2.2 KiB
Services
Available Services
Overview
Bitcore Node has a service module system that can start up additional services that can include additional:
- Blockchain indexes (e.g. querying balances for addresses)
- API methods
- HTTP routes
- Event types to publish and subscribe
The bitcore-node.json file describes which services will load for a node:
{
"services": [
"bitcoind", "db", "address", "insight-api"
]
}
Services correspond with a Node.js module as described in 'package.json', for example:
{
"dependencies": {
"bitcore": "^0.13.1",
"bitcore-node": "^0.2.0",
"insight-api": "^3.0.0"
}
}
Note: If you already have a bitcore-node database, and you want to query data from previous blocks in the blockchain, you will need to reindex. Reindexing right now means deleting your bitcore-node database and resyncing.
Writing a Service
A new service can be created by inheriting from Node.Service and implementing these methods and properties:
Service.dependencies- An array of services that are needed, this will determine the order that services are started on the node.Service.prototype.start()- Called to start up the service.Service.prototype.stop()- Called to stop the service.Service.prototype.blockHandler()- Will be called when a block is added or removed from the chain, and is useful for updating a database view/index.Service.prototype.getAPIMethods()- Describes which API methods that this service includes, these methods can then be called over the JSON-RPC API, as well as the command-line utility.Service.prototype.getPublishEvents()- Describes which events can be subscribed to for this service, useful to subscribe to events over the included web socket API.Service.prototype.setupRoutes()- A service can extend HTTP routes on an express application by implementing this method.
The package.json for the service module can either export the Node.Service directly, or specify a specific module to load by including "bitcoreNode": "lib/bitcore-node.js".
Please take a look at some of the existing services for implemenation specifics.