Add binary mode to tail node

nodes/core/locales/en-US/messages.json

@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@
             "h": "Hours"
         },
         "extend": " extend delay if new message arrives",
-        "tip": "The node can also be reset by sending a message with the <b>msg.reset</b> property set to any value.",
+        "tip": "The node can also be reset by sending a message with the <code>msg.reset</code> property set to any value.",
         "label": {
             "trigger": "trigger",
             "trigger-block": "trigger & block",
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@
         },
         "tip": {
             "in": "Tip: Make sure your firewall will allow the data in.",
-            "out": "Tip: leave address and port blank if you want to set using <b>msg.ip</b> and <b>msg.port</b>.",
+            "out": "Tip: leave address and port blank if you want to set using <code>msg.ip</code> and <code>msg.port</code>.",
             "port": "Ports already in use: "
         },
         "status": {
@@ -637,8 +637,13 @@
     "tail": {
         "label": {
             "filename": "Filename",
+            "type": "File type",
             "splitlines": "Split lines on \\n?"
         },
+        "action": {
+            "text": "Text - returns String",
+            "binary": "Binary - returns Buffer"
+        },
         "errors": {
             "windowsnotsupport": "Not currently supported on Windows."
         }

nodes/core/storage/28-tail.html

@@ -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.
@@ -15,11 +15,18 @@
 -->
 
 <script type="text/x-red" data-template-name="tail">
-    <div class="form-row node-input-filename">
+    <div class="form-row">
          <label for="node-input-filename"><i class="fa fa-file"></i> <span data-i18n="tail.label.filename"></span></label>
          <input type="text" id="node-input-filename">
     </div>
     <div class="form-row">
+        <label for="node-input-filetype"><i class="fa fa-file-text-o"></i> <span data-i18n="tail.label.type"></span></label>
+        <select type="text" id="node-input-filetype">
+            <option value="text" data-i18n="tail.action.text"></option>
+            <option value="binary" data-i18n="tail.action.binary"></option>
+        </select>
+    </div>
+    <div class="form-row" id="node-tail-split">
         <label>&nbsp;</label>
         <input type="checkbox" id="node-input-split" placeholder="Name" style="display: inline-block; width: auto; vertical-align: top;">
         <label for="node-input-split" style="width: 70%;"><span data-i18n="tail.label.splitlines"></span></label>
@@ -28,12 +35,12 @@
         <label for="node-input-name"><i class="fa fa-tag"></i> <span data-i18n="common.label.name"></span></label>
         <input type="text" id="node-input-name" data-i18n="[placeholder]common.label.name">
     </div>
-    <!-- <div class="form-tips">WON'T work on Windows.</div> -->
 </script>
 
 <script type="text/x-red" data-help-name="tail">
     <p>Tails (watches for things to be added) to the configured file. (Linux/Mac ONLY)</p>
-    <p>This won't work on Windows filesystems, as it relies on the <b>tail -F</b> command.</p>
+    <p>This will not work on Windows filesystems, as it relies on the <b>tail -F</b> command.</p>
+    <p>Text (UTF-8) files will be returned as strings. Binary files will be returned as a Buffer object.</p>
 </script>
 
 <script type="text/javascript">
@@ -41,6 +48,7 @@
         category: 'storage-input',
         defaults: {
             name: {value:""},
+            filetype: {value:"text"},
             split: {value:false},
             filename: {value:"",required:true}
         },
@@ -53,6 +61,12 @@
         },
         labelStyle: function() {
             return this.name?"node_label_italic":"";
+        },
+        oneditprepare: function() {
+          $("#node-input-filetype").on("change",function() {
+            if (this.value === "text") { $("#node-tail-split").show(); }
+            else { $("#node-tail-split").hide(); }
+          });
         }
     });
 </script>

nodes/core/storage/28-tail.js

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /**
- * Copyright 2013, 2014 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.
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ module.exports = function(RED) {
         RED.nodes.createNode(this,n);
 
         this.filename = n.filename;
+        this.filetype = n.filetype || "text";
         this.split = n.split;
         var node = this;
 
@@ -34,6 +35,8 @@ module.exports = function(RED) {
         // TODO: rewrite to use node-tail
         var tail = spawn("tail", ["-F", "-n", "0", this.filename]);
         tail.stdout.on("data", function (data) {
+            var msg = { topic:node.filename };
+            if (this.filetype === "text") {
                 if (node.split) {
                     // TODO: allow customisation of the line break - as we do elsewhere
                     var strings = data.toString().split("\n");
@@ -48,10 +51,12 @@ module.exports = function(RED) {
                     }
                 }
                 else {
-                var msg = {
-                    topic:node.filename,
-                    payload: data.toString()
-                };
+                    msg.payload = data.toString();
+                    node.send(msg);
+                }
+            }
+            else {
+                msg.payload = data;
                 node.send(msg);
             }
         });