Using Enigma to connect to QIX from remote machine

[rbartley]

Hello everyone,

Up until now, I have developed mashups and extensions directly on a Qlik Sense Enterprise server using the dev-hub. However, I would like to use Visual Studio from my own PC where I have no Qlik Sense elements installed.  So far, I have installed Node.js and Enigma.js on my PC and have followed the example here https://github.com/qlik-oss/enigma.js/ 

const enigma = require('enigma.js');
const WebSocket = require('ws');
const schema = require('enigma.js/schemas/12.20.0.json');

// create a new session:
const session = enigma.create({
  schema,
  url: 'ws://localhost:9076/app/engineData',
  createSocket: url => new WebSocket(url),
});

// bind traffic events to log what is sent and received on the socket:
session.on('traffic:sent', data => console.log('sent:', data));
session.on('traffic:received', data => console.log('received:', data));

// open the socket and eventually receive the QIX global API, and then close
// the session:
session.open()
  .then((/*global*/) => console.log('We are connected!'))
  .then(() => session.close())
  .then(() => console.log('Session closed'))
  .catch(err => console.log('Something went wrong :(', err));

I replaced the localhost in the code above with the hostname of the Qlik Sense Enterprise server , but when I run the code I receive a timeout error:

Something went wrong 😞 ErrorEvent {
  [Symbol(kTarget)]: WebSocket {
    _events: [Object: null prototype] {
      open: [Function],
      close: [Function],
      error: [Function],
      message: [Function]
    },
    _eventsCount: 4,
    _maxListeners: undefined,
    _binaryType: 'nodebuffer',
    _closeCode: 1006,
    _closeFrameReceived: false,
    _closeFrameSent: false,
    _closeMessage: <Buffer >,
    _closeTimer: null,
    _extensions: {},
    _paused: false,
    _protocol: '',
    _readyState: 3,
    _receiver: null,
    _sender: null,
    _socket: null,
    _bufferedAmount: 0,
    _isServer: false,
    _redirects: 0,
    _url: 'ws://xxx.xxx.aws.cloud.tech.ec.europa.eu:9076/app/engineData',
    _req: null,
    [Symbol(kCapture)]: false
  },
  [Symbol(kType)]: 'error', 
[Symbol(kError)]: Error: connect ETIMEDOUT XX.XXX.XXX.XX:9076
      at TCPConnectWrap.afterConnect [as oncomplete] (node:net:1300:16) {
    errno: -4039,
    code: 'ETIMEDOUT',
    syscall: 'connect',
    address: 'XX.XXX.XXX.XX',
    port: 9076
  },
  [Symbol(kMessage)]: 'connect ETIMEDOUT XX.XXX.XXX.XX:9076'

Is this an authentication issue or is it just not possible to do what I am attempting? 

[rbartley]

It seems as though authentication is required.  I installed the pem certificates in my user folder and created a file based on the code here: https://github.com/qlik-oss/enigma.js/tree/master/examples/authentication/sense-using-certificates 

This communicates on port 4747 rather than 9076, so as soon as 4747 had been opened, I was able to connect, create a session and retrieve the list of apps available to my user.

[rbartley]

I have tried to do the same through a browser using the code below:

<script src="https://unpkg.com/enigma.js/enigma.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/require.js/2.3.5/require.min.js"></script>
<script>
const path = require('path');
const fs = require('fs');


	// The Sense Enterprise-configured user directory for the user you want to identify
// as:
const userDirectory = 'xxxx';

// The user to use when creating the session:
const userId = 'xxxx';
const readCert = (filename) => fs.readFileSync(path.resolve(__dirname, certificatesPath, filename));

 fetch('https://unpkg.com/enigma.js/schemas/12.34.11.json')
    .then(response => response.json())
    .then(schema => {
      const session = enigma.create({
        schema,
        // Change the url to point to your QIX instance
        url: 'wss://xxxxx.s4dad.aws.cloud.tech.ec.europa.eu:4747/app/engineData',
        createSocket: url => new WebSocket(url,{
			ca: [readCert('root.pem')],
			key: readCert('client_key.pem'),
			cert: readCert('client.pem'),
			headers: {
			  'X-Qlik-User': `UserDirectory=${encodeURIComponent(userDirectory)}; UserId=${encodeURIComponent(userId)}`,
			},
		  })
      })

      session.open()
        .then(global => global.engineVersion())
        .then(result => document.body.innerHTML = result.qComponentVersion)
        .then(() => session.close())
    });

</script>

but haven't been able to figure out yet how to pass the certificate parameter.  The code above generates an error:

Uncaught Error: Module name "path" has not been loaded yet for context: _. Use require([])
http://requirejs.org/docs/errors.html#notloaded
    at makeError (require.min.js:1:1067)
    at Object.o [as require] (require.min.js:1:11053)
    at requirejs (require.min.js:1:14737)
    at index.html:4:14

[alex_colombo · Accepted solution]

Hey @rbartley, that error happens because you are trying to run server side code on a client side. If you want to use enimga.js from a client I'd suggest to change apporach. First you have to change your authentication method. You could use ticket or JWT authentication. For both of them you need a server side component which will generate ticket or sign the JWT token. Then you can attach ticket or JWT token to websocket connection created by enigma.js on client side.

[rbartley]

Hi @alex_colombo ,

Thanks for your reply.  I am looking at ways of developing lighter-weight  mashups (using enigma and nebula rather than Capability API) on a local PC rather than directly through the dev-hub on one of our Qlik Sense Enterprise servers.  All of the examples I have seen seem to be based on the assumption that the development is being carried out on the server or where Qlik Sense Desktop is installed.  I would like to code in Visual Studio rather than the dev-hub.

Could you point me towards any documentation that provides an end-to-end example of how to achieve this?

[alex_colombo · Accepted solution]

@rbartley there is no specific documentation this, and the reason is that it's a topic on pure dvelopments, indipendet from QlikSense. If you want to run mashup code outside dev-hub you need a local web server to run your code. An example could be to use a JS framework such as VueJs or React where you can their cli for running a project and a local webserver.