node-amqp

IMPORTANT: This module only works with node v0.1.90 and later.

This is a client for RabbitMQ (and maybe other servers?). It partially implements the 0.8 version of the AMQP protocol.

Synopsis

An example of connecting to a server and listening on a queue.

var sys = require('sys');
var amqp = require('./amqp');

var connection = amqp.createConnection({ host: 'dev.rabbitmq.com' });

// Wait for connection to become established.
connection.addListener('ready', function () {
  // Create a queue and bind to all messages.
  // Use the default 'amq.topic' exchange
  var q = connection.queue('my-queue');
  // Catch all messages
  q.bind('#');

  // Receive messages
  q.subscribe(function (message) {
    // Print messages to stdout
    sys.p(message);
  });
});

Connection

new amqp.Connection() Instantiates a new connection. Use connection.connect() to connect to a server.

amqp.createConnection() returns an instance of amqp.Connection, which is a subclass of net.Stream. All the event and methods which work on net.Stream can also be used on an amqp.Connection instace. (E.G. the events 'connected' and ``'closed'`.)

amqp.createConnection() takes an options object as its only parameter. The options object has the these defaults:

{ host: 'localhost'
, port: 5672
, login: 'guest'
, password: 'guest'
, vhost: '/'
}

After a connection is established the 'connect' event is fired as it is with any net.Connection instance. AMQP requires a 7-way handshake which must be completed before any communication can begin. net.Connection does the handshake automatically and emits the ready event when the handshaking is complete.

connection.publish(queueName, body)

Publishes a message to the default exchange; this effectively publishes the message to the queue named.

connection.end()

amqp.Connection is derived from net.Stream and has all the same methods. So use connection.end() to terminate a connection gracefully.

Queue

Events: A queue will call the callback given to the connection.queue() method once it is declared. For example:

var q = connection.queue('my-queue', function (name, messageCount, consumerCount) {
  puts('There are ' + messageCount + ' messages waiting in the queue.');
});

Declaring a queue with an empty name will make the server generate a random name.

connection.queue(name, options, openCallback)

Returns a reference to a queue. The options are

• passive: boolean, default false. If set, the server will not create the queue. The client can use this to check whether a queue exists without modifying the server state.
• durable: boolean, default false. Durable queues remain active when a server restarts. Non-durable queues (transient queues) are purged if/when a server restarts. Note that durable queues do not necessarily hold persistent messages, although it does not make sense to send persistent messages to a transient queue.
• exclusive: boolean, default false. Exclusive queues may only be consumed from by the current connection. Setting the 'exclusive' flag always implies 'autoDelete'.
• autoDelete: boolean, default true. If set, the queue is deleted when all consumers have finished using it. Last consumer can be cancelled either explicitly or because its channel is closed. If there was no consumer ever on the queue, it won't be deleted.

queue.subscribe([options,] listener)

An easy subscription command. It works like this

q.subscribe(function (message) {
  puts('Got a message with routing key ' + message._routingKey);
});

It will automatically acknowledge receipt of each message.

The only option that this method supports right now is the "ack" method, which defaults to false. Setting the options argument to { ack: true } will make it so that the AMQP server only delivers a single message at a time. When you want the next message, call q.shift(). When ack is false then you will receive messages as fast as they come in.

queue.subscribeRaw([options,] listener)

Subscribes to a queue. The listener argument should be a function which receives a message. This is a low-level interface - the message that the listener receives will be a stream of binary data. You probably want to use subscribe instead. For now this low-level interface is left undocumented. Look at the source code if you need to do this.

queue.shift()

For use with subscribe({ack: true}, fn). Acknowledges the last message.

queue.bind([exchange,] routing)

This method binds a queue to an exchange. Until a queue is bound it will not receive any messages.

If the exchange argument is left out 'amq.topic' will be used.

queue.destroy(options)

Delete the queue. Without options, the queue will be deleted even if it has pending messages or attached consumers. If +options.ifUnused+ is true, then the queue will only be deleted if there are no consumers. If +options.ifEmpty+ is true, the queue will only be deleted if it has no messages.

Exchange

exchange.addListener('open', callback)

The open event is emitted when the exchange is declared and ready to be used.

connection.exchange()

connection.exchange(name, options={})

An exchange can be created using connection.exchange(). The method returns an amqp.Exchange object.

Without any arguments, this method returns the default exchange. Otherwise a string, name, is given as the first argument and an options object for the second. The options are

• type: the type of exchange 'direct', 'fanout', or 'topic' (default).
• passive: boolean, default false. If set, the server will not create the exchange. The client can use this to check whether an exchange exists without modifying the server state.
• durable: boolean, default false. If set when creating a new exchange, the exchange will be marked as durable. Durable exchanges remain active when a server restarts. Non-durable exchanges (transient exchanges) are purged if/when a server restarts.
• autoDelete: boolean, default true. If set, the exchange is deleted when all queues have finished using it.

An exchange will emit the 'open' event when it is finally declared.

exchange.publish(routingKey, message, options)

Publishes a message to the exchange. The routingKey argument is a string which helps routing in topic and direct exchanges. The message can be either a Buffer or Object. A Buffer is used for sending raw bytes; an Object is convereted to JSON.

options is an object with any of the following

• mandatory: boolean, default false. This flag tells the server how to react if the message cannot be routed to a queue. If this flag is set, the server will return an unroutable message with a Return method. If this flag is zero, the server silently drops the message.
• immediate: boolean, default false. This flag tells the server how to react if the message cannot be routed to a queue consumer immediately. If this flag is set, the server will return an undeliverable message with a Return method. If this flag is zero, the server will queue the message, but with no guarantee that it will ever be consumed.
• contentType: default 'application/octet-stream'
• contentEncoding: default null.
• headers: default {}. Arbitrary application-specific message headers.
• deliveryMode: Non-persistent (1) or persistent (2)
• priority: The message priority, 0 to 9.
• replyTo: Usually used to name a reply queue for a request message.

exchange.destroy(ifUnused = true)

Deletes an exchange. If the optional boolean second argument is set, the server will only delete the exchange if it has no queue bindings. If the exchange has queue bindings the server does not delete it but raises a channel exception instead.