Javascript and Node Code Generators
There are two javascript code generators, node
and javascript
. There are two
differences between the two: the javascript
code generator when called to
output an HTML file will also generate a basic HTML document with the
generated code inside a <script>
tag; the other distinction is on the ffi
that will be explained below.
Javascript FFI Specifiers
There are three main kinds of javascript ffi specifiers javascript
,
node
and browser
. javascript
is for foreigns that are available on
node and the browser, node
for foreigns that are only available on node and
browser
for browser only foreigns.
For node
there are two ways of defining a foreign:
%foreign "node:lambda: n => process.env[n]"
prim_getEnv : String -> PrimIO (Ptr String)
here lambda
means that we are providing the definition as a lambda
expression.
%foreign "node:lambda:fp=>require('fs').fstatSync(fp.fd, {bigint: false}).size"
prim__fileSize : FilePtr -> PrimIO Int
require
can be used to import javascript modules.
For completion below an example of a foreign available only with browser
codegen:
%foreign "browser:lambda:x=>{document.body.innerHTML = x}"
prim__setBodyInnerHTML : String -> PrimIO ()
Short Example
An interesting example is creating a foreign for the setTimeout function:
%foreign "javascript:lambda:(callback, delay)=>setTimeout(callback, delay)"
prim__setTimeout : (PrimIO ()) -> Int -> PrimIO ()
setTimeout : HasIO io => IO () -> Int -> io ()
setTimeout callback delay = primIO $ prim__setTimeout (toPrim callback) delay
Note: Previous versions of the javascript backends treated Int
as a
64 bit signed integer represented by BigInt
in javascript land. This is no
longer the case: Int
is now treated as a 32 bit signed integer represented
by Number
. This should facilitate interop between Idris2 and the backend.
However, unless you have good reasons to do otherwise, consider using
one of the other fixed precision integral types. They are supposed to behave
the same across all backends. All signed and unsigned integrals of up to
32 bit precision (Int8
, Int16
, Int32
, Bits8
, Bits16
, and Bits32
)
are represented by Number
while Int64
, Bits64
, and Integer
are represented by BigInt
. The example above could therefore be
improved by using Int32
instead of Int
:
%foreign "javascript:lambda:(callback, delay)=>setTimeout(callback, delay)"
prim__setTimeout : (PrimIO ()) -> Int32 -> PrimIO ()
setTimeout : HasIO io => IO () -> Int32 -> io ()
setTimeout callback delay = primIO $ prim__setTimeout (toPrim callback) delay
Browser Example
To build JavaScript aimed to use in the browser, the code must be compiled with the javascript codegen option. The compiler produces a JavaScript or an HTML file. The browser needs an HTML file to load. This HTML file can be created in two ways
If the
.html
suffix is given to the output file the compiler generates an HTML file which includes a wrapping around the generated JavaScript.If no
.html
suffix is given, the generated file only contains the JavaScript code. In this case manual wrapping is needed.
Example of the wrapper HTML:
<html>
<head><meta charset='utf-8'></head>
<body>
<script type='text/javascript'>
JS code goes here
</script>
</body>
</html>
As our intention is to develop something that runs in the browser questions naturally arise:
How to interact with HTML elements?
More importantly, when does the generated Idris code start?
Starting point of the Idris generated code
The generated JavaScript for your program contains an entry point. The main
function is compiled
to a JavaScript top-level expression, which will be evaluated during the loading of the script
tag and that is the entry point for Idris generated program starting in the browser.
Interaction with HTML elements
As sketched in the Short Example section, the FFI must be used when interaction happens between Idris
generated code and the rest of the Browser/JS ecosystem. Information handled by the FFI is
separated into two categories. Primitive types in Idris FFI, such as Int, and everything else.
The everything else part is accessed via AnyPtr. The %foreign
construction should be used
to give implementation on the JavaScript side. And an Idris function declaration to give Type
declaration on the Idris side. The syntax is %foreign "browser:lambda:js-lambda-expression"
.
On the Idris side, primitive types and PrimIO t
types should be used as parameters,
when defining %foreign
. This declaration is a helper function which needs to be called
behind the primIO
function. More on this can be found in the FFI chapter.
Examples for JavaScript FFI
console.log
%foreign "browser:lambda: x => console.log(x)"
prim__consoleLog : String -> PrimIO ()
consoleLog : HasIO io => String -> io ()
consoleLog x = primIO $ prim__consoleLog x
String is a primitive type in Idris and it is represented as a JavaScript String. There is no need for any conversion between the Idris and the JavaScript.
setInterval
%foreign "browser:lambda: (a,i)=>setInterval(a,i)"
prim__setInterval : PrimIO () -> Int32 -> PrimIO ()
setInterval : (HasIO io) => IO () -> Int32 -> io ()
setInterval a i = primIO $ prim__setInterval (toPrim a) i
The setInterval
JavaScript function executes the given function in every x
millisecond.
We can use Idris generated functions in the callback as far as they have the type IO ()
.
HTML Dom elements
Lets turn our attention to the Dom elements and events. As said above, anything that is not a
primitive type should be handled via the AnyPtr
type in the FFI. Anything complex that is
returned by a JavaScript function should be captured in an AnyPtr
value. It is advisory to
separate the AnyPtr
values into categories.
data DomNode = MkNode AnyPtr
%foreign "browser:lambda: () => document.body"
prim__body : () -> PrimIO AnyPtr
body : HasIO io => io DomNode
body = map MkNode $ primIO $ prim__body ()
We create a DomNode
type which holds an AnyPtr
. The prim__body
function wraps a
lambda function with no parameters. In the Idris function body
we pass an extra ()
parameter
and the we wrap the result in the DomNode
type using the MkNode
data constructor.
Primitive values originated in JavaScript
As a countinuation of the previous example, the width
attribute of a DOM element can be
retrieved via the FFI.
%foreign "browser:lambda: n=>(n.width)"
prim__width : AnyPtr -> PrimIO Bits32
width : HasIO io => DomNode -> io Bits32
width (MkNode p) = primIO $ prim__width p
Handling JavaScript events
data DomEvent = MkEvent AnyPtr
%foreign "browser:lambda: (event, callback, node) => node.addEventListener(event, x=>callback(x)())"
prim__addEventListener : String -> (AnyPtr -> PrimIO ()) -> AnyPtr -> PrimIO ()
addEventListener : HasIO io => String -> DomNode -> (DomEvent -> IO ()) -> io ()
addEventListener event (MkNode n) callback =
primIO $ prim__addEventListener event (\ptr => toPrim $ callback $ MkEvent ptr) n
In this example shows how to attach an event handler to a particular DOM element. Values of events
are also associated with AnyPtr
on the Idris side. To separate DomNode
form DomEvent
we create two different types. Also it demonstrates how a simple callback function defined in
Idris can be used on the JavaScript side.
Directives
The javascript code generators accepts three different directives
about how compact and obfusacted the generated code should be.
The following examples show the code generated for the putStr
function from the prelude for each of the three directives.
(--cg node
is used in the examples below, but the behavior is
the same when generating code to be run in browsers with --cg javascript
).
With idris2 --cg node --directive pretty
(the default, if no directive is
given), a basic pretty printer is used to generate properly indented
javascript code.
function Prelude_IO_putStr($0, $1) {
return $0.a2(undefined)($7 => Prelude_IO_prim__putStr($1, $7));
}
With idris2 --cg node --directive compact
, every toplevel function
is declared on a single line, and unneeded spaces are removed:
function Prelude_IO_putStr($0,$1){return $0.a2(undefined)($7=>Prelude_IO_prim__putStr($1,$7));}
Finally, with idris2 --cg node --directive minimal
, toplevel function
names are (with a few exceptions like the ones from the static
preamble) obfuscated to reduce the size of the generated javascript
file:
function $R3a($0,$1){return $0.a2(undefined)($7=>$R3b($1,$7));}