BlinkHub Emitter

A type-safe event emitter library built with TypeScript, which provides an interface for subscribing to and emitting events.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Basic Usage
  • Defining Events and Their Types
  • Subscribing to Events
  • Emitting Events
  • Unsubscribing from Events
• Advanced Features
  • The once method
  • Subscribing to Events with Delay
  • Subscribing to Multiple Events
  • Emitter with Priority
  • Channel-Based Event Handling
  • Error Handling
• Use Case Examples
  • Simple Notification System
  • E-Commerce Cart System
• Additional Information
  • FAQ for React Developers
  • Link to React Example

Installation

npm i blink-hub

Basic Usage

Defining Events and Their Types

To use the Emitter, you first need to define the types for your events:

type MyEvents = {
  eventName: (arg1: string, arg2: string) => void;
  anotherEvent: (data: number) => void;
};

Subscribing to Events

Now, you can create an instance of the Emitter and subscribe to events:

const emitter = new Emitter<MyEvents>();

const unsubscribe = emitter.subscribe('eventName', (arg1: string, arg2: string) => {
    console.log(`Received ${arg1} and ${arg2}`);
});

Emitting Events

You can emit events while ensuring the types of the emitted values match the expected ones:

emitter.emit('eventName', 'Hello', 'World'); // Outputs: Received Hello and World

Unsubscribing from Events

To remove a listener from an event:

unsubscribe(); // This will remove the callback from the event listeners.

The once Method

The once method allows listeners to be invoked only once for the specified event. After the event has been emitted and the listener invoked, the listener is automatically removed. This can be useful for scenarios where you need to react to an event just a single time, rather than every time it's emitted.

type UserEvents = {
  userFirstLogin: (username: string) => void;
};

const userEmitter = new Emitter<UserEvents>();

userEmitter.once('userFirstLogin', (username: string): void => {
    console.log(`${username} has logged in for the first time!`);
});

userEmitter.emit('userFirstLogin', 'Alice'); // Outputs: Alice has logged in for the first time!
userEmitter.emit('userFirstLogin', 'Alice'); // No output, as the listener has been removed.

Note:

If an error occurs within a callback registered with once, the callback will not be re-invoked for subsequent events. Always handle errors adequately to prevent unforeseen behavior.

Subscribing to Events with Delay

The subscribeWithDelay method allows you to subscribe to an event with a specified delay. This means the callback function will only be executed after the delay period has passed, following the event emission.

const emitter = new Emitter<TestEvents>();

// Subscribe to an event with a delay
const delay = 1000; // Delay in milliseconds (1000ms = 1 second)
emitter.subscribeWithDelay('testEvent', (data: string) => {
    console.log(`Received (after delay): ${data}`);
}, delay);

// Emit the event
emitter.emit('testEvent', 'Delayed Message');
// The callback will be executed after 1 second

This is particularly useful in scenarios where you want to defer the execution of an event handler, such as debouncing user input or delaying a notification.

Subscribing to Multiple Events

The subscribeList method allows you to subscribe to multiple events at once, providing a convenient way to manage event listeners when you need to react to different events with the same or different callbacks.

Usage To subscribe to multiple events, pass an object to subscribeList where keys are event names and values are the corresponding callback functions:

type UserEvents = {
  userLoggedIn: (username: string) => void;
  userLoggedOut: (username: string) => void;
  userProfileUpdated: (username: string, updateInfo: string) => void;
};

const userEmitter = new Emitter<UserEvents>();

// Subscribe to user-related events
const unsubscribe = userEmitter.subscribeList({
  userLoggedIn: (username: string) => console.log(`${username} logged in`),
  userLoggedOut: (username: string) => console.log(`${username} logged out`),
  userProfileUpdated: (username: string, updateInfo: string) => 
          console.log(`User ${username} updated their profile: ${updateInfo}`)
});

// Emit events based on user activity
userEmitter.emit('userLoggedIn', 'Alice');
userEmitter.emit('userProfileUpdated', 'Alice', 'Changed profile picture');
userEmitter.emit('userLoggedOut', 'Alice');

To unsubscribe from the user events:

unsubscribe();

Error Handling

If an error occurs within a callback, the emitter will catch it and log it to the console. The emitter also pushes a null value to the results array in case of errors, though this behavior can be customized.

emitter.subscribe('eventName', () => {
    throw new Error('Oops!');
});

emitter.emit('eventName', 'Test', 'Error'); // Outputs: Error in callback for event 'eventName'

Use Case Examples

Simple Notification System

Imagine a system where various components need to be notified when a user logs in or logs out.

First, define the events:

type UserEvents = {
  userLoggedIn: (username: string, time: Date) => void;
  userLoggedOut: (username: string) => void;
};

Then, create an instance of the Emitter:

const userEmitter = new Emitter<UserEvents>();

Components can now subscribe to these events:

// Notify components about user's login
userEmitter.subscribe('userLoggedIn', (username: string, time: Date) => {
    console.log(`${username} logged in at ${time.toLocaleTimeString()}`);
});

// Notify components about user's logout
userEmitter.subscribe('userLoggedOut', (username: string) => {
    console.log(`${username} has logged out.`);
});

Emitting the events when a user logs in or out:

userEmitter.emit('userLoggedIn', 'Alice', new Date());
userEmitter.emit('userLoggedOut', 'Alice');

E-Commerce Cart System

Consider an e-commerce application where you might want to listen for events related to items being added or removed from a cart.

Define your events:

type CartEvents = {
  itemAdded: (itemName: string, quantity: number) => void;
  itemRemoved: (itemName: string) => void;
};

Create an instance and subscribe to the events:

const cartEmitter = new Emitter<CartEvents>();

cartEmitter.subscribe('itemAdded', (itemName: string, quantity: number) => {
    console.log(`Added ${quantity} of ${itemName} to the cart.`);
});

cartEmitter.subscribe('itemRemoved', (itemName: string) => {
    console.log(`${itemName} has been removed from the cart.`);
});

When items are added or removed from the cart:

cartEmitter.emit('itemAdded', 'Laptop', 1);
cartEmitter.emit('itemRemoved', 'Laptop');

Emitter with Priority

The Emitter now supports priority-based event handling. You can specify priorities when subscribing to events, ensuring that listeners with higher priorities are called before those with lower ones. For example, in a logging system, critical error handlers might have a higher priority than general logging handlers.

Here's how to use priority handling:

type TestEvents = {
  testEvent: (val: string) => string;
};

const emitter = new Emitter<TestEvents>();

const results: string[] = [];

emitter.subscribe('testEvent', (val: string) => {
    results.push('Default Priority');
    return val;
});

emitter.subscribe('testEvent', (val: string) => {
    results.push('Higher Priority');
    return val;
}, 10);

emitter.subscribe('testEvent', (val: string) => {
    results.push('Lower Priority');
    return val;
}, -10);

emitter.emit('testEvent', 'some value');

console.log(results);
// The expected order in results should be: ['Higher Priority', 'Default Priority', 'Lower Priority']

Channel-Based Event Handling

The Emitter also supports channel-based event handling, allowing for more granular control over event propagation and listener management.

Defining Channels

Channels can be created to group specific event types or to separate event handling logic for different parts of an application:

type ChannelEvents = {
  channelEvent: (message: string) => void;
};

const emitter = new Emitter<ChannelEvents>();
const chatChannel = emitter.channel('chat');
const notificationChannel = emitter.channel('notification');

Subscribing to Channel Events

Listeners can subscribe to events within a specific channel, which is isolated from the global emitter and other channels:

chatChannel.subscribe('channelEvent', (message: string) => {
    console.log(`New chat message: ${message}`);
});

notificationChannel.subscribe('channelEvent', (message: string) => {
    console.log(`New notification: ${message}`);
});

Emitting Channel Events

Events can be emitted on specific channels without affecting listeners on other channels:

chatChannel.emit('channelEvent', 'Hello, World!'); 
// Outputs: New chat message: Hello, World!
notificationChannel.emit('channelEvent', 'You have 3 new notifications!'); 
// Outputs: New notification: You have 3 new notifications!

This channel-based approach ensures that events are handled only by the listeners that are relevant to the particular context or module, improving modularity and maintainability.

Additional Information

FAQ for React developers

Why You Might Choose Event Emitters Over Context in React?

Note: Same reasons can/may apply for all framework/libraries.

While React's Context API offers a powerful way to manage and propagate state changes through your component tree, there are scenarios where an event emitter might be a more appropriate choice. Below, we detail some reasons why developers might opt for event emitters in certain situations.

• Granularity

  • Event emitters allow you to listen to very specific events. With the Context API, any component consuming the context will re-render when the context value changes. If you're looking to react to specific events rather than broad state changes, an event emitter could be more suitable.

• Decoupling

  • Event emitters facilitate a decoupled architecture. Components or services can emit events without knowing or caring about the listeners. This can lead to more modular and maintainable code, particularly in larger applications.

• Cross-Framework Compatibility

  • In environments where different parts of your application use different frameworks or vanilla JavaScript, event emitters can provide a unified communication channel across these segments.

• Multiple Listeners

  • Event emitters inherently support having multiple listeners for a single event. This can be leveraged to trigger various side effects from one event, whereas with Context API, this would need manual management.

• Deeply Nested Components

  • In applications with deeply nested component structures, prop-drilling or managing context might become cumbersome. Event emitters can be an alternative to simplify state and event management in such cases.

• Historical Reasons

  • Older codebases developed before the advent of hooks and the newer Context API features might still employ event emitters, as they once provided a simpler solution to global state management in React.

• Performance

  • Event emitters might provide a performance edge in cases where the Context API might cause unnecessary re-renders. Since event emitters don't inherently lead to re-renders, they can be more performant in specific scenarios.

• Non-UI Logic

  • For parts of your application logic that reside outside the React component tree, event emitters can be beneficial, as they aren't tied to React's lifecycle or component hierarchy.

Link to React Example

For a practical use case in React using the BlinkHub Emitter, see the React example on GitHub.