Warning

Kurento is a low-level platform to create WebRTC applications from scratch. You will be responsible of managing STUN/TURN servers, networking, scalability, etc. If you are new to WebRTC, we recommend using OpenVidu instead.

OpenVidu is an easier to use, higher-level, Open Source platform based on Kurento.

Kurento Utils JS

Warning

This library is not actively maintained. It was written to simplify the Kurento Tutorials and has several shortcomings for more advanced uses.

For real-world applications we recommend to avoid using this library and instead to write your JavaScript code directly against the browser’s WebRTC API.

Overview

Kurento Utils is a wrapper object of an RTCPeerConnection. This object is aimed to simplify the development of WebRTC-based applications.

The source code of this project can be cloned from the GitHub repository.

How to use it

  • Minified file - Download the file from here.

  • NPM - Install and use library in your Node.js files.

    npm install kurento-utils
    
    var utils = require('kurento-utils');
    
  • Bower - Generate the bundled script file

    bower install kurento-utils
    

    Import the library in your html page

    <script
    src="bower_components/kurento-utils/js/kurento-utils.js"></script>
    

Examples

There are several tutorials that show kurento-utils used in complete WebRTC applications developed on Java, Node.js and JavaScript. These tutorials are in GitHub, and you can download and run them at any time.

In the following lines we will show how to use the library to create an RTCPeerConnection, and how to negotiate the connection with another peer. The library offers a WebRtcPeer object, which is a wrapper of the browser’s RTCPeerConnection API. Peer connections can be of different types: unidirectional (send or receive only) or bidirectional (send and receive). The following code shows how to create the latter, in order to be able to send and receive media (audio and video). The code assumes that there are two video tags in the page that loads the script. These tags will be used to show the video as captured by your own client browser, and the media received from the other peer. The constructor receives a property that holds all the information needed for the configuration.

 var videoInput = document.getElementById('videoInput');
 var videoOutput = document.getElementById('videoOutput');

 var constraints = {
     audio: true,
     video: {
       width: 640,
       framerate: 15
     }
 };

 var options = {
   localVideo: videoInput,
   remoteVideo: videoOutput,
   onicecandidate : onIceCandidate,
   mediaConstraints: constraints
 };


var webRtcPeer = kurentoUtils.WebRtcPeer.WebRtcPeerSendrecv(options, function(error) {
      if(error) return onError(error)

      this.generateOffer(onOffer)
   });

With this little code, the library takes care of creating the RTCPeerConnection, and invoking getUserMedia in the browser if needed. The constraints in the property are used in the invocation, and in this case both microphone and webcam will be used. However, this does not create the connection. This is only achieved after completing the SDP negotiation between peers. This process implies exchanging SDPs offer and answer and, since Trickle ICE is used, a number of candidates describing the capabilities of each peer. How the negotiation works is out of the scope of this document. More info can be found in this link.

In the previous piece of code, when the webRtcPeer object gets created, the SDP offer is generated with this.generateOffer(onOffer). The only argument passed is a function, that will be invoked one the browser’s peer connection has generated that offer. The onOffer callback method is responsible for sending this offer to the other peer, by any means devised in your application. Since that is part of the signaling plane and business logic of each particular application, it won’t be covered in this document.

Assuming that the SDP offer has been received by the remote peer, it must have generated an SDP answer, that should be received in return. This answer must be processed by the webRtcEndpoint, in order to fulfill the negotiation. This could be the implementation of the onOffer callback function. We’ve assumed that there’s a function somewhere in the scope, that allows sending the SDP to the remote peer.

function onOffer(error, sdpOffer) {
  if (error) return onError(error);

  // We've made this function up sendOfferToRemotePeer(sdpOffer,
  function(sdpAnswer) {
    webRtcPeer.processAnswer(sdpAnswer);
  });
}

As we’ve commented before, the library assumes the use of Trickle ICE to complete the connection between both peers. In the configuration of the webRtcPeer, there is a reference to a onIceCandidate callback function. The library will use this function to send ICE candidates to the remote peer. Since this is particular to each application, we will just show the signature

function onIceCandidate(candidate) {
  // Send the candidate to the remote peer
}

In turn, our client application must be able to receive ICE candidates from the remote peer. Assuming the signaling takes care of receiving those candidates, it is enough to invoke the following method in the webRtcPeer to consider the ICE candidate

webRtcPeer.addIceCandidate(candidate);

Following the previous steps, we have:

  • Sent an SDP offer to a remote peer

  • Received an SDP answer from the remote peer, and have the webRtcPeer process that answer.

  • Exchanged ICE candidates between both peer, by sending the ones generated in the browser, and processing the candidates received by the remote peer.

This should complete the negotiation process, and should leave us with a working bidirectional WebRTC media exchange between both peers.

Using data channels

WebRTC data channels lets you send text or binary data over an active WebRTC connection. The WebRtcPeer object can provide access to this functionality by using the RTCDataChannel form the wrapped RTCPeerConnection object. This allows you to inject into and consume data from the pipeline. This data can be treated by each endpoint differently. For instance, a WebRtcPeer object in the browser, will have the same behavior as the RTCDataChannel (you can see a description here). Other endpoints could make use of this channel to send information: a filter that detects QR codes in a video stream, could send the detected code to the clients through a data channel. This special behavior should be specified in the filter.

The use of data channels in the WebRtcPeer object is indicated by passing the dataChannels flag in the options bag, along with the desired options.

 var options = {
     localVideo : videoInput,
     remoteVideo : videoOutput,
     dataChannels : true,
     dataChannelConfig: {
       id : getChannelName(),
       onmessage : onMessage,
       onopen : onOpen,
       onclose : onClosed,
       onbufferedamountlow : onbufferedamountlow,
       onerror : onerror
     },
     onicecandidate : onIceCandidate
 }

 webRtcPeer = new kurentoUtils.WebRtcPeer.WebRtcPeerSendrecv(options, onWebRtcPeerCreated);

The values in dataChannelConfig are all optional. Once the webRtcPeer object is created, and after the connection has been successfully negotiated, users can send data through the data channel

webRtcPeer.send('your data stream here');

The format of the data you are sending, is determined by your application, and the definition of the endpoints that you are using.

The lifecycle of the underlying RTCDataChannel, is tied to that of the webRtcPeer: when the webRtcPeer.dispose() method is invoked, the data channel will be closed and released too.

Reference documentation

WebRtcPeer

The constructor for WebRtcPeer is WebRtcPeer(mode, options, callback) where:

  • mode: Mode in which the PeerConnection will be configured. Valid values are

    • recv: receive only media.

    • send: send only media.

    • sendRecv: send and receive media.

  • options : It is a group of parameters and they are optional. It is a json object.

    • localVideo: Video tag in the application for the local stream.

    • remoteVideo: Video tag in the application for the remote stream.

    • videoStream: Provides an already available video stream that will be used instead of using the media stream from the local webcam.

    • audioStreams: Provides an already available audio stream that will be used instead of using the media stream from the local microphone.

    • mediaConstraints: Defined the quality for the video and audio

    • peerConnection: Use a peerConnection which was created before

    • sendSource: Which source will be used

      • webcam

      • screen

      • window

    • onstreamended: Method that will be invoked when stream ended event happens

    • onicecandidate: Method that will be invoked when ice candidate event happens

    • oncandidategatheringdone: Method that will be invoked when all candidates have been harvested

    • dataChannels: Flag for enabling the use of data channels. If true, then a data channel will be created in the RTCPeerConnection object.

    • dataChannelConfig: It is a JSON object with the configuration passed to the DataChannel when created. It supports the following keys:

      • id: Specifies the id of the data channel. If none specified, the same id of the WebRtcPeer object will be used.

      • options: Options object passed to the data channel constructor.

      • onopen: Function invoked in the onopen event of the data channel, fired when the channel is open.

      • onclose: Function invoked in the onclose event of the data channel, fired when the data channel is closed.

      • onmessage: Function invoked in the onmessage event of the data channel. This event is fired every time a message is received.

      • onbufferedamountlow: Is the event handler called when the bufferedamountlow event is received. Such an event is sent when RTCDataChannel.bufferedAmount drops to less than or equal to the amount specified by the RTCDataChannel.bufferedAmountLowThreshold property.

      • onerror: Callback function onviked when an error in the data channel is produced. If none is provided, an error trace message will be logged in the browser console.

    • simulcast: Indicates whether simulcast is going to be used. Value is true|false

    • configuration: It is a JSON object where ICE Servers are defined using

      • iceServers: The format for this variable is like:

        [{"urls":"turn:turn.example.org","username":"user","credential":"myPassword"}]
        [{"urls":"stun:stun1.example.net"},{"urls":"stun:stun2.example.net"}]
        
  • callback: It is a callback function which indicate, if all worked right or not

Also there are 3 specific methods for creating WebRtcPeer objects without using mode parameter:

  • WebRtcPeerRecvonly(options, callback): Create a WebRtcPeer as receive only.

  • WebRtcPeerSendonly(options, callback): Create a WebRtcPeer as send only.

  • WebRtcPeerSendrecv(options, callback): Create a WebRtcPeer as send and receive.

MediaConstraints

Constraints provide a general control surface that allows applications to both select an appropriate source for a track and, once selected, to influence how a source operates. getUserMedia() uses constraints to help select an appropriate source for a track and configure it. For more information about media constraints and its values, you can check here.

By default, if the mediaConstraints is undefined, this constraints are used when getUserMedia is called:

{
  audio: true,
  video: {
    width: 640,
    framerate: 15
  }
}

If mediaConstraints has any value, the library uses this value for the invocation of getUserMedia. It is up to the browser whether those constraints are accepted or not.

In the examples section, there is one example about the use of media constraints.

Methods

getPeerConnection

Using this method the user can get the peerConnection and use it directly.

showLocalVideo

Use this method for showing the local video.

getLocalStream

Using this method the user can get the local stream. You can use muted property to silence the audio, if this property is true.

getRemoteStream

Using this method the user can get the remote stream.

getCurrentFrame

Using this method the user can get the current frame and get a canvas with an image of the current frame.

processAnswer

Callback function invoked when a SDP answer is received. Developers are expected to invoke this function in order to complete the SDP negotiation. This method has two parameters:

  • sdpAnswer: Description of sdpAnswer

  • callback: It is a function with error like parameter. It is called when the remote description has been set successfully.

processOffer

Callback function invoked when a SDP offer is received. Developers are expected to invoke this function in order to complete the SDP negotiation. This method has two parameters:

  • sdpOffer: Description of sdpOffer

  • callback: It is a function with error and sdpAnswer like parameters. It is called when the remote description has been set successfully.

dispose

This method frees the resources used by WebRtcPeer.

addIceCandidate

Callback function invoked when an ICE candidate is received. Developers are expected to invoke this function in order to complete the SDP negotiation. This method has two parameters:

  • iceCandidate: Literal object with the ICE candidate description

  • callback: It is a function with error like parameter. It is called when the ICE candidate has been added.

getLocalSessionDescriptor

Using this method the user can get peerconnection’s local session descriptor.

getRemoteSessionDescriptor

Using this method the user can get peerconnection’s remote session descriptor.

generateOffer

Creates an offer that is a request to find a remote peer with a specific configuration.

How to do screen share

Screen and window sharing depends on the privative module kurento-browser-extensions. To enable its support, you’ll need to install the package dependency manually or provide a getScreenConstraints function yourself on runtime. The option sendSource could be window or screen before create a WebRtcEndpoint. If it’s not available, when trying to share the screen or a window content it will throw an exception.

Souce code

The code is at github.

Be sure to have Node.js and Bower installed in your system:

curl -sSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
sudo npm install -g bower

To install the library, it is recommended to do that from the NPM repository:

npm install kurento-utils

Alternatively, you can download the code using Git and install manually its dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/Kurento/kurento.git
cd kurento/browser/kurento-utils-js/
npm install

Build for browser

After you download the project, to build the browser version of the library you’ll only need to execute the grunt task runner. The file needed will be generated on the dist folder. Alternatively, if you don’t have it globally installed, you can run a local copy by executing:

git clone https://github.com/Kurento/kurento.git
cd kurento/browser/kurento-utils-js/
npm install
node_modules/.bin/grunt