I'm trying to send a udp packet using the node.js dgram package from an electron app. The send method calls for a Buffer, Uint8Array, or string. I'm getting a type error when I try to use a Buffer or UintArray however. The exact error is: TypeError: First argument must be a buffer or a string.

I can see in the Node.js dgram code that it is checking for a buffer using !(buffer instanceof Buffer . If I try using instanceof on the buffer in my code it just returns object as the type, while if I try 'Buffer.isBuffer()' it returns true. I've tried all the methods that node provides for creating buffers buffer with no results. Send does accept strings but then I am running into all sorts of issues with encoding, and that feels kinda of hacky.

It looks like electron is running node 7.4.0.

I see my options from here as:

1. Edit the node.js code
2. Somehow override what instanceof returns for my buffer object
3. Figure out a solution for properly encoding the Buffer as a string.

Any ideas?

I'm trying to send a udp packet using the node.js dgram package from an electron app. The send method calls for a Buffer, Uint8Array, or string. I'm getting a type error when I try to use a Buffer or UintArray however. The exact error is: TypeError: First argument must be a buffer or a string.

I can see in the Node.js dgram code that it is checking for a buffer using !(buffer instanceof Buffer . If I try using instanceof on the buffer in my code it just returns object as the type, while if I try 'Buffer.isBuffer()' it returns true. I've tried all the methods that node provides for creating buffers buffer with no results. Send does accept strings but then I am running into all sorts of issues with encoding, and that feels kinda of hacky.

It looks like electron is running node 7.4.0.

I see my options from here as:

1. Edit the node.js code
2. Somehow override what instanceof returns for my buffer object
3. Figure out a solution for properly encoding the Buffer as a string.

Any ideas?

• javascript
• node.js
• sockets
• udp
• electron

• Did you use Buffer.isBuffer(), like on the class Buffer or on your actual instance? Have you also tried using Buffer.from() to create your buffer? – RoyalBingBong Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 9:44
• I've tried using Buffer.from and new Buffer(). Also I was mistaken, if I try instanceof Buffer on my buffer it is returning true. I think the issue may be with the Node dgram module relying on a different version of Buffer. Is there anyway I can change the node code with repiling? – Russill Glover Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 16:47

1 Answer 1

To get this to work I just had to point my global Buffer value to the node buffer module as so: const Buffer = window.require('buffer').Buffer