https://github.com/sibnerian/electron-promise-ipc

Promise-flavored IPC calls in Electron. 100% test coverage.
https://github.com/sibnerian/electron-promise-ipc

electron ipc promises

Last synced: 7 days ago
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Promise-flavored IPC calls in Electron. 100% test coverage.

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/sibnerian/electron-promise-ipc
• Owner: sibnerian
• License: mit
• Created: 2017-02-17T09:15:40.000Z (almost 8 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2023-03-04T02:44:15.000Z (almost 2 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-12-30T07:41:58.918Z (about 1 month ago)
• Topics: electron, ipc, promises
• Language: TypeScript
• Homepage:
• Size: 1.15 MB
• Stars: 68
• Watchers: 3
• Forks: 10
• Open Issues: 11
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • License: LICENSE

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README

        
# electron-promise-ipc

[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/sibnerian/electron-promise-ipc.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/sibnerian/electron-promise-ipc) [![Coverage Status](https://coveralls.io/repos/github/sibnerian/electron-promise-ipc/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://coveralls.io/github/sibnerian/electron-promise-ipc?branch=master) [![npm version](https://badge.fury.io/js/electron-promise-ipc.svg)](https://badge.fury.io/js/electron-promise-ipc)

#### Promise-y IPC calls in Electron.

## Installation

```sh

npm install --save electron-promise-ipc

```

## Usage

The most common use case: from the renderer, get data from the main process as a promise.

```js

// in main process

import promiseIpc from 'electron-promise-ipc';

import fsp from 'fs-promise';

promiseIpc.on('writeSettingsFile', (newSettings, event) => {

  return fsp.writeFile('~/.settings', newSettings);

});

// in renderer

import promiseIpc from 'electron-promise-ipc';

promiseIpc

  .send('writeSettingsFile', '{ "name": "Jeff" }')

  .then(() => console.log('You wrote the settings!'))

  .catch((e) => console.error(e));

```

You can also send data from the main process to a renderer, if you pass in its [WebContents](http://electron.atom.io/docs/api/web-contents) object.

```js

// in main process

import promiseIpc from 'electron-promise-ipc';

promiseIpc

  .send('getRendererData', webContentsForRenderer)

  .then((rendererData) => console.log(rendererData))

  .catch((e) => console.error(e));

// in renderer

import promiseIpc from 'electron-promise-ipc';

promiseIpc.on('getRendererData', (event) => {

  return getSomeSuperAwesomeRendererData();

});

```

Any arguments to `send()` will be passed directly to the event listener from `on()`, followed by the IPC [event](https://electronjs.org/docs/api/ipc-main#event-object) object. If there is an error thrown in the main process's listener, or if the listener returns a rejected promise (e.g., lack of permissions for a file read), then the `send()` promise is rejected with the same error.

Note that because this is IPC, only JSON-serializable values can be passed as arguments or data. Classes and functions will generally not survive a round of serialization/deserialization.

## Preload

As of Electron 5.0, `nodeIntegration` is _disabled by default._ This means that you cannot import `promiseIpc` directly. Instead, you will need to use a [preload](https://www.electronjs.org/docs/api/browser-window) script when opening a `BrowserWindow`. Preload scripts can access builtins such as `require` even if `nodeIntegration` is disabled.

For convenience, this library provides a preload script which you can require that sets `window.promiseIpc`.

```js

// preload.js

require('electron-promise-ipc/preload');

```

## Advanced usage

#### Timeouts

By default, the promise will wait forever for the other process to return it some data. If you want to set a timeout (after which the promise will be rejected automatically), you can create another instance of `PromiseIpc` like so:

```js

// main process code remains the same

import promiseIpc from 'electron-promise-ipc';

promiseIpc.on('someRoute', () => {

  return someOperationThatNeverCompletesUhOh();

});

// in renderer - timeout is specified on the side that requests the data

import { PromiseIpc } from 'electron-promise-ipc';

const promiseIpc = new PromiseIpc({ maxTimeoutMs: 2000 });

promiseIpc

  .send('someRoute', '{ "name": "Jeff" }')

  .then(() => console.log('You wrote the settings!'))

  .catch((e) => console.error(e)); // will error out after 2 seconds

```

#### Removing Listeners

You can remove a listener with the `off()` method. It's aliased to `removeListener()` as well.

```js

import promiseIpc from 'electron-promise-ipc';

promiseIpc.on('someRoute', () => {

  return something();

});

promiseIpc.off('someRoute'); // never mind

```

## License

MIT