Node.js SDK reference

7 minute readReference

The following information is for the latest SDK version (6.x). The CloudBees platform requires that your installed SDK version be at least 6.x. Please install the latest SDK by following the instructions in the platform UI or in the SDK installation documentation.

Any updates to version 6.x are noted in the platform changelog.

The Rox object is the main class to be used when registering your application’s feature flags in the platform. Define a set of Rox.Flag(), Rox.RoxNumber(), or Rox.RoxString() objects, and supply these to Rox.register() to connect them with your application. Then provide your app key from the platform UI and configured options, and your feature flags are ready to use.

To use the Rox object, you must specify a feature flag container. This defines a set of Rox.Flag, Rox.RoxNumber, and Rox.RoxString objects that can be used to control the features of your application. Once the flags have been defined, call the setup with the correct API key and options set.

Register a container

Create a flags and configuration container. The container should usually be in a different module or file. Once registered, the flags in the container can be configured in the UI.

const DemoContainer = {
 sayHello: new Rox.Flag(),
 flagA: new Rox.Flag(),
 colorsVariant: new Rox.RoxString('red', ['green', 'blue']),
 sizeVariant: new Rox.RoxNumber(14, [24, 40])
};


Rox.register('DemoApp', DemoContainer);
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Class Flag

The Flag class creates a new Rox.Flag (default: false).

To use the Rox.Flag object, declare it within a flag container:

displayWelcome: new Rox.Flag();
// requireCaptcha flag default value is set to true
requireCaptcha: new Rox.Flag(true);
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Constructor

new Flag(defaultValue)
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Parameter Type Description

defaultValue

boolean:= false

Initial state of the flag

options

Object

Additional options: you can adjust the freeze level with { freeze: 'none'/'untilLaunch' } (default is 'none').

The return value is none.

name

Returns the type String name of this flag.

isEnabled()

Returns type Boolean true when the flag is enabled.

isEnabled(context):boolean

Parameter Type Description

context

Object

Object to be merged with the global context. The context is used when calculating the custom properties.

Returns type Boolean true when the flag is enabled.

Rox.RoxString

Rox.RoxString is a feature flag object that accepts a list of possible string values, and a default value. These values are used to select new values for the feature, and they can be overridden via the UI.

The following code constructs some simple Rox.RoxString objects, for flags with values more complex than Rox.Flag.

colorsVariant: new Rox.RoxString('red', ['green', 'blue', 'red']),
languageVariant: new Rox.RoxString('english', ['english', 'spanish', 'german'])
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Constructor

new RoxString(defaultValue, variations)
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Sets the default value and variations for this RoxString instance.

Parameter Type Description

defaultValue

String

The default value for this feature flag

variations

Array<String>

The domain of possible values for this flag

options

Object

Additional options: you can adjust the freeze level with { freeze: 'none'/'untilLaunch' } (default is 'none').

Return value is none.

name

Type :string - returns the name of this flag (the name is set only after registered, or a dynamicApi call).

getValue(context):string

Returns the current value of the RoxString, accounting for value overrides.

Parameter Type Description

context

Object

Object to be merged with the global context. The context is used when calculating the custom properties.

Returns the current type String value of this RoxString object.

Rox.RoxNumber

Rox.RoxNumber is a feature flag object that accepts a list of possible number values, and a default value. These values are used to select new values for the feature, and they can be overridden via the UI.

The following code constructs some simple Rox.RoxNumber objects, which can be used to have a flag with number values.

sizeVariant: new Rox.RoxNumber(12, [24, 40, 84]),;
thresholdVariant: new Rox.RoxNumber(10, [100, 10000])
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Constructor

new RoxNumber(defaultValue, variations, options)
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Sets the default value and variations for this RoxNumber instance.

Parameter Type Description

defaultValue

Number

The default value for this feature flag

variations

Array<Number>

The domain of possible values for this flag

options

Object

Additional options: you can adjust the freeze level with { freeze: 'none'/'untilLaunch' } (default is 'none').

Return value is none.

name

Returns the type String name of this flag (the name is set only after registered, or a dynamicApi call).

getValue()

Returns the current value of the RoxNumber, accounting for value overrides.

Rox methods

A list of Rox methods follows.

setup

Initiate connection with Rox servers for the application identified by the application key. The registered containers are synced and Rox entities get the appropriate values.

(static) setup(appKey, options [optional])
▼
Rox.register('', container);
const options = {
  version: '2.0.0'
};
Rox.setup('76aea5dd656a254d125c2a19',options);
▼
Parameter Type Description

appKey

String

environment-specific SDK key (from UI)

options

Object

configuration object (optional)

options

Parameter Type Description

version

String

JavaScript client version

configurationFetchedHandler

Function

Function that is called after data is synced from the platform.

debugLevel

String

SDK verbosity level, accept verbose level

impressionHandler

Function

Function that is called every time a flag value is computed and evaluated on the client. If a flag has an override, or is already frozen, then no impression handler is triggered.

platform

String

Custom platform, used when you want to override the default platform. (Browser, for platforms like Tizen, Chromecast, etc.)

fetchIntervalInSec

Number

Configures the interval of the fetch configuration call, in seconds. The default value is 60 and the minimum is 30.

dynamicPropertyRuleHandler

Function

Function that is called every time a condition with a property is evaluated, and is not previously configured with any setCustomProperty functions.

hosting

String

Customizes the region of your data.

Proxy

Object

All SDK network calls go to a proxy, which calls the feature management servers. No default, indicating that all network calls go to server endpoints.

Proxy Object structure: {
  protocol: <protocol - string ex:"http"/"https">,
  host: <host - url>,
  port: <port - valid port number>,
  auth: {
    username: <username - string>,
    password: <password - string>
  }
}
▼

The return value is the promise that is executed once the configuration is retrieved from the platform.

register

Register a container of Rox entities by specifying a namespace.

(static) register(namespace, container)
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Register a container of Rox entities and set the namespace to an empty string.

(static) register(container)
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Parameter Type Description

namespace

String

Container namespace. Default is ''.

container

Object

Object literal whose properties are Rox entities.

setContext

(static) setContext(context)
▼

Sets the global context of the SDK. The context is used when evaluating custom properties. A typical global context includes static identifiers that do not change in the lifetime of the app.

Parameter Type Description

context

Object

The context object.

 
Rox.setContext({
  role: "api",
  hostname: "Hello Kiti"
})
▼

setCustomBooleanProperty

Sets a custom property value for use when creating target groups.

(static) setCustomBooleanProperty(key, value)
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Parameter Type Description

key

String

The name of the custom property.

value

Boolean

The value of the custom property, or a function that accepts context and retrieves a value (refer to the example below).

 
// Check if the user has the tester role via a function and context
Rox.setCustomBooleanProperty("tester", function(context){
   return context.user.isTester();
});
▼

setCustomNumberProperty

Sets a custom property value for use when creating target groups.

(static) setCustomNumberProperty(key, value)
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Parameter Type Description

key

String

The name of the custom property

value

Number or function

The value of the custom property, or a function that accepts context and retrieves a value (refer to the example below).

 
// Calculate the user's age via a function and context
Rox.setCustomNumberProperty("age", function(context){
   return context.user.getAge();
});
▼

setCustomStringProperty

Sets a custom property value for use when creating target groups.

(static) setCustomStringProperty(key, value)
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Parameter Type Description

key

String

The name of the custom property

value

String or Function

The value of the custom property, or a function that accepts context and retrieves a value (refer to the example below).

 
// Retrieve user email via a function and context
Rox.setCustomStringProperty("role", function(context){
   return context.role;
});
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fetch

Fetch() pulls the latest configuration and flag values down from the platform.

(static) fetch()
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setUserspaceUnhandledErrorHandler

Use this handler for all user function errors, to help debug and understand unexpected flag values. If this function is not set, errors are logged to the logger.

CloudBees recommends that you use try-catch on user functions, in order to handle them in the relevant context, and not afterward. 
function setUserspaceUnhandledErrorHandler(exceptionTrigger, error)
▼
Name Type Description

exceptionTrigger

String

Indicates which user function raised the error. Must be one of the following values:

  • "DYNAMIC_PROPERTIES_RULE": dynamicPropertyRuleHandler

  • "CONFIGURATION_FETCHED_HANDLER": configurationFetchedHandler

  • "IMPRESSION_HANDLER": impressionHandler

  • "CUSTOM_PROPERTY_GENERATOR": setCustomXXXProperty, any of the custom property generators.

error

Error

The original error from the user code.

Using the impressionHandler option

The impressionHandler function has two useful parameters which can help you decide on further actions.

function impressionHandler(reporting, context) {}
▼

  • reporting is an object describing:

    • Flag name

    • Flag value

    • Flag targeting, and whether evaluation is result of configuration in the UI or is default.

  • context is the context passed to the flag evaluation function. Undefined if no context used.

dynamicPropertyRuleHandler

The dynamic custom property generator is called when an explicit custom property definition does not exist on the client side.

If you do not set the dynamicPropertyRuleHandler, it activates the default function, which tries to extract the property value from the context by its name.

function dynamicPropertyRuleHandler(propName, context){}
▼
(propName, context) => context ? context[propName] : undefined
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Parameter Type Description

handler

(propName, context) ⇒ value

The function to be called when the SDK searches for a property not explicitly set by the setCustom`Type`Property functions.

Rox.dynamicApi

An alternative to using a container and registering. This allows you to evaluate flags without having a static container. DynamicApi creates flags as if they were registered, including sending them to the UI.

isEnabled

Evaluate a Boolean flag.

(static) isEnabled(name, defaultValue, context)
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Name Type Description

name

String

The flag name. Returns an error if not a string.

defaultValue

Boolean

The default value to use if there are no UI configurations, or if the value is set to default in the UI. Returns an error if not a Boolean.

context

Object

A context to evaluate the flag with. It is merged with the global context.

value

Evaluate a string flag.

(static) value(name, defaultValue, variations, context)
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Name Type Description

name

String

The flag name. Returns an error if not a string.

defaultValue

String

The default value to use if there are no UI configurations, or if the value is set to default in the UI. Returns an error if not a string.

variations

Array<string>

All alternative values, can be used in and updated in the UI.

context

Object

A context to evaluate the flag with. It is merged with the global context.

getNumber

Evaluate a number flag.

(static) getNumber(name, defaultValue, variations, context)
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Name Type Description

name

String

The flag name. Returns an error if not a string.

defaultValue

Number

The default value to use if there are no UI configurations, or if the value is set to default in the UI. Returns an error if not a number.

variations

Array<number>

All alternative values, can be used in and updated in the UI.

context

Object

A context to evaluate the flag with. It is merged with the global context.
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