PiCamera.js

PiCamera.js

This package provides the JavaScript client-side implementation for pi_webrtc, a project designed to enable WebRTC-based real-time video and audio streaming on a Raspberry Pi.

Installation

npm install picamera.js

Example

Live video

Display live streaming on the HTML <video> element.

import { PiCamera } from 'picamera.js';

let videoRef = document.getElementById('videoElement');

let conn = new PiCamera({
  deviceUid: 'your-custom-uid',
  mqttHost: 'your.mqtt.cloud',
  mqttPath: '/mqtt',
  mqttPort: '8884', // Websocket Port
  mqttUsername: 'hakunamatata',
  mqttPassword: 'Wonderful',
  stunUrls: ["stun:stun1.l.google.com:19302", "stun:stun2.l.google.com:19302"],
});
conn.attach(videoRef);
conn.connect();

Capture a snapshot

Use webrtc datachannel to get the snapshot image only.

let conn = new PiCamera({
  deviceUid: 'your-custom-uid',
  mqttHost: 'your.mqtt.cloud',
  mqttPath: '/mqtt',
  mqttPort: '8884', // Websocket Port
  mqttUsername: 'hakunamatata',
  mqttPassword: 'Wonderful',
  stunUrls: ["stun:stun1.l.google.com:19302"],
  datachannelOnly: true,
});

conn.onDatachannel = (dc) => {
  conn.snapshot();
}

conn.onSnapshot = (image) => {
  // get a base64 image here, then terminate the connection.
  conn.terminate();
}

conn.connect();

API

• Options
• Events
  • onConnectionState
  • onDatachannel
  • onSnapshot
  • onTimeout
• Methods
  • attach
  • connect
  • terminate
  • getStatus
  • snapshot
  • connect
  • toggleMic
  • toggleSpeaker

Options

Available flags for initialization.

Option	Type	Default	Description
deviceUid	string		The custom --uid provided in the running pi_webrtc.
mqttHost	string		The MQTT server host.
mqttPath	string	/mqtt	The MQTT server path.
mqttPort	number	8884	The WebSocket port for the MQTT server.
mqttProtocol	string	wss	The portocol for the MQTT server.
mqttUsername	string		The username for the MQTT server.
mqttPassword	string		The password for the MQTT server.
stunUrls	string[]		An array of STUN server URLs for WebRTC.
turnUrl	string		The TURN server URL for WebRTC.
turnUsername	string		The username for the TURN server.
turnPassword	string		The password for the TURN server.
timeout	number	10000	The connection timeout in milliseconds (ms).
datachannelOnly	boolean	false	Specifies that the connection is only for data transfer, without media streams.
isMicOn	boolean	true	Enables the local microphone stream by default if the connection is established.
isSpeakerOn	boolean	true	Enables the remote audio stream by default if the connection is established.

Events

• onConnectionState

  = (state: RTCPeerConnectionState) => {}

  Emitted when the WebRTC peer connection state changes.

• onDatachannel

  = (dataChannel: RTCDataChannel) => {}

  Emitted when the data channel successfully opens for data communication.

• onSnapshot

  = (image: string) => {}

  Triggered after calling the snapshot() method. Emits a base64-encoded image once all image packets are received from the server.

• onTimeout

  = () => {}

  Emitted when the P2P connection cannot be established within the allotted time. Automatically calls the terminate() function.

Methods

• attach

  .attach(mediaElement: HTMLVideoElement)

  Attaches the remote media stream to the specified media element for playback.

  • mediaElement - The HTML <video> element where the remote media stream will be rendered.

• connect

  .connect()

  Start trying to establish the WebRTC connection.

• terminate

  .terminate()

  Terminates the WebRTC connection.

• getStatus

  .getStatus()

  Retrieves the current connection status.

• snapshot

  .snapshot(quality?: number)

  Requests a snapshot image from the server.

  • quality - The range from 0 to 100, determines the image quality. The default value is 30.

• toggleMic

  .toggleMic(enabled?: boolean)

  Toggles the local audio stream on or off. If an argument is provided, it will force the state to the specified value, otherwise, the current state will be toggled.

• toggleSpeaker

  .toggleSpeaker(enabled?: boolean)

  Toggles the remote audio stream on or off. If an argument is provided, it will force the state to the specified value, otherwise, the current state will be toggled.

License

This project is licensed under the AGPL-3.0-only license. Under this license, anyone is free to use, modify, and distribute the code, but any use in network services or any modifications require the source code to be made public. Commercial usage without source code disclosure is not permitted.

Commercial License

If your use case does not permit source code disclosure or you have other licensing requirements, a commercial license is available. This option exempts you from the AGPL’s source code sharing requirements and includes dedicated support. The commercial license also enables optional features, such as removing watermarks or unlocking additional functionalities.

For more information, please contact: 📧 Email: tzu.huan.tai@gmail.com

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