Question from novice (node.js related)

[lukasMega]

Hello,
I apologize for the seemingly simple question, but I would appreciate a deeper comprehension of certain concepts of this project.

Can I use simple code/script in JS (there are no external dependencies, only few core Node.js APIs are used: net for listening on TCP port and processing binary data using Buffer API and writing to file using fs.writeFile) ?

Is it possible to run this code with txiki.js or does it require any modifications?

• probably not

If i understand correctly, i need to use (in case of writing files) https://bettercallsaghul.com/txiki.js/api/interfaces/global.tjs.FileHandle.html#write global tjs object --> FileHandle --> write method as replacement of Node.js fs module ?

Thank you for your advices.

What I want to achieve:

• create a single executable file (because it's easy to use by non-developers) and I would like to have such executable file not too big (comparing to output from Bun it has ~100 MB - .exe under Windows)
• and somehow "hide" the source code, I just need to provide an executable solution
• my concrete use-case is simple command-line application which connects (TCP) to provided IP and port where it will read binary stream of binary data and will parse that data and will produce output to file (JSON or CSV or TXT)

[saghul]

I apologize for the seemingly simple question, but I would appreciate a deeper comprehension of certain concepts of this project.

No need to apologize! Welcome!

Can I use simple code/script in JS (there are no external dependencies, only few core Node.js APIs are used: net for listening on TCP port and processing binary data using Buffer API and writing to file using fs.writeFile) ?

Is it possible to run this code with txiki.js or does it require any modifications?

* probably not

You cannot use it unmodified. This project does not implement the node API, you need to use our API for file i/o, for example.

If i understand correctly, i need to use (in case of writing files) https://bettercallsaghul.com/txiki.js/api/interfaces/global.tjs.FileHandle.html#write global tjs object --> FileHandle --> write method as replacement of Node.js fs module ?

Thank you for your advices.

Correct! You can look at the tests folder for some inspiration.

• create a single executable file (because it's easy to use by non-developers) and I would like to have such executable file not too big (comparing to output from Bun it has ~100 MB - .exe under Windows)

Yes, this will be much smaller. Note however that the standalone executable on Windows still depends on some DLLs you'll need to ship alongside your executable. I am hoping to solve that in the future.

• and somehow "hide" the source code, I just need to provide an executable solution

If you use the new tjs compile option to create your executable then the source code is hidden, as the generated bytecode is stripped from its source.

• my concrete use-case is simple command-line application which connects (TCP) to provided IP and port where it will read binary stream of binary data and will parse that data and will produce output to file (JSON or CSV or TXT)

That should be doable with the core APIs, without any external dependencies.

Cheers!

[lukasMega]

Hello again!
I'm back here in this wonderful project. Some inner force keeps pulling me here. :)

I plan to write another simple node.js (terminal) application and I'm thinking about creating simple abstraction layer between my application code and runtime (txiki.js / node.js).
I would like to have the ability to run the same code (without the changes) on:

• txiki.js
• Node.js (maybe later on Bun and Deno too)

Or was that already done by someone? I don't want to reinvent the wheel again.

[saghul]

I don't think anyone has! Glad to have you back :-)

[al-sabr]

@lukasMega any updates on your abstraction layer?

[lukasMega]

not yet. I apologize.
It seems to be more work as I expected initially. Currently I have no time for it, maybe sometimes later (months++)

[guest271314]

I would like to have the ability to run the same code (without the changes) on:

• txiki.js
• Node.js (maybe later on Bun and Deno too)

That's possible to an appreciable degree, e.g., https://github.com/guest271314/NativeMessagingHosts/blob/main/nm_tjs.js.

[lukasMega]

Unexpected update:
I'm back in game!

I solved TOTP functionality (generating and validating time-based passwords). :)

My small project overview:

   ┌─────────────┐                                
   │             │                                
   │   DEVICE    │                                
   │             │                                
   └──────┬──────┘                                
          │ RS-485                                
          │                                       
   ┌──────▼───────┐                               
   │              │     converts data from RS-485 
   │ Serial Device│◄──── and makes them available 
   │    Server    │     as TCP on specific IP:port
   └──────┬───────┘                               
          │TCP/IP                                 
          │                                       
 ┌────────▼─────────────┐   ◄─ user executes app with config file                      
 │txiki.js│             │                         
 │        │             │                         
 │  ┌─────▼──────────┐  │                         
 │  │check TOTP code │  │                         
 │  └─────┬──────────┘  │                         
 │        │             │                         
 │   ┌────▼──────────┐  │                         
 │   │ Custom parser │  │                         
 │   └────┬──────────┘  │                         
 │        │             │                         
 └────────┼─────────────┘                         
          │                                       
          ▼                                       
        ┌────┐                                    
        │file│                                    
        └────┘                                    

Right now, I need to figure out how to rewrite client logic which connects to IP:port and reads stream or Buffer of binary data to be able to run in txiki.js.
Thanks to the examples available here https://github.com/saghul/txiki.js/tree/master/examples 💪

TODO list:

• read user input (stdin) in console/terminal
• TOTP functionality
• client ... update: work in progress, handling errors ... update: done
• parser is already working in txiki.js
• generate file(s)
• read config file (.env file or json)

❓ Question
Regarding configuration possibilities in my app, I have currently .env file which is automatically loaded and available under process.env.MY_CONF_OPTION but only in Bun, not in node.js. I wanted something simple and quick with no 3rd party lib or with minimum code and Bun provides it out of the box with no code, which is nice benefit.

I'm thinking which will be simple and working solution in txiki.

• Maybe basic filesystem access and read file (json)
• or import * as config from './config.json' will work?

Do you have maybe some advice here?
Thank you

[saghul]

Importing a JSON does work out of the box!

[lukasMega]

with esbuild build step, it reads JSON in build time and inlines it's content into output bundle. I need to figure out how to prevent it and allow to import json in runtime.

[KaruroChori]

https://esbuild.github.io/api/#external
You can declare files, or patterns to be kept external.

[saghul]

Reading .env is interesting!

[lukasMega]

Is there API like in node.js to call a function before process exits ?
https://nodejs.org/api/process.html#event-beforeexit

process.on('beforeExit', (code) => {
  console.log('Process beforeExit event with code: ', code);
});

process.on('exit', (code) => {
  console.log('Process exit event with code: ', code);
});

process.on('SIGINT', handle);
process.on('SIGTERM', handle);
//...

[KaruroChori]

tjs.addSignalHandler if I recall correctly is sort of equivalent to on, or something like that.

[saghul]

Signals can be handled like @KaruroChori said and there is currently no before exit handler, though it would make sense to add a beforeunload event!

[lukasMega]

Also what I noticed quite significant memory consumption of (mostly) the same application running as compiled executable:

• using pkg tool with command: pkg -t node16-win-x64 src/server.js -o pkgServer16f.exe

  • memory size when running is 14~16 MB
  • see:

• using txiki.js compile with command: txiki.js\\build\\tjs.exe compile txbundle2.js txbundle2.exe

  • memory size when running is ~69 MB
  • see:

[saghul]

Oh I had missed this message. Interesting! Would you be able to share that file?

[lukasMega]

@saghul have you considered to make automated way (if it's possible) to install txiki.js to be more user-friendly? I mean just to run npm install -g @txikijs (to install globally) and then have available tjs executable globally ?

[saghul]

I was just thinking about this now and I think it would be doable for macOS and Windows, since there we can assume (for macOS) and provide (for Windows) the required libraries.

I'll take a look when I get some cycles.

[lukasMega]

any news regarding this?

[saghul]

No progress on that yet...

[lukasMega]

It would be great to add it into mise (https://mise.jdx.dev/). It (mise) is tool version manager for things like: node.js, Java, Python, Bun, Deno, Rust, Elixir, Swift, Zig, ...
It should be possible to do via its Plugin systemm.

[guest271314]

@saghul have you considered to make automated way (if it's possible) to install txiki.js to be more user-friendly? I mean just to run npm install -g @txikijs (to install globally) and then have available tjs executable globally ?

What I do on Debian Linux, every day or so

In .bashrc

if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
fi

cd ~/bin
git clone --recursive https://github.com/saghul/txiki.js --shallow-submodules && cd txiki.js
make 
cp "$PWD/build/tjs" ~/bin
cd ~/bin
rm -rf "$HOME/bin/txiki.js"

[lukasMega]

Do you plan to have a roadmap for the future of txiki.js ?

[saghul]

I could do that... but I always feel like that will make me feel beholden to it!

My current short time plan, in no particular order:

• Improve docs
• WASM engine swap with WAMR
• Implement WinterCG / Chrome socket API

[lukasMega]

is there an alternative to node.js process.hrtime.bigint() here in txiki.js? https://nodejs.org/api/process.html#processhrtimebigint

• needed for precise time in nanoseconds
  Thank you

[saghul]

Not really, I implemented the Performance API but hrtime is not currently exposed.