Next Generation Node Helper Library Release

Next Generation Node Helper Library Release

Today, we are excited to announce the general availability of our next-generation Node helper library.  

The approach

The Node library offers new functionality and takes advantage of modern language features. We’ve rebuilt it from the ground up based on the developer feedback we received from you.

This release is the latest addition to the next-generation SDK family to add to the recently released versions of PHP, Java, .NET/C# and Python. To learn more about our novel approach to make the helper libraries more consistent, enable faster iteration, and improve the libraries by having a shared foundation across languages, check out our blog post that introduced the next generation Twilio Helper Libraries.

The next language that we will release is Ruby, which is the last remaining SDK refresh. But first things first, let’s take a deeper look at the new features of the Node library.

What’s new

• Simplified import: There’s only 1 object you need to import.
• Accessing resources: The new library makes Twilio API subdomains (Lookups, Conversations, Monitor, etc.) first-class citizens. You can now also pin your interactions to the Twilio API to specific versions of that API.
• Use promises to interact with twilio-node.
• Listing resources: There are now 2 ways to get a list of resources – list and each.
  • list fetches the entire collection of resources and resolves to an array that contains the resources’ instances.
  • each will page through the list of resources and call a callback function.
• Paging: Both list and each automatically handle paging for you!
• Configurable HTTP client: You can now plug your own HTTP client into the Twilio client!

How to get started

The are several great resources to help you to get started with the new library:

• Getting Started Guide covers installation and how to send your first message.
• Guides and tutorials provide code samples for several use cases.
• Auto-generated library docs are a helpful reference documentation.
• Migration Guide is a great resource, especially if you are familiar with the previous generation. It covers some of the new features and highlights the differences.

The new libraries come in two lines based on our Versioning Strategy:

1. The ’mainline’ that contains our GA products and is the most stable release
2. ‘edge’ which includes new features that are in Developer Preview or Beta.

Deprecation

New functionality will only be added to the new library (Node Helper Library 3.x). The old library (2.x) will be officially supported until 8/31/2017. After that day, Twilio will stop providing bug fixes and Support might ask you to upgrade before debugging issues. Learn how to migrate your existing application. The old library will remain available on GitHub.

Next-gen Release Candidate

With the latest release of the Node, we only have one more library to update.

We’d love your get your feedback on the Ruby release candidate, which is next to get updated. The latest version is on Github now and we are interested in your issue tickets and pull requests.

We can’t wait to see what you build with the helper libraries!