There was a bug in FakeRedis which caused newly generated projects to fail. FakeRedis package updated with the fix.

• Fixed a bug where using the RPC api.connections.apply would fail.
  • by @evantahler via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/commit/38a283b741ae561b6b0b20983d3bc6ad7e17aa29
• Updated all dependent packages to their latest versions.
  • by @evantahler via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/commit/f6474f9c2a11e1b94e6043c6bb5051e3c08b3557

Allow folks to optionally enable GZIP/Deflate compression for actionhero/servers/web. This can now be toggled on/off with api.config.servers.web.compress. While this option exists, it is still best-practice to have an upstream process handle compression rather than node, like Nginx or a load balancer.

When enabled, if the client indicates they can handle compressed responses (via the Content-Encoding header, we support gzip and deflate), Actionhero will compress results before sending the data over http. This decrease the network payload at the expense of both server and client CPU time.

By @evantahler via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/689

ioredis

We have replaced the node-redis package with ioredis. This new redis package is mostly api compatible with node-redis, but adds support for sentinel and cluster out of the box. It is also faster is most cases.

• note that the way to pass a password has been changed. Check out ./config/redis for more information
• by @evantahler via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/680

Optionally Enforce connection properties

In certain cases (perhaps streaming behind a load balancer) you many not be able to obtain both the connection.ip and connection.port for connecting clients. You can now toggle off this requirement with api.config.general.enforceConnectionProperties. Keep in mind that you may have trouble identifying and accessing unique connections with this option disabled.

• by @evantahler via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/678

Remove Stats Module

The api.stats module was very rarely used, so we removed it! This will reduce make actionhero a little bit leaner. If you want to continue to use api.stats, you can access it via a plugin: https://github.com/evantahler/ah-stats-plugin. Keep in mind that some of the core loggers (like number of active connections, actions, etc) have been removed. You can re-implement them via middleware and plugins.

• by @evantahler via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/679

Misc

• We now test on Travis.CI with node v4.0... and yes, we are compatible!
• Documentation updates by @evantahler and @kodypeterson

Upgrade dependent packages

• This includes an update of the node-resque package, which now has helpers to allow for running jobs on a schedule (like CRON).
• A new section has been added to the actionhero documentation on how to take advantage of this feature @ http://www.actionherojs.com/docs/core/tasks.html#job-schedules

Fixes for to make working with grunt console more stable

• https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/commit/dd41ca3f8875b28367500f0ba90ab83f22139b8f
• https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/commit/8cbb390f61587633c23d2a210cb7b140562ff40a

Custom Error Serializers

• You can now customize the way that Error object responses from your actions are serialized (probably into strings). Each web server has a matching method in api.config.errors.serializers[serverName] which returns the response type
  • Note: You will likely need to update the /config/errors.js file in existing prjects to include the new errorSerializers object, as the error config cannot be merged with actionhero's internal defaults.
  • via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/670 by @evantahler

Update Dependent Packages

• via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/commit/5b0e7d507aa6b13e6b056017731d94750ba9cfdc by @evantahler

Bugs

• Fix an error with grunt console: https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/commit/294a134c19d64bd6d01f259723ba93c4ca06c7a5

Bug Fix

• munge non-ws connected actionhero client response to act like ws-connected actionhero client
  • This is a breaking change with regards to the response signature of connection.action for http/ws clients.
  • Now responses will all have the same signature: one param to the action, and data.error can be inspected

client.action("myAction", {thing: 'stuff'}, function(response){
  if(response.error){  
    // ...
  }else{
    // ...
  }
});

Chat onSayReceive Middleware

• Now in chat middleware, you can use register onSayReceive middleware. This will let you inspect/modify the message once (as it is sent in) rather than the say middleware which will be invoked once per client connected to the room. In many cases, this might be more efficient.
• via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/646 by @dunse

Misc

• dependent package updates
• documentation updates

Add the license to package.json

• Update various dependent packages to their latest versions
• Fix a bug which may have duplicated messages received with say

Logging

• api.config.logger.maxLogStringLength can now be used to truncate the length of params logged for actions
• api.actionProcessor.prototype.logAction can now be monkeypatched for custom loggers of your actions (useful if your actions accept binary data!)
  • by @evantahler via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/650/

Misc

• Add a test that ensures websockets will inherit the connection.fingerprint of the HTTP connection that spawned the request (this was really hard!)
  • by @dunse via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/640
• Fix a possible memory leak with the stats collector
  • by @BoLaMN via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/653
• Update node-resque (which includes support for removing 'stuck' workers)
  • by @evantahler via https://github.com/taskrabbit/node-resque/pull/70
  • by @S3bb1 via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/655

Configurable apiVersion in routes

• You can now add the configuration apiVersion in your route definations if you want to point a route to a specific version of an action
• By @PhilWaldmann via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/643

Misc

• Ensure that the env variable process.env.ACTIONHERO_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT is an integer when passed on the command line
• Various fixes for error logging in actions

Clients which use say in chat rooms will now receive the message they send back in the normal broadcast way. This allows clients to display messages "you sent" if they wish. If you wish to ignore messages "you sent", simply don't show messages where client.id === message.from.

Implement new methods from https://github.com/taskrabbit/node-resque which make it easier to manage failed resque jobs:

api.tasks.failedCount(next)

• next(err, failedCount)
• failedCount is how many resque jobs are in the failed queue.

api.tasks.failed(start, stop, next)

• next(err, failedJobs)
• failedJobs is an array listing the data of the failed jobs. You can see an example at https://github.com/taskrabbit/node-resque#failed-job-managment

api.tasks.removeFailed(failedJob, next)

• next(err, removedCount)
• the input failedJob is an expanded node object representing the failed job, retrieved via api.tasks.failed

api.tasks.retryAndRemoveFailed(failedJob, next)

• next(err, failedJob)
• the input failedJob is an expanded node object representing the failed job, retrieved via api.tasks.failed

Actionhero Version 11.0.0

New action syntax and simpler actionProcessor

This allows us to remove the notion of connection._originalConnection from actions/middleware. This simplifies (and speeds up) the code and allows for the expected behavior of modifying data.connection within actions & middleware to persist.

!! This PR drastically changes the APIs of actions and middleware (breaking changes!). !!

Actions

Action Syntax now looks like this:

run: function(api, data, next){
  data.response.randomNumber = Math.random();
  next(error);
}

Where data contains:

data = {
  connection: connection,
  action: 'randomNumber',
  toProcess: true,
  toRender: true,
  messageCount: 123,
  params: { action: 'randomNumber', apiVersion: 1 },
  actionStartTime: 123,
  response: {},
}

Now, when you run an action, you modify data.response. If there is an error, you callback to next(err) with it.

If you don't want to toRender, just set it to false: data.toRender = false within the action.

Servers

When building custom servers, the response to an action is now:

server.on('actionComplete', function(data){
  completeResponse(data);
});

Where data is the same as in the action. Note that data.toRender should be inspected here. Any errors will be located in data.response.error.

Midleware (action)

Similar to actions, the syntax becomes:

api.actions.addPreProcessor(function(data, next){
  if(data.params.userId == null){
    var error = new Error( "All actions require a userId" );
    next(error);
  }else{
    next();
  }
});

This will solve https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/issues/561

By @evantahler via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/615

New Middleware Syntax

Action Middleware:

Action middleware syntax is now:

api.actions.addMiddleware(definition);
// I.E.
api.actions.addMiddleware({
  name: 'userId checker',
  global: false,
  priority: 1000,
  preProcessor: function(data, next){
    if(!data.params.userId){
      next(new Error('All actions require a userId') );
    }else{
      next(err);
    }
  }
  postProcessor: function(data, next){
    if(data.thing.stuff == false){
      data.toRender = false;
    }
    next(err);
  }
});

• action middleware can now define both a preProcessor and postProcessor as a tuple.
• action middleware by default is applied to no actions, unless you define definition.global = true
• actions now opt into actions with the action.middleware array where names of actions are supplied which are to be invoked by each action, ie:

exports.randomNumber = {
  name: 'randomNumber',
  description: 'I am an API method which will generate a random number',
  outputExample: {
    randomNumber: 0.123
  },

  middleware: [ 'userId checker' ]

  run: function(api, data, next){
    data.response.randomNumber = Math.random();
    next(null);
  }

};

Connection Middleware:

Connection middleware syntax is now:

api.connections.addMiddleware(definition);
// I.E.
api.connections.addMiddleware({
  name: 'connection middleware',
  priority: 1000,
  create: function(connection){
    // do stuff
  },
  destroy: function(connection){
    // do stuff
  }
});

• the connection middleware is still async (it has no callback; nor does it return). It will not block the connection being created.

by @evantahler via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/625

Chat Middleware (say)

api.chatRoom.addMiddleware(definition);
// I.E.
api.connections.addMiddleware({
  name: 'connection middleware',
  priority: 1000,
  join: function(connection, room, callback){
    // do stuff
    callback(err);
  },
  leave: function(connection, room, callback){
    // do stuff
    callback(err);
  },
  say: function(connection, room, messagePayload, callback){
    // do stuff
    callback(err, messagePayload);
  }
});

Websockets

• The params of websockets should NOT be sticky. All actions will start with connection.params = {}.

by @evantahler via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/629

Complex Errors

• Ensure that error responses from objects can be complex objects, IE:

var error = {error: true, message: 'something went wrong', code: 123};
next(error);

by @evantahler via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/624

Misc:

• Removed duplicate callback prevention in actionProcessor. This belongs on the user/implementer to handle.

Update dependent packages

Web Client Library Updates

• Modify webAction() so that HTTP clients (or not-yet-connected websocket clients) can use complex object payload (switching from GET to POST).
  • by @samuelbrian via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/619

Misc

• fixed ability to stop/start/restart the server from within in action (ie: api.commands.stop())
  • by @evantahler via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/637
• Upgrade dependent packages to latest versions.
  • fakeredis
  • formidable
  • grunt
  • node-uuid
• Various test suite fiexes

Bugs:

• add "public" to http cache-control headers
  • by @evantahler via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/commit/33225a6b35effd3da7c2e06a51596e15d57b86ed
• Do not generate client-side web socket client JS when clientJsName is null
  • by @submitteddenied via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/610
• Add options to silence resque workers even further
  • by @gcoonrod via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/612
• Ensure templates for generated actions/tasks/etc pass linter
  • by @hippich via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/pull/616
• Allow for debug logging when initializers both start and finish loading (all steps)
  • by @evantahler via https://github.com/evantahler/actionhero/commit/996aee1276721309dfa2f9bb86842966f2e40c5e

Misc

• Update node-resque and istanbul packages to latest versions