{"id":4771,"date":"2017-06-02T17:20:06","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T17:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog-stg.cheesecakelabs.com\/?p=4771\/"},"modified":"2022-07-01T18:35:57","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T18:35:57","slug":"glue-internet-node-red","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog-stg.cheesecakelabs.com\/br\/glue-internet-node-red\/","title":{"rendered":"The Glue of the Internet: What is Node-RED?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever wanted to prototype a RESTful API, integrate Internet services or IoT devices in a few minutes without having to learn how to use several APIs and libraries? Here you go.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Node-WHAT?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Node-RED<\/span><\/a> is “a programming tool for wiring together hardware devices, APIs and online services in new and interesting ways”. It uses a visual web interface, where blocks \u2013 also called nodes<\/strong> \u2013 can receive and send messages to other nodes. It makes the whole integration process easier by abstracting a lot of repetitive and boilerplate code needed to make these simple things.<\/span><\/p>\n

This tool is built on top of <\/span>node.js<\/span><\/a>, and each node runs some JavaScript code. You can also use <\/span>function nodes<\/span><\/i> to write your own logic. Here’s an example with a simple Hello World:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Shows
A simple Hello World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In this example, an <\/span>inject<\/span><\/i> node<\/span><\/i> is used to send a message object manually to a <\/span>function<\/span><\/i> node<\/span><\/i>, where we’ve set a “Hello World” phrase as the <\/span>payload<\/span><\/i> of that message. Then, it passes the message forward to a <\/span>debug<\/span><\/i> node<\/span><\/i>, which prints it on the debug tab.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can run Node-RED on your computer using <\/span>Linux, MacOS and Windows<\/span><\/a>. It is also supported on other platforms, such as <\/span>Raspberry Pi<\/span><\/a> a<\/span>n<\/span>d<\/span> BeagleBone Boards<\/span><\/a>, cloud services like <\/span>IBM Bluemix<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>AWS<\/span><\/a>, and even on <\/span>Android<\/span><\/a>. I have two instances running on Raspberry Pis, one at home and another at our company’s office. We also host one on a <\/span>DigitalOcean<\/span><\/a> droplet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nice! But what can I do with it?<\/span><\/h2>\n

One of the things that Node-RED excels is integrating Internet services<\/strong>. Let’s say you want a notification on your phone every morning with the weather of the day. You may use something like <\/span>darksky.net<\/span><\/a> to get the forecast, format a message, and send it to you using something like <\/span>Pushbullet<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>Pushover<\/span><\/a>. You might do it easily writing some code, but can you do it in 10 minutes<\/strong>?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sending
Sending weather information to mobile device<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Done. A simple <\/span>timer node<\/span><\/i><\/a> fires on sunrise (the actual time is defined by your latitude and longitude), sending a flag to a <\/span>function node<\/span><\/i> that gets the current time and date. This information is sent to a <\/span>darksky node<\/span><\/i><\/a> that uses darksky’s API to get the weather, passing it as a JSON to a <\/span>template node<\/span><\/i> that formats it using the pattern below:<\/span><\/p>\n

Good morning! Today we have {{payload.detail}} With temperatures from {{payload.mintemp}}\u02daC to {{payload.maxtemp}}\u02daC.<\/code><\/p>\n

The message then goes to a <\/span>pushover node<\/span><\/i><\/a>,<\/span> w<\/span>h<\/span>i<\/span>c<\/span>h makes a push notification pop on your phone every morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

IoT devices<\/span><\/h2>\n

Ok, let’s make things more interesting. Say you have some <\/span>LiFX bulbs<\/span><\/a> and you’d like to integrate them with Apple HomeKit, so you can control them with your iPhone’s Home app and Siri. You could use something like <\/span>Homebridge<\/span><\/a> and the LiFX’s API, but that would require a lot of time and code. And if you decide to add a new bulb, you’d have to do it all over again.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A
Integration of LiFX bulbs and HomeKit<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That’s what we did on our office. We made two group of lights that are now controllable by any authorized iPhone. We used a <\/span>homekit node<\/span><\/i><\/a>,<\/span> making the whole process a lot easier <\/strong>than adding devices by code using Homebrigde. Those <\/span>function nodes<\/span><\/i> on the center just adapt the incoming messages to the format that the next node expects.<\/span><\/p>\n

But at home, I’ve some light bulbs and sensors that don’t have any APIs, communicating only through the <\/span>MQTT<\/span><\/a> protocol. I wanted to integrate these devices and a few others, like a <\/span>Lockitron Bolt<\/span><\/a> and my PS4, with Amazon Echo <\/strong>and iPhone\/Siri<\/strong>. Also, having a web dashboard<\/strong> to see some charts would totally be awesome. Here’s what I’ve came up with:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"This
All my home integration flows<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Using some simple nodes like <\/span>alexa home skill<\/span><\/i><\/a>, <\/span>dashboard<\/span><\/i><\/a>, <\/span>firebase<\/span><\/i><\/a> and nodes that let me run <\/span>shell<\/span><\/i> commands, I’ve manage to effortlessly integrate everything with everything much quicker than if I tried to do it actually coding. Here’s how the integrations look like (in Portuguese, sorry):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Generated
Resulting Dashboard<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Gif
Table light integrating with Siri and Alexa<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prototyping APIs<\/h2>\n

Besides integrating existing services, you are able to create your own<\/strong>. Node-RED can integrate with most databases \u2013 SQL or NoSQL \u2013 as well as reading and writing from files. The possibilities here are endless. <\/span><\/p>\n

Once upon a time, I needed a very simple API with an endpoint that would return the “Hello World” phrase in a random language, and also another endpoint to fetch all possibles values of the “Hello World”. <\/span>I made a simple CRUD (actually, without the Create part) that reads a list of “greetings” from a text file and operates over it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"shows
The full API<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here’s the working API in Postman:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Postman
The API calls<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Great!<\/span><\/h2>\n

So, that’s it. Node-RED is great to <\/span>glue<\/strong> Internet services and devices. It’s probably not ideal or scalable enough for a final product, but you can quickly prototype how your product will behave, avoiding blocking anyone who is depending on, let’s say, your API.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also it is great to automate your home or office, integrating smart bulbs, smart outlets, plants, TVs, video-games and everything else. <\/span>You can find a lot of useful flows and nodes in the <\/span>Node-RED’s website<\/span><\/a>. There’s also a <\/span>Slack Team<\/span><\/a>, where you can get help and learn new things.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks and keep hacking!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever wanted to prototype a RESTful API, integrate Internet services or IoT devices in a few minutes without having to learn how to use several APIs and libraries? 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