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embind
embind allows binding C++ functions and classes to JavaScript so that they can be used in a natural way. embind was inspired by Boost.Python.
Imagine we want to expose a simple C++ function to JavaScript.
// quick_example.cpp
#include <emscripten/bind.h>
using namespace emscripten;
float lerp(float a, float b, float t) {
return (1 - t) * a + t * b;
}
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(my_module) {
function("lerp", &lerp);
}To compile the above example, run emcc --bind -o quick_example.js quick_example.cpp. The resulting quick_example.js file can be loaded as a script tag or a node module.
<!doctype html>
<html>
<script src="quick_example.js"></script>
<script>
document.write('lerp result: ' + Module.lerp(1, 2, 0.5));
</script>
</html>The code in the EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS block runs when the JavaScript file is initially loaded. Notice that lerp's parameter types and return type are automatically inferred by embind. All symbols exposed by embind are available on the Emscripten Module object.
Exposing classes to JavaScript requires a few more steps. An example:
class MyClass {
public:
MyClass(int x, std::string y)
: x(x)
, y(y)
{}
void incrementX() {
++x;
}
int getX() const { return x; }
void setX(int x_) { x = x_; }
static std::string getStringFromInstance(const MyClass& instance) {
return instance.y;
}
private:
int x;
std::string y;
};
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(my_class_example) {
class_<MyClass>("MyClass")
.constructor<int, std::string>()
.function("incrementX", &MyClass::incrementX)
.property("x", &MyClass::getX, &MyClass::setX)
.class_function("getStringFromInstance", &MyClass::getStringFromInstance)
;
}var instance = new Module.MyClass(10, "hello");
instance.incrementX();
instance.x; // 12
instance.x = 20; // 20
Module.MyClass.getStringFromInstance(instance); // "hello"
instance.delete();JavaScript, specifically ECMA-262 Edition 5.1, does not support finalizers or weak references with callbacks. Thus, JavaScript code must explicitly delete any C++ object handles it has received. Otherwise the Emscripten heap will grow indefinitely.
var x = new Module.MyClass;
x.method();
x.delete();
var y = Module.myFunctionThatReturnsClassInstance();
y.method();
y.delete();Imagine a common, small data type, like Point2f. Because manual memory management for basic types is onerous, embind provides support for value types. Value arrays are converted to and from JavaScript Arrays and value objects are converted to and from JavaScript Objects.
struct Point2f {
float x;
float y;
};
struct PersonRecord {
std::string name;
int age;
};
PersonRecord findPersonAtLocation(Point2f);
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(my_value_example) {
value_array<Point2f>("Point2f")
.element(&Point2f::x)
.element(&Point2f::y)
;
value_object<PersonRecord>("PersonRecord")
.field("name", &PersonRecord::name)
.field("age", &PersonRecord::age)
;
function("findPersonAtLocation", &findPersonAtLocation);
}The JavaScript code needs not worry about lifetime management.
var person = Module.findPersonAtLocation([10.2, 156.5]);
console.log('Found someone! Their name is ' + person.name + ' and they are ' + person.age + ' years old');Because raw pointers have unclear lifetime semantics, embind requires their use to be marked with allow_raw_pointers().
class C {};
C* passThrough(C* ptr) { return ptr; }
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(raw_pointers) {
class_<C>("C");
function("passThrough", &passThrough, allow_raw_pointers());
}There are two ways to specify constructors on a class. The zero-argument template form invokes the natural constructor with the arguments specified in the template. However, if you pass a function pointer as the constructor, then invoking new from JavaScript calls said function and returns its result.
class C {}; // probably want to override operator delete
C* getInstanceFromPool() {
return pool.get();
}
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(external_constructors) {
class_<C>("C")
.constructor(&getInstanceFromPool)
;
}To manage object lifetime with smart pointers, embind must be told about the smart pointer type. For example, imagine managing a class C's lifetime with std::shared_ptr.
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(smart_pointers) {
class_<C>("C")
.constructor<>()
.smart_ptr<std::shared_ptr<C>>()
;
}At this point, functions can return std::shared_ptr<C> or take std::shared_ptr<C> as arguments. However, new Module.C() would still return a raw pointer.
To return a shared_ptr<C> from the constructor, write the following instead:
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(better_smart_pointers) {
class_<C>("C")
.smart_ptr_constructor(&std::make_shared<C>)
;
}smart_ptr_constructor automatically registers the smart pointer type.
embind has built-in support for return values of type std::unique_ptr.
To teach embind about custom smart pointer templates, specialize the smart_ptr_trait template. See bind.h for details and an example.
Methods on the JavaScript class prototype can be non-member functions, as long as the instance handle can be converted to the first argument of the non-member function. The classic example is when the function exposed to JavaScript does not exactly match the behavior of a C++ method.
struct Array10 {
int& get(size_t index) {
return data[index];
}
int data[10];
};
val Array10_get(Array10& arr, size_t index) {
if (index < 10) {
return val(arr.get(index));
} else {
return val::undefined();
}
}
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(non_member_functions) {
class_<Array10>("Array10")
.function("get", &Array10_get)
;
}If JavaScript calls Array10.prototype.get with an invalid index, it will return undefined.
If C++ classes have virtual or abstract member functions, it's possible to override them in JavaScript. Because JavaScript has no knowledge of the C++ vtable, embind needs a bit of glue code to convert C++ virtual function calls into JavaScript calls.
Let's begin with the simpler case: pure virtual functions that must be implemented in JavaScript.
struct Interface {
virtual void invoke(const std::string& str) = 0;
};
struct InterfaceWrapper : public wrapper<Interface> {
EMSCRIPTEN_WRAPPER(InterfaceWrapper);
void invoke(const std::string& str) {
return call<void>("invoke", str);
}
};
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(interface) {
class_<Interface>("Interface")
.function("invoke", &Interface::invoke)
.allow_subclass<InterfaceWrapper>()
;
}allow_subclass adds a special implement method to Interface so invoke can be implemented in JavaScript.
var x = {
invoke: function(str) {
console.log('invoking with: ' + str);
}
};
var interfaceObject = Module.Interface.implement(x);Now interfaceObject can be passed to any function that takes an Interface pointer.
If a C++ class has a non-pure virtual function, it can be overridden but does not have to be. This requires a slightly different wrapper implementation:
struct Base {
virtual void invoke(const std::string& str) {
}
};
struct BaseWrapper : public wrapper<Base> {
EMSCRIPTEN_WRAPPER(BaseWrapper);
void invoke(const std::string& str) {
return optional_call<void>("invoke", [&] {
return Base::invoke(str);
}, str);
}
};
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(interface) {
class_<Base>("Base")
.function("invoke", &Base::invoke)
.allow_subclass<BaseWrapper>()
;
}When implementing Base with a JavaScript object, overriding invoke is optional.
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(base_example) {
class_<BaseClass>("BaseClass");
class_<DerivedClass, base<BaseClass>>("DerivedClass");
}Any member functions defined on BaseClass are then accessible to instances of DerivedClass. In addition, any function that accepts an instance of BaseClass can be given an instance of DerivedClass.
If a C++ class is polymorphic (that is, it has a virtual method), then embind supports automatic downcasting of function return values.
class Base { virtual ~Base() {} }; // the virtual makes Base and Derived polymorphic
class Derived : public Base {};
Base* getDerivedInstance() {
return new Derived;
}
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(automatic_downcasting) {
class_<Base>("Base");
class_<Derived, base<Base>>("Derived");
function("getDerivedInstance", &getDerivedInstance, allow_raw_pointers());
}Calling Module.getDerivedInstance from JavaScript will return a Derived instance handle from which all of Derived's methods are available.
Note that the embind must understand the fully-derived type for automatic downcasting to work.
Constructors and functions can be overloaded on the number of arguments. embind does not support overloading based on type. When specifying an overload, use the select_overload helper function to select the appropriate signature.
struct HasOverloadedMethods {
void foo();
void foo(int i);
void foo(float f) const;
};
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDING(overloads) {
class_<HasOverloadedMethods>("HasOverloadedMethods")
.function("foo", select_overload<void()>(&HasOverloadedMethods::foo))
.function("foo_int", select_overload<void(int)>(&HasOverloadedMethods::foo))
.function("foo_float", select_overload<void(float)const>(&HasOverloadedMethods::foo))
;
}embind's enumeration support works with both C++98 enums and C++11 "enum classes".
enum OldStyle {
OLD_STYLE_ONE,
OLD_STYLE_TWO
};
enum class NewStyle {
ONE,
TWO
};
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(my_enum_example) {
enum_<OldStyle>("OldStyle")
.value("ONE", OLD_STYLE_ONE)
.value("TWO", OLD_STYLE_TWO)
;
enum_<NewStyle>("NewStyle")
.value("ONE", NewStyle::ONE)
.value("TWO", NewStyle::TWO)
;
}In both cases, JavaScript accesses enumeration values as properties of the type.
Module.OldStyle.ONE;
Module.NewStyle.TWO;To expose a C++ constant to JavaScript, simply write:
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(my_constant_example) {
constant("SOME_CONSTANT", SOME_CONSTANT);
}SOME_CONSTANT can have any type known to embind.
emscripten::val is a data type that represents any JavaScript object.
val::array() creates a new Array.
val::object() creates a new Object.
val::null() creates a val that represents null. val::undefined() is the same, but for undefined.
val::global(const char* name) looks up a global symbol.
val::module_property(const char* name) looks up a symbol on the emscripten Module object.
Otherwise a val can be constructed by explicit construction from any C++ type. For example, val(true) or val(std::string("foo")).
We can use val to transliterate JavaScript code to C++. Here is the JavaScript.
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest;
xhr.open("GET", "http://url");val xhr = val::global("XMLHttpRequest").new_();
xhr.call("open", std::string("GET"), std::string("http://url"));Out of the box, embind provides converters for many standard C++ types:
| C++ type | JavaScript type |
|---|---|
| void | undefined |
| bool | true or false |
| char | Number |
| signed char | Number |
| unsigned char | Number |
| short | Number |
| unsigned short | Number |
| int | Number |
| unsigned int | Number |
| long | Number |
| unsigned long | Number |
| float | Number |
| double | Number |
| std::string | ArrayBuffer, Uint8Array, Int8Array, or String |
| std::wstring | String (UTF-16 code units) |
| emscripten::val | anything |
For convenience, embind provides factory functions to register std::vector and std::map<K, V> types:
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(stl_wrappers) {
register_vector<int>("VectorInt");
register_map<int,int>("MapIntInt");
}[TODO: Jukka, want to flesh this out?]
- global variables
- class static variables
[TODO]