I am trying to make a connection between Matlab and a Javascript (typescript in my case) program with a COM automation server as suggested on the MathWorks website. The docs on the website have examples for some languages created by MS, not for javascript.
I can't seem to find a lot of information on how to establish such a COM connection with JS. From what I've read, it's an old Microsoft feature that was only used with Internet Explorer.
Problem
The program I am writing is a VS Code extension, thus I am not using Internet Explorer at all. As a result, I do not believe I can use ActiveXObjects.
Question
Is there another way to establish a connection between my typescript code and the Matlab instance?
Goal
I am trying to run Matlab files from the VS Code terminal without opening a custom Matlab terminal or the complete Matlab GUI. The output should be displayed in the VS Code terminal as well. On MacOS and Linux, I can simply use the CLI tools, but due to the differences between the Windows version and MacOS/Linux versions, this is not possible on Windows.
I haven't used TypeScript very much, and what little I did, it was a long time ago when it was completely new.
However, the NPM package win32ole can be used in NodeJS, so I would assume you would be able to use it in Typescript as well (perhaps with some minor modifications to the example, or a small wrapper).
win32ole npm page
This is an example from that page, showing how to interact with Excel to create and save a worksheet.
try{
var win32ole = require('win32ole');
// var xl = new ActiveXObject('Excel.Application'); // You may write it as:
var xl = win32ole.client.Dispatch('Excel.Application');
xl.Visible = true;
var book = xl.Workbooks.Add();
var sheet = book.Worksheets(1);
try{
sheet.Name = 'sheetnameA utf8';
sheet.Cells(1, 2).Value = 'test utf8';
var rg = sheet.Range(sheet.Cells(2, 2), sheet.Cells(4, 4));
rg.RowHeight = 5.18;
rg.ColumnWidth = 0.58;
rg.Interior.ColorIndex = 6; // Yellow
var result = book.SaveAs('testfileutf8.xls');
console.log(result);
}catch(e){
console.log('(exception cached)\n' + e);
}
xl.ScreenUpdating = true;
xl.Workbooks.Close();
xl.Quit();
}catch(e){
console.log('*** exception cached ***\n' + e);
}
Related
How about comrades, a few days ago I was trying to ICMP ping to an IP from NodeJS. But as is the rule in the forum, I do not come with empty hands, I have come across some posts even on this website talking about how to do this, but none of them convinces me.
One of the immovable parameters of my project is to avoid the use of NPM / Node-GYP. Therefore the option of using raw-sockets is discarded (unless you can use C ++ code in NodeJS without using things external to node itself).
Also tried (and implemented) the option of using system commands, here you can see my valid implementation for Linux and Windows (I have not tried it on Mac but I am almost sure it works)
'use strict';
import { execSync } from "child_process";
class Ping {
#stdoutToMS (stdout) {
let res;
let a = stdout.split('=');
for (let i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
res = a[i].split("ms");
}
return ~~res[0].split('/')[0].trim();
}
ping (host, timeout = 5000) {
let mstout = timeout / 1000;
let stdout;
try {
if (process.platform === "win32") {
stdout = execSync("ping -n 1 -l 1 -w " + timeout + ' ' + host);
} else {
stdout = execSync("ping -c 1 -s 16 -W " + mstout + ' ' + host);
}
} catch (err) {
return false;
}
return this.#stdoutToMS(stdout.toString());
}
};
export default Ping;
If anyone has any ideas on how to do this natively in node without using external software, I'd be very grateful if you would tell me.
It does not appear you can access a ping equivalent from nodejs without some external code.
Since ping uses the ICMP protocol to do what it does (and it has to use that protocol because it's trying to contact an endpoint that is listening for that) and there is no implementation of the ICMP protocol in nodejs, your only option would be to create your own implementation of the ICMP protocol entirely in nodejs code by getting access to a RAW OS socket and implementing the protocol yourself. I am not aware of any built-in ability to get a RAW socket in plain nodejs (no external software).
The only examples of ICMP implementation I could find in nodejs ALL use external code to create access to a raw socket. That seems to be a verification that there is no other way to do it.
There is a module here that exposes a raw socket, but it uses some native code to implement that. You can examine its implementation to see what it's doing.
There's also this library which exposes a RAW socket from libuv to be used within nodejs, but it also uses some of it's own native code.
To develop an algorithm I used TurfJs library to avoid to do some calculations my self, and I have been asked to integrate the algorithm to an Eclipse Vert.x server, in which I'm new.
So I tried to import it directly like usual: var turf = require("#turf/turf");
and when I execute using this command: ./node_modules/.bin/vertx run server.js, I get this error:
Thread Thread[vert.x-eventloop-thread-1,5,main] has been blocked for 2762 ms, time limit is 2000
javax.script.ScriptException: TypeError: Cannot redefine property "name" of function IndexOutOfBoundsException (message) {
Error.call(this);
this.message = message || '';
} in node_modules/#turf/turf/turf.js at line number 26251
Here is server.js code if needed:
var Router = require("vertx-web-js/router");
var turf = require("#turf/turf");
var server = vertx.createHttpServer();
var router = Router.router(vertx);
router.get("/").handler(function (ctx) {
var response = ctx.response();
response.putHeader("content-type", "application/json; charset=utf-8");
response.end("[\"foo\",\"bar\"]");
});
server.requestHandler(router.accept).listen(8080);
Note: here I haven't yet used turf, because just importing it causes the above problem.
Please help, Is it possible to use Javascript/nodejs library in Vert.x ?
So I'm answering my question, after a lot of searches I ended that the problem is with TurfJs which is deprecated from turf to #turf/turf according to this link
so I tried to to use turf rather than #turf/turf, and it works even it show this message:
Thread Thread[vert.x-eventloop-thread-1,5,main] has been blocked for 2627 ms, time limit is 2000
Succeeded in deploying verticle
I've been experimenting with node-serialport library to access devices connected to a USB hub and send/receive data to these devices. The code works fine on linux but on windows(windows 8.1 and windows 7) I get some odd behaviour. It doesn't seem to work for more than 2 devices, it just hangs when writing to the port. The callback for write method never gets called. I'm not sure how to go about debugging this issue. I'm not a windows person, if someone can give me some directions it would be great.
Below is the code I'm currently using to test.
/*
Sample code to debug node-serialport library on windows
*/
//var SerialPort = require("./build/Debug/serialport");
var s = require("./serialport-logger");
var parsers = require('./parsers');
var ee = require('events');
s.list(function(err, ports) {
console.log("Number of ports available: " + ports.length);
ports.forEach(function(port) {
var cName = port.comName,
sp;
//console.log(cName);
sp = new s.SerialPort(cName, {
parser: s.parsers.readline("\r\n")
}, false);
// sp.once('data', function(data) {
// if (data) {
// console.log("Retrieved data " + data);
// //console.log(data);
// }
// });
//console.log("Is port open " + sp.isOpen());
if(!sp.isOpen()) {
sp.open(function(err) {
if(err) {
console.log("Port cannot be opened manually");
} else {
console.log("Port is open " + cName);
sp.write("LED=2\r\n", function(err) {
if (err) {
console.log("Cannot write to port");
console.error(err);
} else {
console.log("Written to port " + cName);
}
});
}
});
}
//sp.close();
});
});
I'm sure you'd have noticed I'm not require'ing serialport library instead I'm using serialport-logger library it's just a way to use the serialport addons which are compiled with debug switch on windows box.
TLDR; For me it works by increasing the threadpool size for libuv.
$ UV_THREADPOOL_SIZE=20 && node server.js
I was fine with opening/closing port for each command for a while but a feature request I'm working on now needs to keep the port open and reuse the connection to run the commands. So I had to find an answer for this issue.
The number of devices I could support by opening a connection and holding on to it is 3. The issue happens to be the default threadpool size of 4. I already have another background worker occupying 1 thread so I have only 3 threads left. The EIO_WatchPort function in node-serialport runs as a background worker which results in blocking a thread. So when I use more than 3 devices the "open" method call is waiting in the queue to be pushed to the background worker but since they are all busy it blocks node. Then any subsequent requests cannot be handled by node. Finally increasing the thread pool size did the trick, it's working fine now. It might help someone. Also this thread definitely helped me.
As opensourcegeek pointed all u need to do is to set UV_THREADPOOL_SIZE variable above default 4 threads.
I had problems at my project with node.js and modbus-rtu or modbus-serial library when I tried to query more tan 3 RS-485 devices on USB ports. 3 devices, no problem, 4th or more and permanent timeouts. Those devices responded in 600 ms interval each, but when pool was busy they never get response back.
So on Windows simply put in your node.js environment command line:
set UV_THREADPOOL_SIZE=8
or whatever u like till 128. I had 6 USB ports queried so I used 8.
Having a hard time implementing a node.js/server.js setup
I'm a bit stuck right now, and hoping someone can shed some light. I'm relatively new to sockets in general, but have been programming in javascript on and off for several years, although only about as deep as is necessary to accomplish the task at hand. As a result, my understanding of some of the concepts surrounding the javascript stack heap, and sockets in general are somewhat limited.
Ok Here's the situation:
I've created an application intended to simply increment a counter, on several machines. Several users can click the "next" button and it will update instantly on all machines.
When you first connect, it retrieves the current number, and spits it out locally.
I've created the server here:
var io = require("socket.io");
var sockets = io.listen(8000);
var currentlyServing=0;
sockets.on("connection", function (socket)
{
console.log("client connected");
socket.emit("receive", currentlyServing);
socket.on("update", function(serving)
{
currentlyServing=serving;
if(currentlyServing>100)
currentlyServing=0;
if(currentlyServing<0)
currentlyServing=99;
socket.broadcast.emit("receive", currentlyServing);
console.log("update received: "+currentlyServing);
});
});
console.log("Server Started");
Here is the relevant (I hope) excerpt from the client side:
var socket = io.connect("http://www.sampledomain.com:8000");
//function to update the page when a new update is received
socket.on("receive", function(receivedServing)
{
document.getElementById('msgs').value=""+String("00" + receivedServing).slice(-2);
document.getElementById('nowServing').value=receivedServing;
});
//this is called in an onClick event in the HTML source
//sends the new number to all other stations except this one (handled by server side)
function nextServing()
{
var sendServing = parseInt(document.getElementById('nowServing').value)+1;
socket.emit("update", sendServing);
document.getElementById('nowServing').value=sendServing;
document.getElementById('msgs').value=""+String("00" + sendServing).slice(-2);
}
Ok so here's my problem. This runs absolutely fine in every system I've put it in, smoothly and beautifully - except for IE8. If left alone for more than 2-3 minutes (with no activity at all), I eventually receive a "stack overflow" error. The line number it appears on fluctuates (haven't determined the factors involved yet), but it always happens at that interval. On some workstations it takes longer, which I'm beginning to think has a direct correlation to the amount of phsyical RAM the machine has, or at least how much is being allocated to the web browser.
I found an online function to determine "max stack size", which I realize is not an exact science, however I did consistently get a number in the area of 3000. On my IE11 machine with considerable more resources, I found it to be in the area of 20,000. This may not be relevant, but I figured the more info the better :)
To avoid this problem for now so that the end users don't see this error message, I've take the entire client script, and put it into an iFrame which reloads itself every 60 seconds,essentially resetting the stack, which feels so dirty sitting so close to a web socket, but has bought me the time to post here. I've googled until I can't google any more, but when you search "node.js" or "socket.io" along with "stack overflow" on google, you just get a lot of posts about the two topics that are hosted on the stackoverflow dot com website. ARG lol
Anyone?
EDIT ON NOVEMBER 18TH 2014 AS PER COMMENTS BELOW:
the error message is most often claiming stack overflow at line 1056. IE Developer tools points towards the file socket.io.js. Line 1056 is:
return fn.apply(obj, args.concat(slice.call(arguments)));
which is insdie this section of the file:
var slice = [].slice;
/**
* Bind `obj` to `fn`.
*
* #param {Object} obj
* #param {Function|String} fn or string
* #return {Function}
* #api public
*/
module.exports = function(obj, fn){
if ('string' == typeof fn) fn = obj[fn];
if ('function' != typeof fn) throw new Error('bind() requires a function');
var args = slice.call(arguments, 2);
return function(){
return fn.apply(obj, args.concat(slice.call(arguments)));
}
};
From what I've read it seems that the problem on IE8 might be related to flash. It IE8 uses flashsocket as the default configuration. I suggest to try the following on the client side:
if(navigator.appName.indexOf("Internet Explorer")!=-1 && navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 8")==-1 ){
socket = io.connect("http://www.sampledomain.com:8000", {
transports: ['xhr-polling']
});
}
else
{
socket = io.connect("http://www.sampledomain.com:8000" );
}
This should make IE8 use long polling while all other machines use the best method they can.
On a side note: You might also want to consider incrementing the "serving" variable on the server.
Find existing issue Causes a "Stack Overflow" in IE8 when using xhr-polling #385.
This was fixed by disabling Flash.
Also find Safari over windows client use xhr-polling instead of websocket - performance are severely harm #1147. While this is Safari it may apply to IE8 because it is using similar mechanism.
I did a small test using your socket.io but in IE 10 and emulated IE8
so that I could debug well. Started capturing Network in the tab and
noticed the requests logging every few seconds.Left alone for few
minutes and I see a lot of requests logged in. You will not see this
in Chrome because it has true WebSockets. While IE8 does not support
WebSockets socket.io emulate that using plain HTTP GET/POST using some
mechanism. So my theory is that even if socket.io works with IE8 it
does not reliably emulate web sockets
My advice is to rule out IE 8 for long running client application. IE8 is no longer supported by Microsoft.
maybe try to replace
""+String("00" + receivedServing).slice(-2)
with
('00' + receivedServing).slice(-2)
I am trying to use Apple's UIAutomation to write unit tests for an iOS Application that has a server-side component. In order to setup the test server in various states (as well as simulate two clients communicating through my server), I would like to issue HTTP get requests from within my javascript-based test.
Can anyone provide an example of how to either issue HTTP GET requests directly from within UIAutomation javascript tests, or how to invoke a shell script from within my UIAutomation javascript tests?
FWIW, most of the core objects made available by all browsers are missing within the UIAutomation runtime. Try to use XMLHTTPRequest for example and you will get an exception reporting that it cannot find the variable.
Thanks!
Folks,
I was able to work around this by sending HTTP requests to the iOS client to process and return the results in a UIAlertView. Note that all iOS code modifications are wrapped in #if DEBUG conditional compilation directives.
First, setup your client to send out notifications in the event of a device shake. Read this post for more information.
Next, in your iOS main app delegate add this code:
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
selector:#selector(deviceShakenShowDebug:)
name:#"DeviceShaken"
object:nil];
Then add a method that looks something like this:
- (void) deviceShakenShowDebug:(id)sender
{
if (!self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs)
{
self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs = [[[UITextField alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 260.0, 25.0)] autorelease];
self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs.accessibilityLabel = #"AlertDebugArgsField";
self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs.isAccessibilityElement = YES;
[self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs setBackgroundColor:[UIColor whiteColor]];
[self.tabBarController.selectedViewController.view addSubview:self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs];
[self.tabBarController.selectedViewController.view bringSubviewToFront:self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs];
}
else
{
if ([self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs.text length] > 0)
{
if ([self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs.text hasPrefix:#"http://"])
{
[self doDebugHttpRequest:self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs.text];
}
}
}
}
- (void)requestDidFinishLoad:(TTURLRequest*)request
{
NSString *response = [[[NSString alloc] initWithData:((TTURLDataResponse*)request.response).data
encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding] autorelease];
UIAlertView *resultAlert =
[[[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:NSLocalizedString(#"Request Loaded",#"")
message:response
delegate:nil
cancelButtonTitle:NSLocalizedString(#"OK",#"")
otherButtonTitles:nil] autorelease];
resultAlert.accessibilityLabel = #"AlertDebugResult";
[resultAlert show];
}
This code will add a UITextField to the very top view controller after a shake, slapped right above any navigation bar or other UI element. UIAutomation, or you the user, can manually enter a URL into this UITextField. When you shake the device again, if the text begins with "http" it will issue an HTTP request in code (exercise for the reader to implement doDebugHttpRequest).
Then, in my UIAutomation JavaScript file, I have defined the following two functions:
function httpGet(url, delayInSec) {
if (!delayInSec) delay = 1;
var alertDebugResultSeen = false;
var httpResponseValue = null;
UIATarget.onAlert = function onAlert(alert) {
httpResponseValue = alert.staticTexts().toArray()[1].name();
alert.buttons()[0].tap();
alertDebugResultSeen = true;
}
var target = UIATarget.localTarget();
var application = target.frontMostApp();
target.shake(); // bring up the input field
application.mainWindow().textFields()["AlertDebugArgsField"].setValue(url);
target.shake(); // send back to be processed
target.delay(delayInSec);
assertTrue(alertDebugResultSeen);
return httpResponseValue;
}
function httpGetJSON(url, delayInSec) {
var response = httpGet(url, delayInSec);
return eval('(' + response + ')');
}
Now, in my javascript file, I can call
httpGet('http://localhost:3000/do_something')
and it will execute an HTTP request. If I want JSON data back from the server, I call
var jsonResponse = httpGetJSON('http://localhost:3000/do_something')
If I know it is going to be a long-running call, I call
var jsonResponse = httpGetJSON('http://localhost:3000/do_something', 10 /* timeout */)
I've been using this approach successfully now for several weeks.
Try performTaskWithPathArgumentsTimeout
UIATarget.host().performTaskWithPathArgumentsTimeout("/usr/bin/curl", "http://google.com", 30);
Just a small correction. The answer that suggests using UIATarget.host().performTaskWithPathArgumentsTimeout is an easy way to make a request on a URL in iOS 5.0+, but the syntax of the example is incorrect. Here is the correct way to make this call:
UIATarget.host().performTaskWithPathArgumentsTimeout("/usr/bin/curl", ["http://google.com"], 30);
The "[" around the "args" param is important, and the test will die with an exception similar to the following if you forget the brackets:
Error: -[__NSCFString count]: unrecognized selector sent to instance
Here is a fully working example that hits google.com and logs all the output:
var result = UIATarget.host().performTaskWithPathArgumentsTimeout("/usr/bin/curl", ["http://www.google.com"], 30);
UIALogger.logDebug("exitCode: " + result.exitCode);
UIALogger.logDebug("stdout: " + result.stdout);
UIALogger.logDebug("stderr: " + result.stderr);
+1 for creative use of "shake()". However, that's not an option for some projects, especially those that actually use the shake feature.
Think outside the box. Do the fetching with something else (Python, Ruby, node.js, bash+wget, etc). Then, you can use the pre-canned response and auto-generate the ui-test.js on the fly by including that dynamically generated json payload as the "sample data" into the test. Then you simply execute the test.
In my opinion, the test is the test, leave that alone. The test data you are using, if it's that dynamic, it ought to be separated from the test itself. By doing it this way of fetching / generating JSON, and referencing it from the test, you can update that JSON however often you like, either immediately right before every test, or on a set interval like when you know the server has been updated. I'm not sure you would want to generate it while the test is running, that seems like it would create problems. Taking it to the next level, you could get fancy and use functions that calculate what values ought to be based on other values, and expose them as "dynamic properties" of the data, rather than that math being inside the test, but at that point I think the discussion is more of an academic one rather than the practical one of how.
Apple has recently updated UIAutomation to include a new UIAHost element for performing a task on the Host that is running the instance of Instruments that is executing the tests.