Watson Developer Cloud Node.js SDK

Node client library to use the Watson Developer Cloud services, a collection of REST APIs and SDKs that use cognitive computing to solve complex problems.

Table of Contents

• Major Changes for v2
• Installation
• Usage
• Getting the Service Credentials
• Questions
• Examples
• IBM Watson Services
  • Alchemy Language
  • Alchemy Vision
  • Alchemy Data News
  • Authorization
  • Concept Insights
  • Conversation
  • Dialog
  • Document Conversion
  • Language Translator
  • Natural Language Classifier
  • Personality Insights
  • Relationship Extraction
  • Retrieve and Rank
  • Speech to Text
  • Text to Speech
  • Tone Analyzer
  • Tradeoff Analytics
  • Visual Insights
  • Visual Recognition
• Composing Services
• Debug
• Tests
• Open Source @ IBM
• License
• Contributing

Major Changes for v2

• Breaking: user-supplied credentials are now preferred over Bluemix-supplied credentials. The order of preference is now:

  1) User-supplied credentials passed to the service constructor

  2) SERVICE_NAME_USERNAME and SERVICE_NAME_PASSWORD environment properties (or SERVICE_NAME_API_KEY when appropriate)

  3) Bluemix-supplied credentials (via the VCAP_SERVICES JSON-encoded environment property)

• Client-side support via Browserify

  examples/browserify/ shows an example app that generates tokens server-side and uses the SDK client-side via browserify.

  Note: Not all services currently support CORS, and therefore not all services can be used client-side. Of those that do, most require an auth token to be generated server-side via the Authorization Service

• New recommended method for instantiating services:

  var ToneAnalyzerV3 = require('watson-developer-cloud/tone-analyzer/v3');
  
  var toneAnalyzer = new ToneAnalyzerV3({/*...*/});

  This was primarily done to enable smaller bundles for client-side usage, but also gives a small performance boost for server-side usage by only loading the portion of the library that is actually needed.

  The following methods will also work, but cause the entire library to be loaded:

  // Alternate methods of using the library.
  // Not recommended, especially for client-side JS.
  var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');
  
  var toneAnalyzer = new watson.ToneAnalyzerV3({/*...*/});
  
  var tone_analyzer = watson.tone_analyzer({version: 'v3', /*...*/});

Installation

$ npm install watson-developer-cloud --save

Usage

The examples below assume that you already have service credentials. If not, you will have to create a service in Bluemix.

If you are running your application in Bluemix, you don't need to specify the credentials; the library will get them for you by looking at the VCAP_SERVICES environment variable.

Data collection opt-out

By default, all requests are logged. This can be disabled of by setting the X-Watson-Learning-Opt-Out header when creating the service instance:

var myInstance = new watson.WhateverServiceV1({
  /* username, password, version, etc... */
  headers: {
    "X-Watson-Learning-Opt-Out": "1"
  }
});

Getting the Service Credentials

You will need the username and password (api_key for AlchemyAPI) credentials for each service. Service credentials are different from your Bluemix account username and password.

To get your service credentials, follow these steps:

1. Log in to Bluemix at https://bluemix.net.

2. Create an instance of the service:

   1. In the Bluemix Catalog, select the service you want to use.
   2. Under Add Service, type a unique name for the service instance in the Service name field. For example, type my-service-name. Leave the default values for the other options.
   3. Click Create.

3. Copy your credentials:

   1. On the left side of the page, click Service Credentials to view your service credentials.
   2. Copy username and password(api_key for AlchemyAPI).

Questions

If you are having difficulties using the APIs or have a question about the IBM Watson Services, please ask a question on dW Answers or Stack Overflow.

Examples

The examples folder has basic and advanced examples.

IBM Watson Services

The Watson Developer Cloud offers a variety of services for building cognitive apps.

Alchemy Language

Alchemy Language offers 12 API functions as part of its text analysis service, each of which uses sophisticated natural language processing techniques to analyze your content and add high-level semantic information.

Use the Sentiment Analysis endpoint to identify positive/negative sentiment within a sample text document.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');

var alchemy_language = watson.alchemy_language({
  api_key: '<api_key>'
});

var params = {
  text: 'IBM Watson won the Jeopardy television show hosted by Alex Trebek'
};

alchemy_language.sentiment(params, function (err, response) {
  if (err)
    console.log('error:', err);
  else
    console.log(JSON.stringify(response, null, 2));
});

Alchemy Vision

Alchemy Vision uses deep learning innovations to understand a picture's content and context. It sees complex visual scenes in their entirety —without needing any textual clues— leveraging a holistic approach to understanding the multiple objects and surroundings.

Example: Extract keywords from an image.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');
var fs = require('fs');

var alchemy_vision = watson.alchemy_vision({
  api_key: '<api_key>'
});

var params = {
  image: fs.createReadStream('src/test/resources/obama.jpg')
};

alchemy_vision.getImageKeywords(params, function (err, keywords) {
  if (err)
    console.log('error:', err);
  else
    console.log(JSON.stringify(keywords, null, 2));
});

Alchemy Data News

Alchemy Data News indexes 250k to 300k English language news and blog articles every day with historical search available for the past 60 days. Example: Get the volume data from the last 7 days using 12hs of time slice.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');

var alchemy_data_news = watson.alchemy_data_news({
  api_key: '<api_key>'
});

var params = {
  start: 'now-1d',
  end: 'now'
};

alchemy_data_news.getNews(params, function (err, news) {
  if (err)
    console.log('error:', err);
  else
    console.log(JSON.stringify(news, null, 2));
});

Authorization

The Authorization service can generates tokens, this are useful when it's too cumbersome to provide a username/password pair. Tokens are valid for 1 hour and need to be send using the X-Watson-Authorization-Token header.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');

var authorization = watson.authorization({
  username: '<username>',
  password: '<password>',
  version: 'v1'
});

var params = {
  // URL of the resource you wish to access
  url: 'https://stream.watsonplatform.net/text-to-speech/api'
};

authorization.getToken(params, function (err, token) {
  if (!token) {
    console.log('error:', err);
  } else {
    // Use your token here
  }
});

Concept Insights

The Concept Insights has been deprecated, AlchemyLanguage's concept function can be used as a replacement for most Concept Insights use cases; therefore, we encourage existing Concept Insights service users to migrate to AlchemyLanguage.

Conversation

Use the Conversation service to determine the intent of a message.

Note: you must first create a workspace via Bluemix. See the documentation for details.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');

var conversation = watson.conversation({
  username: '<username>',
  password: '<password>',
  version: 'v1',
  version_date: '2016-07-01'
});

conversation.message({
  input: 'What\'s the weather?',
  workspace_id: '<workspace id>'
 }, function(err, response) {
     if (err) {
       console.error(err);
     } else {
       console.log(JSON.stringify(response, null, 2));
     }
});

Dialog

Use the Dialog service to list all the dialogs you have.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');

var dialog = watson.dialog({
  username: '<username>',
  password: '<password>',
  version: 'v1',
  version_date: '2015-12-01'
});

dialog.getDialogs({}, function (err, dialogs) {
  if (err)
    console.log('error:', err);
  else
    console.log(JSON.stringify(dialogs, null, 2));
});

Document Conversion

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');
var fs = require('fs');

var document_conversion = watson.document_conversion({
  username:     '<username>',
  password:     '<password>',
  version:      'v1',
  version_date: '2015-12-01'
});

// convert a single document
document_conversion.convert({
  // (JSON) ANSWER_UNITS, NORMALIZED_HTML, or NORMALIZED_TEXT
  file: fs.createReadStream('sample-docx.docx'),
  conversion_target: document_conversion.conversion_target.ANSWER_UNITS,
  // Add custom configuration properties or omit for defaults
  word: {
    heading: {
      fonts: [
        { level: 1, min_size: 24 },
        { level: 2, min_size: 16, max_size: 24 }
      ]
    }
  }
}, function (err, response) {
  if (err) {
    console.error(err);
  } else {
    console.log(JSON.stringify(response, null, 2));
  }
});

See the Document Conversion integration example about how to integrate the Document Conversion service with the Retrieve and Rank service.

Language Translator

Translate text from one language to another or idenfity a language using the Language Translator service.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');

var language_translator = watson.language_translator({
  username: '<username>',
  password: '<password>',
  version: 'v2'
});

language_translator.translate({
  text: 'A sentence must have a verb', source : 'en', target: 'es' },
  function (err, translation) {
    if (err)
      console.log('error:', err);
    else
      console.log(JSON.stringify(translation, null, 2));
});

language_translator.identify({
  text: 'The language translator service takes text input and identifies the language used.' },
  function (err, language) {
    if (err)
      console.log('error:', err);
    else
      console.log(JSON.stringify(language, null, 2));
});

Natural Language Classifier

Use Natural Language Classifier service to create a classifier instance by providing a set of representative strings and a set of one or more correct classes for each as training. Then use the trained classifier to classify your new question for best matching answers or to retrieve next actions for your application.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');

var natural_language_classifier = watson.natural_language_classifier({
  url: 'https://gateway.watsonplatform.net/natural-language-classifier/api',
  username: '<username>',
  password: '<password>',
  version: 'v1'
});

natural_language_classifier.classify({
  text: 'Is it sunny?',
  classifier_id: '<classifier-id>' },
  function(err, response) {
    if (err)
      console.log('error:', err);
    else
      console.log(JSON.stringify(response, null, 2));
});

See this example to learn how to create a classifier.

Personality Insights

Analyze text in english and get a personality profile by using the Personality Insights service.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');

var personality_insights = watson.personality_insights({
  username: '<username>',
  password: '<password>',
  version: 'v2'
});

personality_insights.profile({
  text: 'Enter more than 100 unique words here...',
  language: 'en' },
  function (err, response) {
    if (err)
      console.log('error:', err);
    else
      console.log(JSON.stringify(response, null, 2));
});

Note: Don't forget to update the text variable!

Relationship Extraction

Relationship Extraction has been deprecated. If you want to continue using Relationship Extraction models, you can now access them with AlchemyLanguage. See the migration guide for details.

Retrieve and Rank

Use the Retrieve and Rank service to enhance search results with machine learning.

var retrieve = watson.retrieve_and_rank({
  username: 'INSERT YOUR USERNAME FOR THE SERVICE HERE',
  password: 'INSERT YOUR PASSWORD FOR THE SERVICE HERE',
  version: 'v1',
  url: 'https://gateway.watsonplatform.net/retrieve-and-rank/api'
});

var solrClient = retrieve.createSolrClient({
  cluster_id: 'INSERT YOUR CLUSTER ID HERE',
  collection_name: 'example_collection'
});

// add a document
var doc = { id : 1234, title_t : 'Hello', text_field_s: 'some text' };
solrClient.add(doc, function(err) {
  if(err) {
    console.log('Error indexing document: ' + err);
  } else {
    console.log('Indexed a document.');
    solrClient.commit(function(err) {
      if(err) {
        console.log('Error committing change: ' + err);
      } else {
        console.log('Successfully commited changes.');
      }
    });
  }
});

// search all documents
var query = solrClient.createQuery();
query.q({ '*' : '*' });
solrClient.search(query, function(err, searchResponse) {
  if(err) {
    console.log('Error searching for documents: ' + err);
  } else {
    console.log('Found ' + searchResponse.response.numFound + ' document(s).');
    console.log('First document: ' + JSON.stringify(searchResponse.response.docs[0], null, 2));
  }
});

Speech to Text

Use the Speech to Text service to recognize the text from a .wav file.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');
var fs = require('fs');

var speech_to_text = watson.speech_to_text({
  username: '<username>',
  password: '<password>',
  version: 'v1'
});

var params = {
  // From file
  audio: fs.createReadStream('./resources/speech.wav'),
  content_type: 'audio/l16; rate=44100'
};

speech_to_text.recognize(params, function(err, res) {
  if (err)
    console.log(err);
  else
    console.log(JSON.stringify(res, null, 2));
});

// or streaming
fs.createReadStream('./resources/speech.wav')
  .pipe(speech_to_text.createRecognizeStream({ content_type: 'audio/l16; rate=44100' }))
  .pipe(fs.createWriteStream('./transcription.txt'));

Text to Speech

Use the Text to Speech service to synthesize text into a .wav file.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');
var fs = require('fs');

var text_to_speech = watson.text_to_speech({
  username: '<username>',
  password: '<password>',
  version: 'v1'
});

var params = {
  text: 'Hello from IBM Watson',
  voice: 'en-US_AllisonVoice', // Optional voice
  accept: 'audio/wav'
};

// Pipe the synthesized text to a file
text_to_speech.synthesize(params).pipe(fs.createWriteStream('output.wav'));

Tone Analyzer

Use the Tone Analyzer service to analyze the emotion, writing and social tones of a text.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');

var tone_analyzer = watson.tone_analyzer({
  username: '<username>',
  password: '<password>',
  version: 'v3',
  version_date: '2016-05-19'
});

tone_analyzer.tone({ text: 'Greetings from Watson Developer Cloud!' },
  function(err, tone) {
    if (err)
      console.log(err);
    else
      console.log(JSON.stringify(tone, null, 2));
});

Tradeoff Analytics

Use the Tradeoff Analytics service to find the best phone that minimizes price and weight and maximizes screen size.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');

var tradeoff_analytics = watson.tradeoff_analytics({
  username: '<username>',
  password: '<password>',
  version: 'v1'
});

// From file
var params = require('./resources/problem.json');

tradeoff_analytics.dilemmas(params, function(err, res) {
  if (err)
    console.log(err);
  else
    console.log(JSON.stringify(res, null, 2));
});

Visual Insights

The Watson Visual Insights Service will be withdrawn. The Watson Visual Insights Service tile will be removed from the Bluemix catalog on July 3, 2016, after which you cannot provision new instances of this service.

Visual Recognition

Use the Visual Recognition service to recognize the following picture.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');
var fs = require('fs');

var visual_recognition = watson.visual_recognition({
  api_key: '<api_key>',
  version: 'v3',
  version_date: '2016-05-19'
});

var params = {
  images_file: fs.createReadStream('./resources/car.png')
};

visual_recognition.classify(params, function(err, res) {
  if (err)
    console.log(err);
  else
    console.log(JSON.stringify(res, null, 2));
});

Composing Services

Integration of Tone Analyzer with Conversation

Sample code for integrating Tone Analyzer and Conversation is provided in the examples directory.

Integration Document Conversation with Retrieve and Rank

See the Document Conversion integration example about how to integrate the Document Conversion service with the Retrieve and Rank service.

Unauthenticated requests

By default, the library tries to use Basic Auth and will ask for api_key or username and password and send an Authorization: Basic XXXXXXX. You can avoid this by using:

use_unauthenticated.

var watson = require('watson-developer-cloud');

var dialog = watson.dialog({
  version: 'v1',
  use_unauthenticated: true
});

Debug

This library relies on the request npm module writted by request to call the Watson Services. To debug the apps, add 'request' to the NODE_DEBUG environment variable:

$ NODE_DEBUG='request' node app.js

where app.js is your Node.js file.

Tests

Running all the tests:

$ npm test

Running a specific test:

$ mocha -g '<test name>'

Open Source @ IBM

Find more open source projects on the IBM Github Page.

License

This library is licensed under Apache 2.0. Full license text is available in COPYING.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.