A basic way to write extensions for other programs using Node.js_node.js

Ready to start

First we use the following directory structure to create a node-notify folder.

Copy code The code is as follows:

.
|-- build/                                                         # This is where our extension is built.
|-- demo/
| `-- demo.js # This is a demo Node.js script to test our extension.
|-- src/
| `-- node_gtknotify.cpp # This is the where we do the mapping from C to Javascript.
`-- wscript                                 # This is our build configuration used by node-waf

This beautiful-looking tree is generated using a generic tree.

Now let me create the test script demo.js and decide what our extension’s API should look like upfront:

// This loads our extension on the notify variable.
// It will only load a constructor function, notify.notification().
var notify = require("../build/default/gtknotify.node"); // path to our extension
 
var notification = new notify.notification();
notification.title = "Notification title";
notification.icon = "emblem-default"; // see /usr/share/icons/gnome/16x16
notification.send("Notification message");

Writing our Node.js extension
Init method

In order to create a Node.js extension, we need to write a C class that inherits node::ObjectWrap. ObjectWrap implements public methods that make it easier for us to interact with Javascript

Let’s first write the basic framework of the class:

#include <v8.h> // v8 is the Javascript engine used by QNode
#include <node.h>
// We will need the following libraries for our GTK+ notification
#include <string>
#include <gtkmm.h>
#include <libnotifymm.h>
 
using namespace v8;
 
class Gtknotify : node::ObjectWrap {
 private:
 public:
  Gtknotify() {}
  ~Gtknotify() {}
  static void Init(Handle<Object> target) {
   // This is what Node will call when we load the extension through require(), see boilerplate code below.
  }
};
 
/*
 * WARNING: Boilerplate code ahead.
 *
 * See https://www.cloudkick.com/blog/2010/aug/23/writing-nodejs-native-extensions/ & http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi&#63;query=dlsym
 * 
 * Thats it for actual interfacing with v8, finally we need to let Node.js know how to dynamically load our code.
 * Because a Node.js extension can be loaded at runtime from a shared object, we need a symbol that the dlsym function can find,
 * so we do the following: 
 */
 
v8::Persistent<FunctionTemplate> Gtknotify::persistent_function_template;
extern "C" { // Cause of name mangling in C++, we use extern C here
 static void init(Handle<Object> target) {
  Gtknotify::Init(target);
 }
 // @see http://github.com/ry/node/blob/v0.2.0/src/node.h#L101
 NODE_MODULE(gtknotify, init);
}

Now, we have to write the following code into our Init() method:

Declare the constructor and bind it to our target variable. var n = require("notification"); will bind notification() to n:n.notification().

// Wrap our C++ New() method so that it's accessible from Javascript
  // This will be called by the new operator in Javascript, for example: new notification();
  v8::Local<FunctionTemplate> local_function_template = v8::FunctionTemplate::New(New);
   
  // Make it persistent and assign it to persistent_function_template which is a static attribute of our class.
  Gtknotify::persistent_function_template = v8::Persistent<FunctionTemplate>::New(local_function_template);
   
  // Each JavaScript object keeps a reference to the C++ object for which it is a wrapper with an internal field.
  Gtknotify::persistent_function_template->InstanceTemplate()->SetInternalFieldCount(1); // 1 since a constructor function only references 1 object
  // Set a "class" name for objects created with our constructor
  Gtknotify::persistent_function_template->SetClassName(v8::String::NewSymbol("Notification"));
   
  // Set the "notification" property of our target variable and assign it to our constructor function
  target->Set(String::NewSymbol("notification"), Gtknotify::persistent_function_template->GetFunction());

Declaration attributes: n.title and n.icon.

  // Set property accessors
  // SetAccessor arguments: Javascript property name, C++ method that will act as the getter, C++ method that will act as the setter
  Gtknotify::persistent_function_template->InstanceTemplate()->SetAccessor(String::New("title"), GetTitle, SetTitle);
  Gtknotify::persistent_function_template->InstanceTemplate()->SetAccessor(String::New("icon"), GetIcon, SetIcon);
  // For instance, n.title = "foo" will now call SetTitle("foo"), n.title will now call GetTitle()

Declare prototype method: n.send()

  // This is a Node macro to help bind C++ methods to Javascript methods (see https://github.com/joyent/node/blob/v0.2.0/src/node.h#L34)
  // Arguments: our constructor function, Javascript method name, C++ method name
  NODE_SET_PROTOTYPE_METHOD(Gtknotify::persistent_function_template, "send", Send);

Now our Init() method should look like this:

// Our constructor
static v8::Persistent<FunctionTemplate> persistent_function_template;
 
static void Init(Handle<Object> target) {
 v8::HandleScope scope; // used by v8 for garbage collection
 
 // Our constructor
 v8::Local<FunctionTemplate> local_function_template = v8::FunctionTemplate::New(New);
 Gtknotify::persistent_function_template = v8::Persistent<FunctionTemplate>::New(local_function_template);
 Gtknotify::persistent_function_template->InstanceTemplate()->SetInternalFieldCount(1); // 1 since this is a constructor function
 Gtknotify::persistent_function_template->SetClassName(v8::String::NewSymbol("Notification"));
 
 // Our getters and setters
 Gtknotify::persistent_function_template->InstanceTemplate()->SetAccessor(String::New("title"), GetTitle, SetTitle);
 Gtknotify::persistent_function_template->InstanceTemplate()->SetAccessor(String::New("icon"), GetIcon, SetIcon);
 
 // Our methods
 NODE_SET_PROTOTYPE_METHOD(Gtknotify::persistent_function_template, "send", Send);
 
 // Binding our constructor function to the target variable
 target->Set(String::NewSymbol("notification"), Gtknotify::persistent_function_template->GetFunction());
}

All that’s left to do is write the C method we use in the Init method: New, GetTitle, SetTitle, GetIcon, SetIcon, Send

Constructor method: New()

The

New() method creates a new instance of our custom class (a Gtknotify object), sets some initial values, and then returns the JavaScript handler for that object. This is the expected behavior of JavaScript calling a constructor using the new operator.

 
std::string title;
std::string icon;
 
// new notification()
static Handle<Value> New(const Arguments& args) {
 HandleScope scope;
 Gtknotify* gtknotify_instance = new Gtknotify();
 // Set some default values
 gtknotify_instance->title = "Node.js";
 gtknotify_instance->icon = "terminal";
 
 // Wrap our C++ object as a Javascript object
 gtknotify_instance->Wrap(args.This());
 
 return args.This();
}
getters 和 setters: GetTitle(), SetTitle(), GetIcon(), SetIcon()

What follows is mostly boilerplate code that boils down to converting values ​​between C and JavaScript (v8).

// this.title
static v8::Handle<Value> GetTitle(v8::Local<v8::String> property, const v8::AccessorInfo& info) {
 // Extract the C++ request object from the JavaScript wrapper.
 Gtknotify* gtknotify_instance = node::ObjectWrap::Unwrap<Gtknotify>(info.Holder());
 return v8::String::New(gtknotify_instance->title.c_str());
}
// this.title=
static void SetTitle(Local<String> property, Local<Value> value, const AccessorInfo& info) {
 Gtknotify* gtknotify_instance = node::ObjectWrap::Unwrap<Gtknotify>(info.Holder());
 v8::String::Utf8Value v8str(value);
 gtknotify_instance->title = *v8str;
}
// this.icon
static v8::Handle<Value> GetIcon(v8::Local<v8::String> property, const v8::AccessorInfo& info) {
 // Extract the C++ request object from the JavaScript wrapper.
 Gtknotify* gtknotify_instance = node::ObjectWrap::Unwrap<Gtknotify>(info.Holder());
 return v8::String::New(gtknotify_instance->icon.c_str());
}
// this.icon=
static void SetIcon(Local<String> property, Local<Value> value, const AccessorInfo& info) {
 Gtknotify* gtknotify_instance = node::ObjectWrap::Unwrap<Gtknotify>(info.Holder());
 v8::String::Utf8Value v8str(value);
 gtknotify_instance->icon = *v8str;
}

Prototype method: Send()

First we extract the this reference of the C object, and then use the object's properties to build the notification and display it.

// this.send()
static v8::Handle<Value> Send(const Arguments& args) {
 v8::HandleScope scope;
 // Extract C++ object reference from "this"
 Gtknotify* gtknotify_instance = node::ObjectWrap::Unwrap<Gtknotify>(args.This());
 
 // Convert first argument to V8 String
 v8::String::Utf8Value v8str(args[0]);
 
 // For more info on the Notify library: http://library.gnome.org/devel/libnotify/0.7/NotifyNotification.html
 Notify::init("Basic");
 // Arguments: title, content, icon
 Notify::Notification n(gtknotify_instance->title.c_str(), *v8str, gtknotify_instance->icon.c_str()); // *v8str points to the C string it wraps
 // Display the notification
 n.show();
 // Return value
 return v8::Boolean::New(true);
}

Compile extension

node-waf is a build tool used to compile Node extensions, which is the basic package of waf. The build process is configurable through a file called wscript.

def set_options(opt):
 opt.tool_options("compiler_cxx")
 
def configure(conf):
 conf.check_tool("compiler_cxx")
 conf.check_tool("node_addon")
 # This will tell the compiler to link our extension with the gtkmm and libnotifymm libraries.
 conf.check_cfg(package='gtkmm-2.4', args='--cflags --libs', uselib_store='LIBGTKMM')
 conf.check_cfg(package='libnotifymm-1.0', args='--cflags --libs', uselib_store='LIBNOTIFYMM')
 
def build(bld):
 obj = bld.new_task_gen("cxx", "shlib", "node_addon")
 obj.cxxflags = ["-g", "-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64", "-D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE", "-Wall"]
 # This is the name of our extension.
 obj.target = "gtknotify"
 obj.source = "src/node_gtknotify.cpp"
 obj.uselib = ['LIBGTKMM', 'LIBNOTIFYMM']

Now that we are ready to start building, run the following command in the top-level directory:

node-waf configure && node-waf build

If everything goes well, we will get the compiled extension, located at: ./build/default/gtknotify.node, let’s try:

$ node
> var notif = require('./build/default/gtknotify.node');
> n = new notif.notification();
{ icon: 'terminal', title: 'Node.js' }
> n.send("Hello World!");
true

The above code will display a notification message in the upper right corner of your screen.

Packaged into npm package

This is very cool, but how do you share the results of your efforts with the Node community? This is the main purpose of npm: making it easier to extend and distribute.

Packaging an extension with npm is very easy. All you have to do is create a file package.json in your top-level directory that contains your extension information:

{
 // 扩展的名称 (不要在名称中包含node 或者 js, 这是隐式关键字).
 // 这是通过require() 导入扩展的名称.
 
 "name" : "notify",
 
 // Version should be http://semver.org/ compliant
 
 "version" : "v0.1.0"
 
 // 这些脚本将在调用npm安装和npm卸载的时候运行.
 
 , "scripts" : {
   "preinstall" : "node-waf configure && node-waf build"
   , "preuninstall" : "rm -rf build/*"
  }
 
 // 这是构建我们扩展的相对路径.
 
 , "main" : "build/default/gtknotify.node"
 
 // 以下是可选字段:
 
 , "description" : "Description of the extension...."
 , "homepage" : "https://github.com/olalonde/node-notify"
 , "author" : {
   "name" : "Olivier Lalonde"
   , "email" : "olalonde@gmail.com"
   , "url" : "http://www.syskall.com/"
  }
 , "repository" : {
   "type" : "git"
   , "url" : "https://github.com/olalonde/node-notify.git"
  }
}

For more details about the package.json format, the documentation can be obtained via npm help json. Note that most fields are optional.

You can now install your new npm package by running npm install in your top-level directory. If all goes well, you should be able to simply load your extension var notify = require('your package name');. Another useful imperative is npm link. With this command you can create a link to your development directory, so you don’t have to install/uninstall every time your code changes.

Suppose you write a cool extension, you might want to publish it online in a central npm repository. First you need to create an account:

$ npm adduser

下一步, 回到你的根目录编码并且运行:

 
$ npm publish

就是这样, 你的包现在已经可以被任何人通过npm install 你的包名命令来安装了.