NAME
JavaScript::Shell - Run Spidermonkey shell from Perl
SYNOPSIS
use JavaScript::Shell;
use strict;
use warnings;
my $js = JavaScript::Shell->new();
##create context
my $ctx = $js->createContext();
$ctx->Set('str' => 'Hello');
$ctx->Set('getName' => sub {
my $context = shift;
my $args = shift;
my $firstname = $args->[0];
my $lastname = $args->[1];
return $firstname . ' ' . $lastname;
});
$ctx->eval(qq!
function message (){
var name = getName.apply(this,arguments);
var welcome_message = str;
return welcome_message + ' ' + name;
}
!);
my $val = $ctx->get('message' => 'Mamod', 'Mehyar')->value;
print $val . "\n"; ## prints 'Hello Mamod Mehyar'
$js->destroy();DESCRIPTION
JavaScript::Shell will turn Spidermonkey shell to an interactive environment by connecting it to perl
It will let you bind functions from perl and call them from javascript or create functions in javascript then call them from perl
WHY
While I was working on a project where I needed to connect perl with javascript I had a lot of problems with existing javascript modules, they were eaither hard to compile or out of date, and since I don't know C/C++ - creating my own perl / javascript binding wasn't an option, so I thought of this approach as an alternative.
Even though this sounds crazy to do, to my surprise it worked as expected - at least in my usgae cases
SPEED
JavaScript::Shell connect spidermonkey with perl through IPC bridge using IPC::Open2 so execution speed will never be as fast as using C/C++ bindings ported to perl directly
There is another over head when translating data types to/from perl, since it converts perl data to JSON & javascript JSON to perl data back again.
Saying that the over all speed is acceptable and you can take some steps to improve speed like
- JSON::XS
-
Make sure you have JSON::XS installed - this is important, JavaScript::Shell uses JSON::Any to parse data and it will use any available JSON parser but if you have JSON::XS installed in your system it will use it by default as it's the fastest JSON parser available
- Data Transfer
-
Try to transfer small data chunks between processes when possible, sending large data will be very slow
- Minimize calls
-
Minimize number of calls to both ends, let each part do it's processing for eaxmple:
##instead of $js->eval(qq! function East (){} function West (){} function North (){} function South (){} !); $js->call('East'); $js->call('West'); $js->call('North'); $js->call('South'); ##do this $js->eval(qq! function all () { East(); West(); North(); South(); } function East (){} function west (){} function North (){} function South (){} !); $js->call('all');
CONTEXT
Once you intiate JavaScript::Shell you can create as many contexts as you want, each context will has it's own scope and will not overlap with other created contexts.
my $js = JavaScript::Shell->new();
my $ctx = $js->createContext();You can pass a hash ref with simple data to createContext method as a sandbox object and will be copied to the context immediately
my $ctx->createContext({
Foo => 'Bar',
Foo2 => 'Bar2'
});FUNCTIONS
new
Initiates SpiderMonkey Shell
createContext
creates a new context
run
This will run javascript code in a blocking loop until you call jshell.endLoop() from your javascript code
$js->Set('Name' => 'XXX');
$js->eval(qq!
for (var i = 0; i < 100; i++){
}
jshell.endLoop();
!);
$js->run();
##will never reach this point unless we call
## jshell.endLoop(); in javascript code as above
Set
Sets/Defines javascript variables, objects and functions from perl
## set variable 'str' with Hello vales
$ctx->Set('str' => 'Hello');
## set 'arr' Array Object [1,2,3,4]
$ctx->Set('arr' => [1,2,3,4]);
## set Associated Array Object
$ctx->Set('obj' => {
str1 => 'something',
str2 => 'something ..'
});
## set 'test' function
## caller will pass 2 arguments
## 1- context object
## 2- array ref of all passed arguments
$ctx->Set('test' => sub {
my $context = shift;
my $args = shift;
return $args->[0] . ' ' . $args->[1];
});
## javascript object creation style
$ctx->Set('obj' => {});
#then
$ctx->Set('obj.name' => 'XXX');
$ctx->Set('obj.get' => sub { });
...get
get values from javascript code, returns a JavaScript::Shell::Value Object
my $ret = $ctx->get('str');
print $ret->value; ## Hello
## remember to call value to get the returned string/object
get method will search your context for a matched variable/object/function and return it's value, if the name was detected for a function in will run this function first and then returns it's return value
$ctx->get('obj.name')->value; ## XXX
##you can pass variables when trying to get a function
$ctx->get('test' => 'Hi','Bye')->value; ## Hi Bye
##get an evaled script values
$ctx->get('eval' => qq!
var n = 2;
var x = 3;
n+x;
!)->value; #--> 5
call
Calling javascript functions from perl, same as get but doesn't return any value
$ctx->call('test');eval
eval javascript code
$ctx->eval(qq!
//javascript code
var n = 10;
for(var i = 0; i<100; i++){
n += 10;
}
...
!);
onError
set error handler method, this method accepts a code ref only. When an error raised from javascript this code ref will be called with 2 arguments
JavaScript::Shell instance
error object - Hash ref
Error Hash has the folloing keys
message error message
type javascript error type: Error, TypeError, ReferenceError ..
file file name wich raised this error
line line number
stack string of the full stack trace
Setting error hnadler example
my $js = JavaScript::Shell->new();
$js->onError(sub{
my $self = shift;
my $error = shift;
print STDERR $error->{message} . ' at ' . $error->{line}
exit(0);
});destroy
Destroy javascript shell / clear context
my $js = JavaScript::Shell->new();
my $ctx->createContext();
##clear context;
$ctx->destroy();
##close spidermonkey shell
$js->destroy();LICENSE
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.16.2 or, at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.
COPYRIGHTS
Copyright (C) 2013 by Mamod A. Mehyar <mamod.mehyar@gmail.com>