Downloading images with node.js
node.jsImageDownloadnode.js Problem Overview
I'm trying to write a script to download images using node.js. This is what I have so far:
var maxLength = 10 // 10mb
var download = function(uri, callback) {
http.request(uri)
.on('response', function(res) {
if (res.headers['content-length'] > maxLength*1024*1024) {
callback(new Error('Image too large.'))
} else if (!~[200, 304].indexOf(res.statusCode)) {
callback(new Error('Received an invalid status code.'))
} else if (!res.headers['content-type'].match(/image/)) {
callback(new Error('Not an image.'))
} else {
var body = ''
res.setEncoding('binary')
res
.on('error', function(err) {
callback(err)
})
.on('data', function(chunk) {
body += chunk
})
.on('end', function() {
// What about Windows?!
var path = '/tmp/' + Math.random().toString().split('.').pop()
fs.writeFile(path, body, 'binary', function(err) {
callback(err, path)
})
})
}
})
.on('error', function(err) {
callback(err)
})
.end();
}
I, however, want to make this more robust:
- Are there libraries that do this and do this better?
- Is there a chance that response headers lie (about length, about content type)?
- Are there any other status codes I should care about? Should I bother with redirects?
- I think I read somewhere that
binaryencoding is going to be deprecated. What do I do then? - How can I get this to work on windows?
- Any other ways you can make this script better?
Why: for a feature similar to imgur where users can give me a URL, I download that image, and rehost the image in multiple sizes.
node.js Solutions
Solution 1 - node.js
I'd suggest using the request module. Downloading a file is as simple as the following code:
var fs = require('fs'),
request = require('request');
var download = function(uri, filename, callback){
request.head(uri, function(err, res, body){
console.log('content-type:', res.headers['content-type']);
console.log('content-length:', res.headers['content-length']);
request(uri).pipe(fs.createWriteStream(filename)).on('close', callback);
});
};
download('https://www.google.com/images/srpr/logo3w.png', 'google.png', function(){
console.log('done');
});
Solution 2 - node.js
I ran into this problem some days ago, for a pure NodeJS answer I would suggest using Stream to merge the chunks together.
var http = require('http'),
Stream = require('stream').Transform,
fs = require('fs');
var url = 'http://www.google.com/images/srpr/logo11w.png';
http.request(url, function(response) {
var data = new Stream();
response.on('data', function(chunk) {
data.push(chunk);
});
response.on('end', function() {
fs.writeFileSync('image.png', data.read());
});
}).end();
The newest Node versions won't work well with binary strings, so merging chunks with strings is not a good idea when working with binary data.
*Just be careful when using 'data.read()', it will empty the stream for the next 'read()' operation. If you want to use it more than once, store it somewhere.
Solution 3 - node.js
You can use Axios (a promise-based HTTP client for Node.js) to download images in the order of your choosing in an asynchronous environment:
npm i axios
Then, you can use the following basic example to begin downloading images:
const fs = require('fs');
const axios = require('axios');
/* ============================================================
Function: Download Image
============================================================ */
const download_image = (url, image_path) =>
axios({
url,
responseType: 'stream',
}).then(
response =>
new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
response.data
.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(image_path))
.on('finish', () => resolve())
.on('error', e => reject(e));
}),
);
/* ============================================================
Download Images in Order
============================================================ */
(async () => {
let example_image_1 = await download_image('https://example.com/test-1.png', 'example-1.png');
console.log(example_image_1.status); // true
console.log(example_image_1.error); // ''
let example_image_2 = await download_image('https://example.com/does-not-exist.png', 'example-2.png');
console.log(example_image_2.status); // false
console.log(example_image_2.error); // 'Error: Request failed with status code 404'
let example_image_3 = await download_image('https://example.com/test-3.png', 'example-3.png');
console.log(example_image_3.status); // true
console.log(example_image_3.error); // ''
})();
Solution 4 - node.js
if you want progress download try this:
var fs = require('fs');
var request = require('request');
var progress = require('request-progress');
module.exports = function (uri, path, onProgress, onResponse, onError, onEnd) {
progress(request(uri))
.on('progress', onProgress)
.on('response', onResponse)
.on('error', onError)
.on('end', onEnd)
.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(path))
};
how to use:
var download = require('../lib/download');
download("https://www.google.com/images/branding/googlelogo/2x/googlelogo_color_150x54dp.png", "~/download/logo.png", function (state) {
console.log("progress", state);
}, function (response) {
console.log("status code", response.statusCode);
}, function (error) {
console.log("error", error);
}, function () {
console.log("done");
});
note: you should install both request & request-progress modules using:
npm install request request-progress --save
Solution 5 - node.js
var fs = require('fs'),
http = require('http'),
https = require('https');
var Stream = require('stream').Transform;
var downloadImageToUrl = (url, filename, callback) => {
var client = http;
if (url.toString().indexOf("https") === 0){
client = https;
}
client.request(url, function(response) {
var data = new Stream();
response.on('data', function(chunk) {
data.push(chunk);
});
response.on('end', function() {
fs.writeFileSync(filename, data.read());
});
}).end();
};
downloadImageToUrl('https://www.google.com/images/srpr/logo11w.png', 'public/uploads/users/abc.jpg');
Solution 6 - node.js
This is an extension to Cezary's answer. If you want to download it to a specific directory, use this. Also, use const instead of var. Its safe this way.
const fs = require('fs');
const request = require('request');
var download = function(uri, filename, callback){
request.head(uri, function(err, res, body){
request(uri).pipe(fs.createWriteStream(filename)).on('close', callback);
});
};
download('https://www.google.com/images/srpr/logo3w.png', './images/google.png', function(){
console.log('done');
});
Solution 7 - node.js
Building on the above, if anyone needs to handle errors in the write/read streams, I used this version. Note the stream.read() in case of a write error, it's required so we can finish reading and trigger close on the read stream.
var download = function(uri, filename, callback){
request.head(uri, function(err, res, body){
if (err) callback(err, filename);
else {
var stream = request(uri);
stream.pipe(
fs.createWriteStream(filename)
.on('error', function(err){
callback(error, filename);
stream.read();
})
)
.on('close', function() {
callback(null, filename);
});
}
});
};