Run node module in guest executable - azure-service-fabric

Question

I've got a global npm package installed, TileServer, that I run as service through command line. I'd like to convert this to a guest executable in service fabric, but I'm having trouble implementing.
Pre-Guest executable, I would invoke the following command in cmd:
tileserver-gl-light --port=8788 map.mbtiles
My configuration for my guest executable is:
<ExeHost>
<Program>tileserver-gl-light</Program>
<Arguments>--port=8788 c:\maptiles.mbtiles</Arguments>
<WorkingFolder>Work</WorkingFolder>
</ExeHost>
Unfortunately, the error I get when trying to run the service just says "There were deployment errors. Continue?"
Any ideas on how to get this working?
Thanks!

Answer 1

Can you check to see if that application package validates on your local machine by calling Test-ServiceFabricApplicationPackage?
Usually SF expects the file to be
Present in the application package and
Some sort of executable file that the OS understands (for windows .bat, .exe, etc.)
In this case I think what you're saying is that the tileserver bits are actually outside the package (wherever your node packages are), and you're actually trying to use node to start it (since the tileserver-gl packages aren't natively executable by Windows).
If that's the case your program should probably be something like a batch file that just says "tileserver-gl-light" and then your command line args in it.
Include that batch file in your code package and reference that as your program (and straighten out how you want to pass the args) and you should be good to go.

Answer 2

As #masnider pointed out, the files must be present in the application package, and we must call the executable as something the OS understands. This presents particular challenges for node modules as:
They must be wrapped in a .bat
They can't be called using the global command
They need parameters
They files, node_modules, often has issues with file path length issues
My end service had the following file structure:
- ApplicationPackageRoot
- MyService.ServicePkg
- Code
- 7za.exe
- node.exe
- npm.7z
- start.bat
My ServiceManifest.xml had these values in it:
<SetupEntryPoint>
<ExeHost>
<Program>7za.exe</Program>
<Arguments>x npm.7z<Arguments>
<WorkingFolder>CodeBase</WorkingFolder>
</ExeHost>
</SetupEntryPoint>
<EntryPoint>
<ExeHost>
<Program>start.bat</Program>
<Arguments><Arguments>
<WorkingFolder>CodeBase</WorkingFolder>
</ExeHost>
<EnvironmentVariables>
<EnvironmentVariable Name="Port" Value="8788"/>
<EnvironmentVariable Name="TilePath" Value="mytiles.mbtiles"/>
</EnvironmentVariables>
</EntryPoint>
And finally, my start.bat was comprised of the following line:
.\node.exe npm/node_modules/tileserver-gl-light/sc/main.js --port=%Port% %TilePath%
So how did this work? The npm.7z in the Code consisted of my node_modules, pre-zipped. The 7za was the portable version of 7zip which allows use to get around the file path length issues present on windows. 7za is called in the SetupEntryPoint.
Then the SF calls start.bat, which reads in the environmental variables of Port and TilePath. This has to called the exactly .js file called by the normal tileserver-gl-light command.
Doing this results in a properly working node application in a service fabric guest executable.