node-dbus

D-bus protocol client and server for node.js

Installation

npm install dbus-native

git clone https://github.com/sidorares/node-dbus # clone the repo
cd node-dbus
npm install # install dependencies
sudo cp examples/com.github.sidorares.dbus.Example.conf /etc/dbus-1/system.d/ # if you want to test examples/service.js

Usage

Short example using desktop notifications service

var dbus = require('dbus-native');
var sessionBus = dbus.sessionBus();
sessionBus.getService('org.freedesktop.Notifications').getInterface(
    '/org/freedesktop/Notifications',
    'org.freedesktop.Notifications', function(err, notifications) {

    // dbus signals are EventEmitter events
    notifications.on('ActionInvoked', function() {
        console.log('ActionInvoked', arguments);
    });
    notifications.on('NotificationClosed', function() {
        console.log('NotificationClosed', arguments);
    });
    notifications.Notify('exampl', 0, '', 'summary 3', 'new message text', ['xxx yyy', 'test2', 'test3', 'test4'], [],  5, function(err, id) {
       //setTimeout(function() { n.CloseNotification(id, console.log); }, 4000);
    });
});

API

Low level messaging: bus connection

connection = dbus.createClient(options)

options:

socket - unix socket path
port - TCP port
host - TCP host
busAddress - encoded bus address. Default is DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS environment variable. See http://dbus.freedesktop.org/doc/dbus-specification.html#addresses
authMethods - array of authentication methods, which are attempted in the order provided (default:['EXTERNAL', 'DBUS_COOKIE_SHA1', 'ANONYMOUS'])
ayBuffer - boolean (default:true): if true 'ay' dbus fields are returned as buffers
ReturnLongjs - boolean (default:false): if true 64 bit dbus fields (x/t) are read out as Long.js objects, otherwise they are converted to numbers (which should be good up to 53 bits)
( TODO: add/document option to use adress from X11 session )

connection has only one method, message(msg)

message fields:

type - methodCall, methodReturn, error or signal
path - object path
interface
destination
sender
member
serial
signature
body
errorName
replySerial

connection signals:

connect - emitted after successful authentication
message
error

example:

var dbus = require('dbus-native');
var conn = dbus.createConnection();
conn.message({
    path:'/org/freedesktop/DBus',
    destination: 'org.freedesktop.DBus',
    'interface': 'org.freedesktop.DBus',
    member: 'Hello',
    type: dbus.messageType.methodCall
});
conn.on('message', function(msg) { console.log(msg); });

Note on INT64 'x' and UINT64 't'

Long.js is used for 64 Bit support. https://github.com/dcodeIO/long.js The following javascript types can be marshalled into 64 bit dbus fields:

typeof 'number' up to 53bits
typeof 'string' (consisting of decimal digits with no separators or '0x' prefixed hexadecimal) up to full 64bit range
Long.js objects (or object with compatible properties)

By default 64 bit dbus fields are unmarshalled into a 'number' (with precision loss beyond 53 bits). Use {ReturnLongjs:true} option to return the actual Long.js object and preserve the entire 64 bits.

sidorares/dbus-native