Using node.js modules/code from the JavaScript console of geth

Question

I have a JS filter which checks for the ether transferred in a recent transaction. I have loaded this script from the interactive JS console and it's working fine. Based on the ether in the transaction, I want to run external python scripts. For e.g.(Not actual code):

if (ether = 10){
  test1(); 
} 

And the node.js code for these functions:

function test1() {
    var spawn = require("child_process").spawn;
    var pc1 = spawn("python",["/path/to/test1.py"]);
}

This code is working fine when I execute it separately. But when I include this in the JS snippet and reload it to the console(using loadScript()), I get the following error:

err: cannot find module 'child_process'

child_process is a default node.js module. I understand that this is not a problem with the code but with the integration of node.js into geth client. Is this not possible at all or are there any workarounds?

Answer 1

In few cases node modules would not work in your browser. But there are modules which you can do read here http://www.richardrodger.com/2013/09/27/how-to-make-simple-node-js-modules-work-in-the-browser/#.V3Vco-t97IU.

In your case, it is not possible here

Answer 2

I think you can do this by starting the console (or attaching to it later) with a 'preload' argument, eg i was able to load the library "ramda" from my local filesystem with:

geth --preload=/ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_JS_LIBRARIES/ramda.min.js attach

(use "console" instead of "attach" if you don't already have a geth instance running that you want to attach to)