Hello World

The hello_world project is the flow shown on the homepage. It reads a live news feed, logs every headline, and reads each one aloud.

The complete project ships in this repository and can be copied and run as-is:

• hello_world.fbp — the flow definition
• console.log.yml, console.say.yml, network.rss.yml — the node definitions
• package.json — declares the npm dependencies (rss-parser, say, request)

The flow

provider ./{ns}.{name}.yml

"http://rss.cnn.com/rss/edition_world.rss" -> url Rss(network/rss)

Rss out -> msg Log(console/log) out -> msg SayIt(console/say)

Three nodes are connected in a chain.

Rss(network/rss)

Receives a feed URL on its url port. Its fn uses the rss-parser package to fetch and parse the feed, then emits one packet through its out port per item — first the feed title, then the title of every headline.

Log(console/log)

Logs whatever arrives on its msg port to the console, then forwards the packet on its out port. This is the node every flow uses to see what is happening.

SayIt(console/say)

The same message is spoken aloud with the say package, so you can hear the news rather than just read it.

Run it

From inside the project directory:

$ npm install
$ fbpx install hello_world.fbp
$ fbpx run hello_world.fbp

The SayIt node needs a text-to-speech engine on the host. On Ubuntu:

$ apt install festival

Inspect it

$ fbpx convert hello_world.fbp --yaml
$ fbpx graph hello_world.fbp | dot -Tsvg > hello_world.svg