core to Pi node-red-nodes info updates

to be more consistent style

io/ping/88-ping.html

@@ -30,9 +30,10 @@
 </script>
 
 <script type="text/x-red" data-help-name="ping">
-    <p>Pings a machine and returns the trip time in mS.</p>
+    <p>Pings a machine and returns the trip time in mS as <code>msg.payload</code>.</p>
     <p>Returns <b>false</b> if no response received within 5 seconds, or if the host is unresolveable.</p>
     <p>Default ping is every 20 seconds but can be configured.</p>
+    <p><code>msg.topic</code> contains the target host ip.
 </script>
 
 <script type="text/javascript">

io/ping/88-ping.js

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /**
- * Copyright 2013 IBM Corp.
+ * Copyright 2013,2016 IBM Corp.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -16,46 +16,35 @@
 
 module.exports = function(RED) {
     "use strict";
-    var spawn = require('child_process').spawn;
-    var plat = require('os').platform();
+    var dns = require("dns")
+    var ping = require ("net-ping");
 
     function PingNode(n) {
         RED.nodes.createNode(this,n);
         this.host = n.host;
         this.timer = n.timer * 1000;
+        this.session = ping.createSession();
         var node = this;
 
         node.tout = setInterval(function() {
-            var ex;
-            if (plat == "linux") { ex = spawn('ping', ['-n', '-w', '5', '-c', '1', node.host]); }
-            else if (plat.match(/^win/)) { ex = spawn('ping', ['-n', '1', '-w', '5000', node.host]); }
-            else if (plat == "darwin") { ex = spawn('ping', ['-n', '-t', '5', '-c', '1', node.host]); }
-            else { node.error("Sorry - your platform - "+plat+" - is not recognised."); }
-            var res = false;
-            var line = "";
-            //var regex = /from.*time.(.*)ms/;
-            var regex = /=.*[<|=]([0-9]*).*TTL|ttl..*=([0-9\.]*)/;
-            ex.stdout.on('data', function (data) {
-                line += data.toString();
-            });
-            //ex.stderr.on('data', function (data) {
-            //console.log('[ping] stderr: ' + data);
-            //});
-            ex.on('close', function (code) {
-                var m = regex.exec(line)||"";
-                if (m !== '') {
-                    if (m[1]) { res = Number(m[1]); }
-                    if (m[2]) { res = Number(m[2]); }
-                }
-                var msg = { payload:false, topic:node.host };
-                if (code === 0) { msg = { payload:res, topic:node.host }; }
-                try { node.send(msg); }
-                catch(e) {}
+            dns.lookup(node.host, function(err, address, family) {
+                if (typeof address === 'undefined') { address = node.host; }
+                node.session.pingHost(address, function(error, target, sent, rcvd) {
+                    var msg = { payload:false, topic:target };
+                    if (error) {
+                        msg.error = error.toString();
+                    } else {
+                        msg.payload = rcvd - sent;
+                    }
+                    node.send(msg);
+                    node.session.close();
+                });
             });
         }, node.timer);
 
         this.on("close", function() {
-            if (this.tout) { clearInterval(this.tout); }
+            if (node.tout) { clearInterval(this.tout); }
+            if (node.session) { node.session.close(); }
         });
     }
     RED.nodes.registerType("ping",PingNode);

io/ping/README.md

@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 node-red-node-ping
 ==================
 
-A <a href="http://nodered.org" target="_new">Node-RED</a> node to ping a remote server, for use as a keep-alive check.
+A <a href="http://nodered.org" target="_new">Node-RED</a> node to ping a
+remote server, for use as a keep-alive check.
 
 Install
 -------
@@ -18,12 +19,14 @@ The fix is to allow it as follows
     sudo setcap cap_net_raw=ep /bin/ping
     sudo setcap cap_net_raw=ep /bin/ping6
 
-
 Usage
 -----
 
-Pings a machine and returns the trip time in mS.
+Pings a machine and returns the trip time in mS as **msg.payload**.
 
-Returns boolean **false** if no response received within 5 seconds, or if the host is unresolveable.
+Returns boolean `false` if no response received, or if the host is unresolveable.
+**msg.wrror** will contain any error message if necessary.
+
+**msg.topic** contains the ip address of the target host.
 
 Default ping is every 20 seconds but can be configured.

io/ping/package.json

@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 {
     "name"          : "node-red-node-ping",
-    "version"       : "0.0.7",
+    "version"       : "0.0.9",
     "description"   : "A Node-RED node to ping a remote server, for use as a keep-alive check.",
     "dependencies"  : {
+        "net-ping":"1.1.*"
     },
     "repository" : {
         "type":"git",