How can I communicate between running python code and nodejs

Question

I'd like to have some python code running and communicating with a nodejs express server. So far, I can get my nodejs server to call python functions via one of two mechanisms, either to spawn a python task or to have it talk to a zerorpc python server.

For the first, a la http://www.sohamkamani.com/blog/2015/08/21/python-nodejs-comm/, this works:

var express = require( "express" );
var http = require( "http" );
var app = express();
var server = http.createServer( app ).listen( 3000 );
var io = require( "socket.io" )( server );

app.use( express.static( "./public" ) );

io.on( "connection", function( socket ) {

    // Repeat interval is in milliseconds
    setInterval( function() {

        var spawn = require( 'child_process' ).spawn,
        py    = spawn( 'python', [ 'mytime.py' ] ),
        message = '';

        py.stdout.on( 'data', function( data ) {
            message += data.toString();
        });

        py.stdout.on( 'end', function() {
            socket.emit( "message", message );
        });

    }, 50 );
});

Where mytime.py is

from datetime import datetime
import sys

def main():
    now = datetime.now()
    sys.stdout.write( now.strftime( "%-d %b %Y %H:%M:%S.%f" ) )

And with zerorpc http://www.zerorpc.io/, if this python code is running:

from datetime import datetime
import sys
import zerorpc

class MyTime( object ):
    def gettime( self ):
        now = datetime.now()
        return now.strftime( "%-d %b %Y %H:%M:%S.%f" )

s = zerorpc.Server( MyTime() )
s.bind( "tcp://0.0.0.0:4242" )
s.run()

This nodejs code works:

var express = require( "express" );
var http = require( "http" );
var app = express();
var server = http.createServer( app ).listen( 3000 );
var io = require( "socket.io" )( server );
var zerorpc = require( "zerorpc" );
var client = new zerorpc.Client();
client.connect( "tcp://127.0.0.1:4242" );

app.use( express.static( "./public" ) );

io.on( "connection", function( socket ) {

    // Repeat interval is in milliseconds
    setInterval( function() {

        client.invoke( "gettime", function( error, res, more ) {
            socket.emit( "message", res.toString( 'utf8' ) );
        } );

    }, 50 );
});

But what I'd like to be able to do is instead of just having python functions called, I'd like a separate python process running and sending messages to the nodejs server which listens for them and then handles them. I've experimented with middleware socketio-wildcard, but if I try to set up a python server with zerorpc on the same port as the nodejs express server, it gives a zmq.error.ZMQError: Address already in use error.

I know that I'm not thinking about this right--I know that I'm missing some logic around interprocess communication due to my naïveté here--so if there is a better way to do message sending from a python process with a nodejs server listening, I'm all ears.

Any ideas?

Many thanks in advance!

Answer 1

For those trying to figure this out, here's a solution thanks to Zeke Alexandre Nierenberg

For the node.js server code:

var express = require( "express" );
var app = express();
var http = require( "http" );
app.use( express.static( "./public" ) ); // where the web page code goes
var http_server = http.createServer( app ).listen( 3000 );
var http_io = require( "socket.io" )( http_server );

http_io.on( "connection", function( httpsocket ) {
    httpsocket.on( 'python-message', function( fromPython ) {
        httpsocket.broadcast.emit( 'message', fromPython );
    });
});

and the python code that sends it messages:

from datetime import datetime
from socketIO_client import SocketIO, LoggingNamespace
import sys

while True:
    with SocketIO( 'localhost', 3000, LoggingNamespace ) as socketIO:
        now = datetime.now()
        socketIO.emit( 'python-message', now.strftime( "%-d %b %Y %H:%M:%S.%f" ) )
        socketIO.wait( seconds=1 )

Voilà!