Develop Reference

TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "path" argument must be of type string. Received an instance of Object

I am using the source code from a security rules tutorial to attempt to do integration testing with Jest for my Javascript async function async_create_post, used for my firebase HTTP function create_post The files involved has a directory structure of the following:
Testing file: root/tests/handlers/posts.test.js
File to be tested: root/functions/handlers/posts.js
Helper code from the tutorial: root/tests/rules/helpers.js
And here is the source code that is involved:
posts.test.js
const { setup, teardown} = require("../rules/helpers");
const {
async_get_all_undeleted_posts,
async_get_post,
async_delete_post,
async_create_post
} = require("../../functions/handlers/posts");
describe("Post Creation", () => {
afterEach(async () => {
await teardown();
});
test("should create a post", async () => {
const db = await setup();
const malloryUID = "non-existent uid";
const firstPost = {
body: "First post from Mallory",
author_id: malloryUID,
images: ["url1", "url2"]
}
const before_post_snapshot = await db.collection("posts").get();
expect(before_post_snapshot.docs.length).toBe(0);
await async_create_post(firstPost); //fails at this point, expected to create a new post, but instead threw an error
const after_post_snapshot = await db.collection("posts").get();
expect(after_post_snapshot.docs.length).toBe(1);
});
});
posts.js
const {admin, db } = require('../util/admin');
//admin.initializeApp(config); //my credentials
//const db = admin.firestore();
const { uuid } = require("uuidv4");
const {
success_response,
error_response
} = require("../util/validators");
exports.async_create_post = async (data, context) => {
try {
const images = [];
data.images.forEach((url) => {
images.push({
uid: uuid(),
url: url
});
})
const postRecord = {
body: data.body,
images: images,
last_updated: admin.firestore.FieldValue.serverTimestamp(),
like_count: 0,
comment_count: 0,
deleted: false,
author_id: data.author_id
};
const generatedToken = uuid();
await db
.collection("posts")
.doc(generatedToken)
.set(postRecord);
// return success_response();
return success_response(generatedToken);
} catch (error) {
console.log("Error in creation of post", error);
return error_response(error);
}
}
When I run the test in Webstorm IDE, with 1 terminal running Firebase emulators:start , I get the following error message.
console.log
Error in creation of post TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "path" argument must be of type string. Received an instance of Object
at validateString (internal/validators.js:120:11)
at Object.basename (path.js:1156:5)
at GrpcClient.loadProto (/Users/isaac/Desktop/project/functions/node_modules/google-gax/src/grpc.ts:166:23)
at new FirestoreClient (/Users/isaac/Desktop/project/functions/node_modules/#google-cloud/firestore/build/src/v1/firestore_client.js:118:38)
at ClientPool.clientFactory (/Users/isaac/Desktop/project/functions/node_modules/#google-cloud/firestore/build/src/index.js:330:26)
at ClientPool.acquire (/Users/isaac/Desktop/project/functions/node_modules/#google-cloud/firestore/build/src/pool.js:87:35)
at ClientPool.run (/Users/isaac/Desktop/project/functions/node_modules/#google-cloud/firestore/build/src/pool.js:164:29)
at Firestore.request (/Users/isaac/Desktop/project/functions/node_modules/#google-cloud/firestore/build/src/index.js:961:33)
at WriteBatch.commit_ (/Users/isaac/Desktop/project/functions/node_modules/#google-cloud/firestore/build/src/write-batch.js:485:48)
at exports.async_create_post (/Users/isaac/Desktop/project/functions/handlers/posts.js:36:5) {
code: 'ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE'
}
at exports.async_create_post (/Users/isaac/Desktop/project/functions/handlers/posts.js:44:13)
Error: expect(received).toBe(expected) // Object.is equality
Expected: 1
Received: 0
<Click to see difference>
at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/isaac/Desktop/project/tests/handlers/posts.test.js:59:45)
Error in creation of post comes from the console.log("Error in creation of post", error); in posts.js, so the error is shown in the title of this post.
I want to know why calling the async_create_post from posts.test.js will cause this error and does not populate my database with an additional record as expected behaviour. Do inform me if more information is required to solve the problem.
Here are some code snippets that may give more context.
helpers.js [Copied from the repository]
const firebase = require("#firebase/testing");
const fs = require("fs");
module.exports.setup = async (auth, data) => {
const projectId = `rules-spec-${Date.now()}`;
const app = firebase.initializeTestApp({
projectId,
auth
});
const db = app.firestore();
// Apply the test rules so we can write documents
await firebase.loadFirestoreRules({
projectId,
rules: fs.readFileSync("firestore-test.rules", "utf8")
});
// write mock documents if any
if (data) {
for (const key in data) {
const ref = db.doc(key); // This means the key should point directly to a document
await ref.set(data[key]);
}
}
// Apply the actual rules for the project
await firebase.loadFirestoreRules({
projectId,
rules: fs.readFileSync("firestore.rules", "utf8")
});
return db;
// return firebase;
};
module.exports.teardown = async () => {
// Delete all apps currently running in the firebase simulated environment
Promise.all(firebase.apps().map(app => app.delete()));
};
// Add extensions onto the expect method
expect.extend({
async toAllow(testPromise) {
let pass = false;
try {
await firebase.assertSucceeds(testPromise);
pass = true;
} catch (error) {
// log error to see which rules caused the test to fail
console.log(error);
}
return {
pass,
message: () =>
"Expected Firebase operation to be allowed, but it was denied"
};
}
});
expect.extend({
async toDeny(testPromise) {
let pass = false;
try {
await firebase.assertFails(testPromise);
pass = true;
} catch (error) {
// log error to see which rules caused the test to fail
console.log(error);
}
return {
pass,
message: () =>
"Expected Firebase operation to be denied, but it was allowed"
};
}
});
index.js
const functions = require('firebase-functions');
const {
async_get_all_undeleted_posts,
async_get_post,
async_delete_post,
async_create_post
} = require('./handlers/posts');
exports.create_post = functions.https.onCall(async_create_post);

The error message means that a method of the path module (like path.join) expects one of its arguments to be a string but got something else.
I found the offending line by binary search commenting the program until the error was gone.
Maybe one of your modules uses path and you supply the wrong arguments.

Cloudinary Signed Uploads with Widget

Documentation is extremely frustrating.
I'm using the upload widget to try to allow users to upload multiple pictures for their profile. I can't use unsigned uploads because of the potential for abuse.
I would much rather upload the file through the upload widget instead of through the server as it seems like it should be so simple
I've pieced together what I think should work but it is still saying: Upload preset must be whitelisted for unsigned uploads
Server:
// grab a current UNIX timestamp
const millisecondsToSeconds = 1000;
const timestamp = Math.round(Date.now() / millisecondsToSeconds);
// generate the signature using the current timestmap and any other desired Cloudinary params
const signature = cloudinaryV2.utils.api_sign_request({ timestamp }, CLOUDINARY_SECRET_KEY);
// craft a signature payload to send to the client (timestamp and signature required)
return signature;
also tried
return {
signature,
timestamp,
};
also tried
const signature = cloudinaryV2.utils.api_sign_request(
data.params_to_sign,
CLOUDINARY_SECRET_KEY,
);
Client:
const generateSignature = async (callback: Function, params_to_sign: object): Promise<void> => {
try {
const signature = await generateSignatureCF({ slug: 'xxxx' });
// also tried { slug: 'xxxx', params_to_sign }
callback(signature);
} catch (err) {
console.log(err);
}
};
cloudinary.openUploadWidget(
{
cloudName: 'xxx',
uploadPreset: 'xxxx',
sources: ['local', 'url', 'facebook', 'dropbox', 'google_photos'],
folder: 'xxxx',
apiKey: ENV.CLOUDINARY_PUBLIC_KEY,
uploadSignature: generateSignature,
},
function(error, result) {
console.log(error);
},
);

Let's all take a moment to point out how horrible Cloudinary's documentation is. It's easily the worst i've ever seen. Nightmare fuel.
Now that i've got that off my chest... I really needed to be able to do this and I spent way too long banging my head against walls for what should be extremely simple. Here it is...
Server (Node.js)
You'll need an endpoint that returns a signature-timestamp pair to the frontend:
import cloudinary from 'cloudinary'
export async function createImageUpload() {
const timestamp = new Date().getTime()
const signature = await cloudinary.utils.api_sign_request(
{
timestamp,
},
process.env.CLOUDINARY_SECRET
)
return { timestamp, signature }
}
Client (Browser)
The client makes a request to the server for a signature-timestamp pair and then uses that to upload a file. The file used in the example should come from an <input type='file'/> change event etc.
const CLOUD_NAME = process.env.CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME
const API_KEY = process.env.CLOUDINARY_API_KEY
async function uploadImage(file) {
const { signature, timestamp } = await api.post('/image-upload')
const form = new FormData()
form.append('file', file)
const res = await fetch(
`https://api.cloudinary.com/v1_1/${CLOUD_NAME}/image/upload?api_key=${API_KEY}&timestamp=${timestamp}&signature=${signature}`,
{
method: 'POST',
body: form,
}
)
const data = await res.json()
return data.secure_url
}
That's it. That's all it takes. If only Cloudinary had this in their docs.

Man. I hate my life. I finally figured it out. It literally took me beautifying the upload widget js to understand that the return of the function should be a string instead of an object even though the docs make it seem otherwise.
Here is how to implement a signed upload with a Firebase Cloud Function
import * as functions from 'firebase-functions';
import cloudinary from 'cloudinary';
const CLOUDINARY_SECRET_KEY = functions.config().cloudinary.key;
const cloudinaryV2 = cloudinary.v2;
module.exports.main = functions.https.onCall(async (data, context: CallableContext) => {
// Checking that the user is authenticated.
if (!context.auth) {
// Throwing an HttpsError so that the client gets the error details.
throw new functions.https.HttpsError(
'failed-precondition',
'The function must be called while authenticated.',
);
}
try {
return cloudinaryV2.utils.api_sign_request(data.params_to_sign, CLOUDINARY_SECRET_KEY);
} catch (error) {
throw new functions.https.HttpsError('failed-precondition', error.message);
}
});
// CLIENT
const uploadWidget = () => {
const generateSignature = async (callback: Function, params_to_sign: object): Promise<void> => {
try {
const signature = await generateImageUploadSignatureCF({ params_to_sign });
callback(signature.data);
} catch (err) {
console.log(err);
}
};
cloudinary.openUploadWidget(
{
cloudName: 'xxxxxx',
uploadSignature: generateSignature,
apiKey: ENV.CLOUDINARY_PUBLIC_KEY,
},
function(error, result) {
console.log(error);
},
);
};

Streaming video from AWS Kinesis to JS client

I'm trying to consume the video from an AWS Kinesis stream. The stream is visible in the AWS console, but I cannot consume it in the JS application I'm trying to create.
I've been following this tutorial, but cannot get the streaming URL.
My code is here:
import React, { Component} from 'react'
import ReactPlayer from 'react-player'
import AWS from "aws-sdk";
import { STREAM_NAME, ACCESS_KEY_ID, SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, REGION } from '../secrets'
var streamName = STREAM_NAME;
// Step 1: Configure SDK Clients
var options = {
accessKeyId: ACCESS_KEY_ID,
secretAccessKey: SECRET_ACCESS_KEY,
region: REGION
}
var kinesisVideo = new AWS.KinesisVideo(options);
var kinesisVideoArchivedContent = new AWS.KinesisVideoArchivedMedia(options);
// Step 2: Get a data endpoint for the stream
kinesisVideo.getDataEndpoint({
StreamName: streamName,
APIName: "GET_HLS_STREAMING_SESSION_URL"
}, function(err, response) {
if (err) { return console.error(err); }
console.log('Data endpoint: ' + response.DataEndpoint);
kinesisVideoArchivedContent.endpoint = new AWS.Endpoint(response.DataEndpoint);
});
// Step 3: Get an HLS Streaming Session URL
console.log('Fetching HLS Streaming Session URL');
var playbackMode = 'LIVE'; // 'LIVE' or 'ON_DEMAND'
//var startTimestamp = new Date('START_TIMESTAMP'); // For ON_DEMAND only
//var endTimestamp = new Date('END_TIMESTAMP'); // For ON_DEMAND only
var fragmentSelectorType = 'SERVER_TIMESTAMP'; // 'SERVER_TIMESTAMP' or 'PRODUCER_TIMESTAMP'
const SESSION_EXPIRATION_SECONDS = 60*60
console.log(kinesisVideo)
const hlsUrl = kinesisVideoArchivedContent.getHLSStreamingSessionURL({
StreamName: streamName,
//StreamARN: "arn:aws:kinesisvideo:us-east-1:635420739373:stream/mr-pinchers-dot-org/1561848963391",
PlaybackMode: playbackMode,
HLSFragmentSelector: {
FragmentSelectorType: fragmentSelectorType,
TimestampRange: playbackMode === 'LIVE' ? undefined : {
// StartTimestamp: startTimestamp,
// EndTimestamp: endTimestamp
}
},
Expires: parseInt(SESSION_EXPIRATION_SECONDS)
}, function(err, response) {
if (err) { return console.error("Darn", err); }
console.log('HLS Streaming Session URL: ' + response.HLSStreamingSessionURL, response);
}
)
console.log("here", hlsUrl)
class Home extends Component {
render () {
return <ReactPlayer url={hlsUrl} playing={true} />
}
}
export default Home
The response I'm getting in Step 3 (response.HLSStreamingSessionURL) is undefined.
Step 2 runs fine, and I get an endpoint back, so I'm confident that it's not a permissions problem.
Part of me thinks that I should be using some async/await calls but I'm not sure, still pretty new to JS and all that async stuff so didn't know how to incorporate it into this.
I've spent quite a bit of time trying to figure this out but the documentation on Kinesis is still pretty light, although if someone has a good resource for it, please let me know.

This is basic JavaScript async behavior. You're executing step 3 before step 2 is complete. You can't use the response before it's happened.
You can fix this by starting step 3 when step 2 has completed, as follows:
kinesisVideo.getDataEndpoint({
StreamName: streamName,
APIName: "GET_HLS_STREAMING_SESSION_URL"
}, function(err, response) {
if (err) { return console.error(err); }
console.log('Data endpoint: ' + response.DataEndpoint);
kinesisVideoArchivedContent.endpoint = new AWS.Endpoint(response.DataEndpoint);
var playbackMode = 'LIVE';
var fragmentSelectorType = 'SERVER_TIMESTAMP';
const SESSION_EXPIRATION_SECONDS = 60*60
kinesisVideoArchivedContent.getHLSStreamingSessionURL({...});
// remainder of code here
});
Or you can use async/await and promise variants of the AWS SDK methods like so:
(async () => {
const kv_response = await kv.getDataEndpoint({...}).promise();
// ...
const hls_response = await kvac.getHLSStreamingSessionURL({...}).promise();
})();
Note that await may only be used inside an async function, hence the anonymous async wrapper.

How do you create a terminal instance within a NodeJS child process?

I am setting up a discord channel to function as an SSH terminal. A NodeJS server will provide the connection. A custom command will spawn a new terminal instance, which can then be used as a shell.
I don't know how to spawn a terminal within a child process. I have tried using the screen and bash commands to no avail.
I am using CentOS 7.
// Code For Discord
var $discord = {
currentInterface: null,
send: (data) => {
/* some code that sends data to a discord channel */
},
receive: (data) => {
// Send Data To Terminal
if ($discord.currentInterface) {
$discord.currentInterface.send(data);
} else {
$discord.send('**Error:** Terminal has not been spawned.');
}
},
command: (name, args) => {
// Recieve Discord Commands
switch (name) {
case 'spawn':
$discord.currentInterface = $interface();
break;
}
}
};
// Create Interface
var $interface = function () {
// Define object
let x = {
terminal: child_process.spawn('screen'),
send: (data) => {
// Send Input to Terminal
x.process.stdin.write(data + '\n');
},
receive: (data) => {
// Send Output to Discord
$discord.send(data);
}
};
// Process Output
x.terminal.on('stdout', (data) => {
x.receive(data);
});
// Process Errors
x.terminal.on('stderr', (error) => {
x.receive(`**Error:**\n${error}`);
});
// Return
return x;
};
The problem lies with creating the terminal itself. How do you create an SSH-style shell within a child process?

After realizing how much of an idiot I really am, I found a solution...
// Import Modules
const fs = require('fs');
const child_process = require('child_process');
// Create Interface
var interface = {
terminal: child_process.spawn('/bin/sh'),
handler: console.log,
send: (data) => {
interface.terminal.stdin.write(data + '\n');
},
cwd: () => {
let cwd = fs.readlinkSync('/proc/' + interface.terminal.pid + '/cwd');
interface.handler({ type: 'cwd', data: cwd });
}
};
// Handle Data
interface.terminal.stdout.on('data', (buffer) => {
interface.handler({ type: 'data', data: buffer });
});
// Handle Error
interface.terminal.stderr.on('data', (buffer) => {
interface.handler({ type: 'error', data: buffer });
});
// Handle Closure
interface.terminal.on('close', () => {
interface.handler({ type: 'closure', data: null });
});
Usage...
interface.handler = (output) => {
let data = '';
if (output.data) data += ': ' + output.data.toString();
console.log(output.type + data);
};
interface.send('echo Hello World!');
// Returns: data: Hello World!
interface.send('cd /home');
interface.cwd();
// Returns: cwd: /home
interface.send('abcdef');
// Returns: error: bin/sh: line 2: abcdef: command not found
interface.send('exit');
// Returns: exit

I'd take a look at the documentation for child_process.execFile. There's an option to set the shell on, but it's disabled by default.
There's also this approach if you want to try setting up a batch script. This is set up for windows and the answer isn't set up for passing arguments, but you should be able to adapt it fairly easily.

Saving JSON in Electron

I am building an app using Electron. In this app, I am building a data structure using JSON. My data structure looks like this:
{
items: [
{ id:1, name:'football' },
{ id:2, name:'soccer ball' },
{ id:3, name:'basketball' }
]
}
I want to save this JSON to a file called "data.json". I want to save it to a file because I want to load the next time the application starts. My challenge is, I do not know how to save the data. In fact, I'm not sure where I should even save the file. Do I save it in the same directory as the app? Or is there some cross-platform approach I should use?
Currently, I have the following:
saveClick: function() {
var json = JSON.stringify(this.data);
// assume json matches the JSON provided above.
// Now, I'm not sure how to actually save the file.
}
So, how / where do I save JSON to the local file system for use at a later time?

Electron lacks an easy way to persist and read user settings for your application. electron-json-storage implements an API somehow similar to localStorage to write and read JSON objects to/from the operating system application data directory, as defined by app.getPath('userData').

Electron uses node.js as its core. You can use the following:
var fs = require("fs");
read_file = function(path){
return fs.readFileSync(path, 'utf8');
}
write_file = function(path, output){
fs.writeFileSync(path, output);
}
For write_file(), you can either pass "document.txt" as the path and it will write it to the same directory the html file it was run from. You can also put in a full path like "C:/Users/usern/document.txt" and it will write to the specific location you want.
Also, you can choose any file extention you want, (ie. ".txt", ".js", ".json", etc.). You can even make up your own!

I wrote a simple library that you can use, with a simple interface, it also creates subdirectories and works with promises/callbacks.
it will save the data into app.getPath("appData") as the root folder.
https://github.com/ran-y/electron-storage
Installation
$ npm install --save electron-storage
usage
const storage = require('electron-storage');
API
storage.get(filePath, (err, data) => {
if (err) {
console.error(err)
} else {
console.log(data);
}
});
storage.get(filePath)
.then(data => {
console.log(data);
})
.catch(err => {
console.error(err);
});
storage.set(filePath, data, (err) => {
if (err) {
console.error(err)
}
});
storage.set(filePath, data)
.then(data => {
console.log(data);
})
.catch(err => {
console.error(err);
});

`const fs = require('fs');
let student = {
name: 'Mike',
age: 23,
gender: 'Male',
department: 'English',
car: 'Honda'
};
let data = JSON.stringify(student, null, 2);
fs.writeFile('student-3.json', data, (err) => {
if (err) throw err;
console.log('Data written to file');
});
console.log('This is after the write call');`

There are multiple steps:
Step 1: As of version 5, the default for nodeIntegration changed from true to false. You can enable it when creating the Browser Window:
const createWindow = () => {
const win = new BrowserWindow({
width: 1000,
height: 800,
webPreferences: {
nodeIntegration: true,
contextIsolation: false,
}
})
}
Step 2:
function writetofile() {
let configsettings = {
break: output.innerHTML,
alwaysonoff: toggleoutput.innerHTML,
};
let settings_data = JSON.stringify(configsettings, null, 2);
const fs = require("fs");
fs.writeFileSync("assets/configs/settings.json", settings_data);
}