nextcloud-link

Node.js client to interact with Nextcloud, developed with ♥️ by TenTwentyFour.

Table of Contents

• Getting Started
• Features
• Interface
  • Core
  • Activities
  • Users
  • Groups
  • Shares
  • Groupfolders
• Exceptions
• Types
• Helpers
• Definitions
• Contributing

Getting started

If you're not planning on contributing code to the project, you can simply install nextcloud-link to your project by running:

npm install --save nextcloud-link

Quick-Start

Establishing a connection from your ECMA- or TypeScript project to a Nextcloud instance can be done like this:

import NextcloudClient from 'nextcloud-link';

const client = new NextcloudClient({
  "url":      "https://my.nextcloud.com",
  "password": "useSomeBetterPassphraseThanThis",
  "username": "cloudrider",
});

Once you have initiated the connection to your nextcloud instance, it is generally a good idea to delay any file or OCS operations until the connection to your instance has been established and verified. Using the client object from above, we can do this like so:

while (true) {
  if (await client.checkConnectivity()) {
    return;
  }

  await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 5000));
}

In a real set-up, you'll probably want to limit the number of tries to something sensible, like 15 to 30 seconds by throwing after a given number of attempts.

Finally, use any of the methods described below to interact with your Nextcloud instance:

const uploader = await client.getCreatorByPath('/Nextcloud.png');

Features

• 🔗 Interacts with Nextcloud instances via the WebDAV protocol
• 🚀 Allows the use of streams for file transfer
• 🙏 Asserts Nextcloud connectivity before attempting any requests
• 🎉 OCS methods for groups, users, shares, activity, and groupfolders

Interface

Core

The following methods are available on client:

configureWebdavConnection(options: ConnectionOptions): void

Configures the Nextcloud connection to talk to a specific Nextcloud WebDav endpoint. This does not issue any kind of request, so it doesn't throw if the parameters are incorrect. This merely sets internal variables.

checkConnectivity(): Promise<boolean>

Checks whether the connection to the configured WebDav endpoint succeeds. This does not throw, it consistently returns a Promise wrapping a boolean.

pipeStream(path: string, stream: Stream.Readable): Promise<void>

Deprecated, will be removed in version 2, use uploadFromStream

uploadFromStream(targetPath: string, stream: Stream.Readable): Promise<void>

Saves the data obtained through stream to the Nextcloud instance at path. Throws a NotFoundError if the requested path does not exist.

downloadToStream(sourcePath: string, stream: Stream.Readable): Promise<void>

Pipes the data obtained by reading a file at path on the Nextcloud instance to the provided local stream. Throws a NotFoundError if the requested path does not exist.

as(username: string, password: string): NextcloudClient

Creates a copy of the client that runs the request as the user with the passed credentials. This does absolutely no verification, so you should use checkConnectivity to verify the credentials.

createFolderHierarchy(path: string): Promise<void>

This is basically a recursive mkdir.

put(path: string, content: Webdav.ContentType): Promise<void>

This saves a Webdav.ContentType at path. Throws a NotFoundError if the path to the requested directory does not exist.

rename(fromFullPath: string, toFileName: string): Promise<void>

This allows to rename files or directories.

move(fromFullPath: string, toFullPath: string): Promise<void>

This allows to move files or entire directories.

getWriteStream(path: string): Promise<Webdav.Stream>

Gets a write stream to a remote Nextcloud path. Throws a NotFoundError if the path to the requested directory does not exist.

getReadStream(path: string): Promise<Webdav.Stream>

Gets a read stream to a remote Nextcloud path.

getFolderProperties(path: string, extraProperties?: FileDetailProperty[]): Promise<FolderProperties>

Retrieves properties for the folder. Use extraProperties to request properties not returned by default.

touchFolder(path: string): Promise<void>

Smart mkdir implementation that doesn't complain if the folder at path already exists.

getFiles(path: string): Promise<string[]>

List files in a directory.

getFolderFileDetails(path: string, extraProperties?: FileDetailProperty[]): Promise<FileDetails[]>

Same as getFiles, but returns more details instead of just file names. Use extraProperties to request properties not returned by default.

remove(path: string): Promise<void>

Removes file or directories. Does not complain if directories aren't empty.

exists(path: string): Promise<boolean>

Simple test that checks whether a file or directory exists. This indicates it in the return value, not by throwing exceptions.

get(path: string): Promise<string|Buffer>

Gets a file as a string/Buffer.

getCreatorByPath(path: string): Promise<string>

Gets the username of the user that created the file or folder.

getCreatorByFileId(fileId: number|string): Promise<string>

Gets the username of the user that created the file or folder.

Activities

The following methods are available on client.activities

get(fileId: number|string, sort?: 'asc'|'desc', limit?: number, sinceActivityId?: number): Promise<OcsActivity[]>

Returns all activities belonging to a file or folder. Use the limit argument to override the server-default.

Users

The following methods are available on client.users:

removeSubAdminFromGroup(userId: string, groupId: string): Promise<boolean>

Remove a user as a Sub Admin from a group.

addSubAdminToGroup(userId: string, groupId: string): Promise<boolean>

Add a user as a Sub Admin to a group.

resendWelcomeEmail(userId: string): Promise<boolean>

Resend the Welcome email to a user.

removeFromGroup(userId: string, groupId: string): Promise<boolean>

Remove a user from a group.

getSubAdminGroups(userId: string): Promise<string[]>

Gets a list of all the groups a user is a Sub Admin of.

setEnabled(userId: string, isEnabled: boolean): Promise<boolean>

Enables or disables a user.

addToGroup(userId: string, groupId: string): Promise<boolean>

Add a user to a group.

getGroups(userId: string): Promise<string[]>

Gets a list of all the groups a user is a member of.

delete(userId: string): Promise<boolean>

Delete a user.

edit(userId: string, field: OcsEditUserField, value: string): Promise<boolean>

Edit a single field of a user.

list(search?: string, limit?: number, offset?: number): Promise<string[]>

Gets a list of all users. Use the limit argument to override the server-default.

add(user: OcsNewUser): Promise<boolean>

Add a new user.

get(userId: string): Promise<OcsUser>

Gets the user information.

Groups

The following methods are available on client.groups:

getSubAdmins(groupId: string): Promise<string[]>

Gets a list of all the users that are a Sub Admin of the group.

getUsers(groupId: string): Promise<string[]>

Gets a list of all the users that are a member of the group.

delete(groupId: string): Promise<boolean>

Delete a group.

list(search?: string, limit?: number, offset?: number): Promise<string[]>

Gets a list of all groups. Use the limit argument to override the server-default.

add(groupId: string): Promise<boolean>

Add a new group.

Shares

The following methods are available on client.shares:

delete(shareId: string| number): Promise<boolean>

Delete a share.

list(path?: string, includeReshares?: boolean, showForSubFiles?: boolean): Promise<OcsShare[]>

Gets a list of all the shares. Use path to show all the shares for that specific file or folder. Use includeReshares to also include shares not belonging to the user. Use showForSubFiles to show the shares of the children instead. This will throw an error if the path is a file.

add: (path: string, shareType: OcsShareType, shareWith?: string, permissions?: OcsSharePermissions, password?: string, publicUpload?: boolean): Promise<OcsShare>

Add a new share. shareWith has to be filled if shareType is a user or group. Use permissions bit-wise to add several permissions. OcsSharePermissions.default will let the server decide the permissions. This will throw an error if the specific share already exists. Use shares.edit to edit an existing share.

get: (shareId: string|number): Promise<OcsShare>

Gets the share information.

edit

The following methods are available on client.shares.edit:

permissions(shareId: string|number, permissions: OcsSharePermissions): Promise<OcsShare>

Change the permissions. Use permissions bit-wise to add several permissions.

password(shareId: string|number, password: string): Promise<OcsShare>

Change the password. Only OcsShareType.publicLink uses passwords.

publicUpload(shareId: string|number, isPublicUpload: boolean): Promise<OcsShare>

Enable / disable public upload for public shares.

expireDate(shareId: string|number, expireDate: string): Promise<OcsShare>

Add an expire date to the share. If the expire date is in the past, Nextcloud will remove the share.

note(shareId: string|number, note: string): Promise<OcsShare>

Add a note to the share.

Groupfolders

To be able to use groupfolders interface, the groupfolders app needs to be downloaded and activated in the Nextcloud settings. The following methods are available on client.groupfolders:

getFolders: () => Promise<OcsGroupfolder[]>

Returns a list of all configured folders and their settings.

getFolder: (fid: number) => Promise<OcsGroupfolder>

Return a specific configured groupfolder and its settings, null if not found.

addFolder: (mountpoint: string) => Promise<number>

Create a new groupfolder with name mountpoint and returns its id.

removeFolder: (fid: number) => Promise<boolean>

Delete a groupfolder. Returns true if successful (even if the groupfolder didn't exist).

addGroup: (fid: number, gid: string) => Promise<boolean>

Give a group access to a groupfolder.

removeGroup: (fid: number, gid: string) => Promise<boolean>

Remove access from a group to a groupfolder.

setPermissions: (fid: number, gid: string, permissions: number) => Promise<boolean>

Set the permissions a group has in a groupfolder. The permissions parameter is a bitmask of permissions constants.

enableACL: (fid: number, enable: boolean) => Promise<boolean>

Enable/Disable groupfolder advanced permissions.

setManageACL: (fid: number, type: 'group' | 'user', id: string, manageACL: boolean) => Promise<boolean>

Grants/Removes a group or user the ability to manage a groupfolders' advanced permissions. mappingId: the id of the group/user to be granted/removed access to/from the groupfolder mappingType: 'group' or 'user' manageAcl: true to grants ability to manage a groupfolders' advanced permissions, false to remove

setQuota: (fid: number, quota: number) => Promise<boolean>

Set the quota for a groupfolder in bytes (use -3 for unlimited).

renameFolder: (fid: number, mountpoint: string) => Promise<boolean>

Change the name of a groupfolder to mountpoint.

Note: If the groupfolders app is not activated, the requests are returning code 302. The GET requests are redirected to the Location header (/apps/dashboard/) which makes it complicated to catch (returns 200 and text/html content type). The client.groupfolders methods would then throw with an error code 500 and a message "Unable to parse the response body as valid JSON".

Exceptions

NotFoundError

Error indicating that the requested resource doesn't exist, or that the path leading to it doesn't exist in the case of writes.

ForbiddenError

Error indicating that Nextcloud denied the request.

NextcloudError

Generic wrapper for the HTTP errors returned by Nextcloud.

OcsError

Errors used by all OCS calls. It will return the reason why a request failed as well as a status code if it is available.

Types

ConnectionOptions

interface  ConnectionOptions {
  url:        string;
  username?:  string;
  password?:  string;
}

WebDAV

interface FileDetails {
    creationDate?: Date;
    lastModified:  Date;
    href:          string;
    name:          string;
    size:          number;
    isDirectory:   boolean;
    isFile:        boolean;
    type:          'directory' | 'file';
}

OCS

interface OcsActivity {
  activityId:  number;
  app:         string;
  type:        string;
  user:        string;
  subject:     string;
  subjectRich: [];
  message:     string;
  messageRich: [];
  objectType:  string;
  fileId:      number;
  objectName:  string;
  objects:     {};
  link:        string;
  icon:        string;
  datetime:    Date;
}

interface OcsUser {
  id:          string;
  enabled:     boolean;
  lastLogin:   number;
  email:       string;
  displayname: string;
  phone:       string;
  address:     string;
  website:     string;
  twitter:     string;
  groups:      string[];
  language:    string;
  locale:      string;
}

interface OcsNewUser {
  userid:       string;
  password?:    string;
  email?:       string;
  displayName?: string;
  groups?:      string[];
  subadmin?:    string[];
  quota?:       number;
  language?:    string;
}

type OcsEditUserField =
  'password'    |
  'email'       |
  'displayname' |
  'quota'       |
  'phone'       |
  'address'     |
  'website'     |
  'twitter'     |
  'locale'      |
  'language'    ;

enum OcsShareType {
  user                = 0,
  group               = 1,
  publicLink          = 3,
  federatedCloudShare = 6,
}

enum OcsSharePermissions {
  default = -1,
  read    =  1,
  update  =  2,
  create  =  4,
  delete  =  8,
  share   = 16,
  all     = 31,
}

interface OcsShare {
  id:                    number;
  shareType:             OcsShareType;
  shareTypeSystemName:   string;
  ownerUserId:           string;
  ownerDisplayName:      string;
  permissions:           OcsSharePermissions;
  permissionsText:       string;
  sharedOn:              Date;
  sharedOnTimestamp:     number;
  parent:                string;
  expiration:            Date;
  token:                 string;
  fileOwnerUserId:       string;
  fileOwnerDisplayName:  string;
  note:                  string;
  label:                 string;
  path:                  string;
  itemType:              'file' | 'folder';
  mimeType:              string;
  storageId:             string;
  storage:               number;
  fileId:                number;
  parentFileId:          number;
  fileTarget:            string;
  sharedWith:            string;
  sharedWithDisplayName: string;
  mailSend:              boolean;
  hideDownload:          boolean;
  password?:             string;
  sendPasswordByTalk?:   boolean;
  url?:                  string;
}

type OcsEditShareField =
  'permissions'     |
  'password'        |
  'expireDate'      |
  'note'            ;

interface OcsGroupfolderManageRule {
  type:        'group' | 'user'
  id:          string;
  displayname: string;
}

interface OcsGroupfolder {
  id:         number;
  mountPoint: string;
  groups:     Record<string, number>;
  quota:      number;
  size:       number;
  acl:        boolean;
  manage?:    OcsGroupfolderManageRule[];
}

Helpers

createFileDetailProperty(namespace: string, namespaceShort: string, element: string, nativeType?: boolean, defaultValue?: any): FileDetailProperty

Creates a FileDetailProperty filled in with the supplied arguments, which can be used when using getFolderFileDetails.

createOwnCloudFileDetailProperty(element: string, nativeType?: boolean, defaultValue?: any): FileDetailProperty

Uses createFileDetailProperty to request an OwnCloud property.

createNextCloudFileDetailProperty(element:string, nativeType?: boolean, defaultValue?: any): FileDetailProperty

Uses createFileDetailProperty to request a Nextcloud property.

Definitions

fileId

This is an OwnCloud property representing either a File or a Folder. It is own of the so-called extraProperties only returned by the WebDAV on request. See the following section for more details on extraProperties.

WebDAV extraProperties

extraProperties is an optioanl parameter that can be passed to both getFolderProperties and getFolderFileDetails. The parameter consists of a list of optional properties that are not returned by the WebDAV interface by default.

A simple example that requests the fileId of a directory on top of the standard properties returned by the WebDAV API would be:

const fileId = createOwnCloudFileDetailProperty('fileid', true);
const documentList  = await client.getFolderFileDetails('/Documents', [fileId]);
for (const directory of documentList) {
  const folderId = directory.extraProperties.fileid;
}

Which properties get returned by default and which ones are available at request can be read in the Nextcloud Documentation.

Sub Admin

This is a Nextcloud term used to describe a user that has administrator rights for a group.

Contributing

Running tests is a little complicated right now, we're looking into improving this situation. While you can initiate tests using a normal npm test, you'll require docker and docker-compose to be installed in your path.