Managing External Language Connections with "irisconns"

While working with external languages for IRIS (such as Python and Node.js), one of the first things you must accomplish is making a connection to an IRIS instance.

For instance, to make a connection in python (from https://pypi.org/project/intersystems-irispython/):

import iris

# Open a connection to the server
args = {
    'hostname':'127.0.0.1', 
    'port': 1972,
    'namespace':'USER', 
    'username':'username', 
    'password':'password'
}
conn = iris.connect(**args)

# Create an iris object
irispy = iris.createIRIS(conn)

# Create a global array in the USER namespace on the server
irispy.set("myGlobal", "hello world!") 

To establish a connection, you must either hard-code connection information in your script or you must prompt the user for the information.

To help manage these IRIS connections in my own projects, I created irisconns on Open Exchange.

irisconns allows you to decouple your connection information from your project/code by allowing you to save that connection information into files that are separate from your code. (Think "DSN" and "ODBC" for your IRIS Native SDK connections.)

Getting Started

To get started with irisconns, create either an irisconns or .irisconns file in your project's working directory, any parent directory to your working directory, or your home directory. Populate your irisconns file with connection information in an INI file format:

# 'default' is the connection returned if no name is provided.
[default]
hostname = localhost
port = 1972
namespace = USER
username = _SYSTEM
# confirm password? true or false?
confirm = false

# This connection name is "TEST".
[TEST]
hostname = test-server
port = 1972
namespace = USER
username = _SYSTEM
# confirm password? true or false?
confirm = false

# This connection name is "PROD".
[PROD]
hostname = prod-server
port = 1972
namespace = %SYS
username = _SYSTEM
# confirm password? true or false?
confirm = false

You will also need to copy the associated irisconns.py or irisconns.js libraries into your project so that you can import the irisconns module from your code. (Currently, only Python and Node.js libraries exist.) You also need to install the IRIS native packages for your programming language:

# Install Dependencies for Python
cp /path/to/irisconns/irisconns.py ./irisconns.py
pip install intersystems-irispython

# Install Dependencies for Node.js
cp /path/to/irisconns/irisconns.js ./irisconns.js
npm install @intersystems/intersystems-iris-native

Using "irisconns"

Once installed, you should be able to use/prompt for your connection configuration:

# Python Connection Example
import irisconns

# default connection
irispy = irisconns.get_irispy()

# named connection
irispy = irisconns.get_irispy('TEST')

# usage
irispy.set('hello world!', 'test', 1)

// Javascript Connection Example

// Import the package
const irisconns = require('./irisconns.js');

// Wrap in an async function so we can await the connection...
(async () => {
  // 'default' connection
  const iris = await irisconns.get_iris();

  // named (i.e. "PROD") connection
  // const iris = await irisconns.get_iris('PROD');

  // usage
  iris.set('hello world!','test',1);
})()

The above code will produce prompts, similar to the following:

# Connecting to default
Hostname    : localhost (default)
Port        : 11972
Namespace   : USER (default)
Username    : _SYSTEM
Password    : [hidden]
Confirm     : [hidden]

Closing

You can find more information about irisconns on the Open Exchange page. Hopefully you will find it useful!

Thanks!