has sent any extension responses that the client does not | |
| recognize, or are in conflict with one another for use of RSV bits, or that use | |
| invalid parameters for the named extensions, then `exts.activate()` will | |
| `throw`. In this event, the client driver should fail the connection with | |
| closing code `1010`. | |
| #### Server sessions | |
| Servers will use the method `generateResponse(header)`. | |
| A server session needs to generate a `Sec-WebSocket-Extensions` header to send | |
| in its handshake response: | |
| ```js | |
| var clientOffer = request.headers['sec-websocket-extensions'], | |
| extResponse = exts.generateResponse(clientOffer); | |
| response.headers['sec-websocket-extensions'] = extResponse; | |
| ``` | |
| Calling `exts.generateResponse(header)` activates those extensions the client | |
| has asked to use, if they are registered, asks each extension for a set of | |
| response parameters, and returns a string containing the response parameters for | |
| all accepted extensions. | |
| #### In both directions | |
| Both clients and servers will use the methods `validFrameRsv(frame)`, | |
| `processIncomingMessage(message)` and `processOutgoingMessage(message)`. | |
| The WebSocket protocol requires that frames do not have any of the `RSV` bits | |
| set unless there is an extension in use that allows otherwise. When processing | |
| an incoming frame, sessions should pass a *Frame* object to: | |
| ```js | |
| exts.validFrameRsv(frame) | |
| ``` | |
| If this method returns `false`, the session should fail the WebSocket connection | |
| with closing code `1002`. | |
| To pass incoming messages through the extension stack, a session should | |
| construct a *Message* object according to the above datatype definitions, and | |
| call: | |
| ```js | |
| exts.processIncomingMessage(message, function(error, msg) { | |
| // hand the message off to the application | |
| }); | |
| ``` | |
| If any extensions fail to process the message, then the callback will yield an | |
| error and the session should fail the WebSocket connection with closing code | |
| `1010`. If `error` is `null`, then `msg` should be passed on to the application. | |
| To pass outgoing messages through the extension stack, a session should | |
| construct a *Message* as before, and call: | |
| ```js | |
| exts.processOutgoingMessage(message, function(error, msg) { | |
| // write message to the transport | |
| }); | |
| ``` | |
| If any extensions fail to process the message, then the callback will yield an | |
| error and the session should fail the WebSocket connection with closing code | |
| `1010`. If `error` is `null`, then `message` should be converted into frames | |
| (with the message's `rsv1`, `rsv2`, `rsv3` and `opcode` set on the first frame) | |
| and written to the transport. | |
| At the end of the WebSocket session (either when the protocol is explicitly | |
| ended or the transport connection disconnects), the driver should call: | |
| ```js | |
| exts.close(function() {}) | |
| ``` | |
| The callback is invoked when all extensions have finished processing any | |
| messages in the pipeline and it's safe to close the socket. | |
| ### For extension authors | |
| An extension author is someone implementing an extension that transforms | |
| WebSocket messages passing between the client and server. They would like to | |
| implement their extension once and have it work with any protocol library. | |
| Extension authors will not install `websocket-extensions` or call it directly. | |
| Instead, they should implement the following API to allow their extension to | |
| plug into the `websocket-extensions` framework. | |
| An `Extension` is any object that has the following properties: | |
| | property | description | | |
| | -------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |
| | `name` | a string containing the name of the extension as used in negotiation headers | | |
| | `type` | a string, must be `"permessage"` | | |
| | `rsv1` | either `true` if the extension uses the RSV1 bit, `false` otherwise | | |
| | `rsv2` | either `true` if the extension uses the RSV2 bit, `false` otherwise | | |
| | `rsv3` | either `true` if the extension uses the RSV3 bit, `false` otherwise | | |
| It must also implement the following methods: | |
| ```js | |
| ext.createClientSession() | |
| ``` | |
| This returns a *ClientSession*, whose interface is defined below. | |
| ```js | |
| ext.createServerSession(offers) | |
| ``` | |
| This takes an array of offer params and returns a *ServerSession*, whose | |
| interface is defined below. For example, if the client handshake contains the | |
| offer header: | |
| ``` | |
| Sec-WebSocket-Extensions: permessage-deflate; server_no_context_takeover; server_max_window_bits=8, \ | |
| permessage-deflate; server_max_window_bits=15 | |
| ``` | |
| then the `permessage-deflate` extension will receive the call: | |
| ```js | |
| ext.createServerSession([ | |
| { server_no_context_takeover: true, server_max_window_bits: 8 }, | |
| { server_max_window_bits: 15 } | |
| ]); | |
| ``` | |
| The extension must decide which set of parameters it wants to accept, if any, | |
| and return a *ServerSession* if it wants to accept the parameters and `null` | |
| otherwise. | |
| #### *ClientSession* | |
| A *ClientSession* is the type returned by `ext.createClientSession()`. It must | |
| implement the following methods, as well as the *Session* API listed below. | |
| ```js | |
| clientSession.generateOffer() | |
| // e.g. -> [ | |
| // { server_no_context_takeover: true, server_max_window_bits: 8 }, | |
| // { server_max_window_bits: 15 } | |
| // ] | |
| ``` | |
| This must return a set of parameters to include in the client's | |
| `Sec-WebSocket-Extensions` offer header. If the session wants to offer multiple | |
| configurations, it can return an array of sets of parameters as shown above. | |
| ```js | |
| clientSession.activate(params) // -> true | |
| ``` | |
| This must take a single set of parameters from the server's handshake response | |
| and use them to configure the client session. If the client accepts the given | |
| parameters, then this method must return `true`. If it returns any other value, | |
| the framework will interpret this as the client rejecting the response, and will | |
| `throw`. | |
| #### *ServerSession* | |
| A *ServerSession* is the type returned by `ext.createServerSession(offers)`. It | |
| must implement the following methods, as well as the *Session* API listed below. | |
| ```js | |
| serverSession.generateResponse() | |
| // e.g. -> { server_max_window_bits: 8 } | |
| ``` | |
| This returns the set of parameters the server session wants to send in its | |
| `Sec-WebSocket-Extensions` response header. Only one set of parameters is | |
| returned to the client per extension. Server sessions that would confict on | |
| their use of RSV bits are not activated. | |
| #### *Session* | |
| The *Session* API must be implemented by both client and server sessions. It | |
| contains two methods, `processIncomingMessage(message)` and | |
| `processOutgoingMessage(message)`. | |
| ```js | |
| session.processIncomingMessage(message, function(error, msg) { ... }) | |
| ``` | |
| The session must implement this method to take an incoming *Message* as defined | |
| above, transform it in any way it needs, then return it via the callback. If | |
| there is an error processing the message, this method should yield an error as | |
| the first argument. | |
| ```js | |
| session.processOutgoingMessage(message, function(error, msg) { ... }) | |
| ``` | |
| The session must implement this method to take an outgoing *Message* as defined | |
| above, transform it in any way it needs, then return it via the callback. If | |
| there is an error processing the message, this method should yield an error as | |
| the first argument. | |
| Note that both `processIncomingMessage()` and `processOutgoingMessage()` can | |
| perform their logic asynchronously, are allowed to process multiple messages | |
| concurrently, and are not required to complete working on messages in the same | |
| order the messages arrive. `websocket-extensions` will reorder messages as your | |
| extension emits them and will make sure every extension is given messages in the | |
| order they arrive from the driver. This allows extensions to maintain state that | |
| depends on the messages' wire order, for example keeping a DEFLATE compression | |
| context between messages. | |
| ```js | |
| session.close() | |
| ``` | |
| The framework will call this method when the WebSocket session ends, allowing | |
| the session to release any resources it's using. | |
| ## Examples | |
| - Consumer: [websocket-driver](https://github.com/faye/websocket-driver-node) | |
| - Provider: [permessage-deflate](https://github.com/faye/permessage-deflate-node) | |