A WebDAV client written in JavaScript for NodeJS and the browser.
WebDAV is a well-known, stable and highly flexible protocol for interacting with remote filesystems via an API. Being that it is so widespread, many file hosting services such as Box, ownCloud/Nextcloud and Yandex use it as a fallback to their other interfaces.
This library provides a WebDAV client interface that makes interacting with WebDAV enabled services easy. The API returns promises and resolve with the results. It parses and prepares directory-contents requests for easy consumption, as well as providing methods for fetching things like file stats and quotas.
This library is compatibale with NodeJS version 6 and above (for version 4 support, use versions in the range of 1.*). Version 1.x is now in maintenance mode and will receive no further feature additions. It will receive the odd bug fix when necessary.
Please read the contribution guide if you plan on making an issue or PR.
Simple install as a dependency using npm:
npm install webdav --save
Usage entails creating a client adapter instance by calling the factory function createClient:
const { createClient } = require("webdav");
const client = createClient(
"https://webdav.example.com/marie123",
{
username: "marie",
password: "myS3curePa$$w0rd"
}
);
// Get directory contents
const directoryItems = await client.getDirectoryContents("/");
// Outputs a structure like:
// [{
// filename: "/my-file.txt",
// basename: "my-file.txt",
// lastmod: "Mon, 10 Oct 2018 23:24:11 GMT",
// size: 371,
// type: "file"
// }]Make sure to read the API documentation for more information on the available adapter methods.
webdav uses Basic authentication by default, if username and password are provided (if none are provided, no Authorization header is specified). It also supports OAuth tokens - simply pass the token data to the token field:
createClient(
"https://address.com",
{
token: {
"access_token": "2YotnFZFEjr1zCsicMWpAA",
"token_type": "example",
"expires_in": 3600,
"refresh_token": "tGzv3JOkF0XG5Qx2TlKWIA",
"example_parameter": "example_value"
}
}
);webdav also allows for overriding the built in HTTP and HTTPS agents by setting the properties httpAgent & httpsAgent accordingly. These should be instances of node's http.Agent and https.Agent respectively.
Copy a file from one remote location to another:
await client.copyFile("/sub/item.txt", "/destination/item.txt");Create a new directory:
await client.createDirectory("/completely/new/path");Create a read stream targeted at a remote file:
client
.createReadStream("/video.mp4")
.pipe(fs.createWriteStream("~/video.np4"));Create a write stream targeted at a remote file:
fs.createReadStream("~/Music/song.mp3")
.pipe(client.createWriteStream("/music/song.mp3"));Delete a remote file:
await client.deleteFile("/tmp.dat");Get the contents of a remote directory. Returns an array of item stats.
// Get current directory contents:
const contents = await client.getDirectoryContents("/");
// Get all contents:
const contents = await client.getDirectoryContents("/", { deep: true });Fetch the contents of a remote file. Binary contents are returned by default (Buffer):
const buff = await client.getFileContents("/package.zip");It is recommended to use streams if the files being transferred are large.
Text files can also be fetched:
const str = await client.getFileContents("/config.json", { format: "text" });Return a public link where a file can be downloaded. This exposes authentication details in the URL.
const downloadLink = client.getFileDownloadLink("/image.png");Not all servers may support this feature. Only Basic authentication and unauthenticated connections support this method.
Return a URL for a file upload:
const uploadLink = client.getFileUploadLink("/image.png");See getFileDownloadLink for support details.
Get the quota information for the current account:
const quota = await client.getQuota();
// {
// "used": 1938743,
// "available": "unlimited"
// }Move a remote file to another remote location:
await client.moveFile("/file1.png", "/file2.png");Write data to a remote file:
// Write a buffer:
await client.putFileContents("/my/file.jpg", imageBuffer, { overwrite: false });
// Write a text file:
await client.putFileContents("/my/file.txt", str);Get a file or directory stat object:
const stat = await client.stat("/some/file.tar.gz");Returns an item stat.
Each item returned by getDirectoryContents is basically an item stat. If the details: true option is set, each item stat (as mentioned in the stat documentation) will also include the props property containing extra properties returned by the server. No particular property in props, not its format or value, is guaranteed.
You can request all files in the file-tree (infinite depth) by calling getDirectoryContents with the option deep: true. All items will be returned in a flat array, where the filename will hold the absolute path.
Requests that return results, such as getDirectoryContents, getFileContents, getQuota and stat, can be configured to return more detailed information, such as response headers. Pass { details: true } to their options argument to receive an object like the following:
| Property | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| data | * | The data returned by the procedure. Will be whatever type is returned by calling without { details: true } |
| headers | Object | The response headers. |
Item stats are objects with properties that descibe a file or directory. They resemble the following:
{
"filename": "/test",
"basename": "test",
"lastmod": "Tue, 05 Apr 2016 14:39:18 GMT",
"size": 0,
"type": "directory",
"etag": null
}or:
{
"filename": "/image.jpg",
"basename": "image.jpg",
"lastmod": "Sun, 13 Mar 2016 04:23:32 GMT",
"size": 42497,
"type": "file",
"mime": "image/jpeg",
"etag": "33a728c7f288ede1fecc90ac6a10e062"
}Properties:
| Property name | Type | Present | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| filename | String | Always | File path of the remote item |
| basename | String | Always | Base filename of the remote item, no path |
| lastmod | String | Always | Last modification date of the item |
| size | Number | Always | File size - 0 for directories |
| type | String | Always | Item type - "file" or "directory" |
| mime | String | Files only | Mime type - for file items only |
| etag | String / null | When supported | ETag of the file |
| props | Object | details: true |
Props object containing all item properties returned by the server |
This library has been tested to work with the following WebDAV servers or applications:
CORS is a security enforcement technique employed by browsers to ensure requests are executed to and from expected contexts. It can conflict with this library if the target server doesn't return CORS headers when making requests from a browser. It is your responsibility to handle this.
It is a known issue that ownCloud and Nextcloud servers by default don't return friendly CORS headers, making working with this library within a browser context impossible. You can of course force the addition of CORS headers (Apache or Nginx configs) yourself, but do this at your own risk.