LucidJS

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NOTE: This is release marks a very large change to LucidJS, becoming fully prototypal, aswell as matching node's EventEmitter api. Don't worry, all of the functionallity of the 2.x.x releases can be found in this release aswell. The benifits of this release is that the emitter can now be inherited from, and you can use it in projects that currently use node's emitter by simply changing your require statement.

##Decouple components, make them lucid.

LucidJS is an event emitter library offering several unique features such as set events, emitter piping, sub events, along with the usual event triggering and binding. LucidJS emitters also feature meta events that allow listening for event binding and event triggering.

It works with AMD loaders, on NodeJS, and with the good old script tag.

###Set Events

LucidJS emitters have a method called .set(). Set allows you to bind to an event even after it has happened.

var emitter = new lucidJS.EventEmitter();
emitter.flag('ready');
console.log('fired ready event');
setTimeout(function() {
  emitter.bind('ready', function() {
    console.log('listener bound and executed after ready event');
  });
}, 2000);

>>> fired ready event
>>> listener bound and executed after ready event

Set is extremely useful for events that only happen once and indicate state. Its the perfect solution for load, complete or ready events.

###Emitter Piping

Sometimes its nice to have a collection of emitters and a central emitter to aggregate them. This is possible with LucidJS emitters.

var centralEmitter = new lucidJS.EventEmitter();
var emitterA = new lucidJS.EventEmitter();
var emitterB = new lucidJS.EventEmitter();
var emitterC = new lucidJS.EventEmitter();

//pipe the foo event from emitter A
emitterA.pipe('foo', centralEmitter);

//pipe the bar and baz event from emitter B
emitterB.pipe(['bar', 'baz'], centralEmitter);

//pipe all events from emitter C
emitterC.pipe(centralEmitter);

###Sub Events

Ever wish you could have events with sub events? LucidJS makes this possible. Trigger an event called foo.bar.baz will trigger foo.bar.baz, foo.bar, and foo.

var emitter = new lucidJS.EventEmitter();
emitter.bind('foo.bar', function() {
  console.log('foo.bar');
});
emitter.bind('foo', function() {
  console.log('foo');
});
emitter.emit('foo.bar.baz');

>>> 'foo.bar'
>>> 'foo'

###Simple Events

Along with all the tasty bits above LucidJS emitters are also very good at good old regular event passing.

var emitter = new lucidJS.EventEmitter();
emitter.bind('foo', function(arg1, arg2, arg3, arg4, arg5, arg6, arg7) {
  console.log([arg1, arg2, arg3, arg4, arg5, arg6, arg7].join(' '));
});
emitter.emit('foo', 'any', 'number', 'of', 'arguments', 'can', 'be', 'passed');

>>> 'any number of arguments can be passed'

###Meta Events

LucidJS each emitter also emits a set of meta events that let you listen for new listeners on an emitter.

var emitter = new lucidJS.EventEmitter();
emitter.bind('emitter.listener', function(listener) {
  console.log('captured listener', listener, 'on event ' + this.event);
});
emitter.bind('foo', function() { console.log('bar'); });

>>> 'captured listeners' function() { console.log('bar'); } 'on event foo'

You can event listen to all of the events emitted by an emitter.

var emitter = new lucidJS.EventEmitter();
emitter.bind('emitter.event', function(event) {
  console.log('captured event ' + event);
});
emitter.emit('foo');

>>> 'captured event foo'

Class: lucidJS.EventEmitter

var eventEmitter = new lucidJS.EventEmitter();

EventEmitter is a drop in replacement for node's event emitter. An event emitter can be created by simply using the new keyword.

eventEmitter.bind(event, listener)

To bind to an event you can use bind(), or its aliases addListener() and addListener(). It accepts two arguments; An event, or array of events, and a callback, or an array of callbacks. Listeners are always triggered in the order they are registered. The eventEmitter is returned.

Aliases

• eventEmitter.addListener
• eventEmitter.on

Arguments

eventEmitter.bind(String event, Function listener([arg[, arg[, ...]])) => EventEmitter eventEmitter
eventEmitter.bind(Array events, Function listener([arg[, arg[, ...]])) => EventEmitter eventEmitter
eventEmitter.bind(String event, Array listeners) => EventEmitter eventEmitter
eventEmitter.bind(Array events, Array listeners) => EventEmitter eventEmitter

eventEmitter.weakBind(event, listener)

Similar to bind(), weakBind() binds a listener to an event, however, weakBind() automatically unbinds its listener after its event is fired just once. Listeners are always triggered in the order they are registered. The eventEmitter is returned.

Aliases

• eventEmitter.once

Arguments

eventEmitter.weakBind(String event, Function listener([arg[, arg[, ...]])) => EventEmitter eventEmitter
eventEmitter.weakBind(Array events, Function listener([arg[, arg[, ...]])) => EventEmitter eventEmitter
eventEmitter.weakBind(String event, Array listeners) => EventEmitter eventEmitter
eventEmitter.weakBind(Array events, Array listeners) => EventEmitter eventEmitter

eventEmitter.unbind(event, listener)

Unbinds a listener, or an array of listeners from an event, or events. Once a listener is unbound from an event, it will no longer fire when the event is dispatched. The eventEmitter is returned.

Aliases

• eventEmitter.removeListener
• eventEmitter.off

Arguments

eventEmitter.unbind(String event, Function listener([arg[, arg[, ...]])) => EventEmitter eventEmitter
eventEmitter.unbind(Array events, Function listener([arg[, arg[, ...]])) => EventEmitter eventEmitter
eventEmitter.unbind(String event, Array listeners) => EventEmitter eventEmitter
eventEmitter.unbind(Array events, Array listeners) => EventEmitter eventEmitter

eventEmitter.emit(event, [arg[, arg[, ...]]])

Dispatching events is done with emit(), or its alias trigger(). Any listeners bound to the event passed will be triggered immediately. Any additional arguments are passed to the listeners. Listeners are always triggered in the order they are registered. The eventEmitter is returned.

Aliases

• eventEmitter.trigger

Arguments

eventEmitter.emit(String event, [* arg[, * arg[, ...]]]) => EventEmitter eventEmitter
eventEmitter.emit(Array events, [* arg[, * arg[, ...]]]) => EventEmitter eventEmitter

eventEmitter.flag(event, [arg[, arg[, ...]]])

Flags an event on an emitter. A setting a flag will immediately trigger any event listeners bound prior to calling flag. Any listeners bound after the flag is set will be triggered immediately after they are bound. Any additional arguments are passed to the listeners. The eventEmitter is returned.

Arguments

eventEmitter.flag(String event, [* arg[, * arg[, ...]]]) => EventEmitter eventEmitter
eventEmitter.flag(Array events, [* arg[, * arg[, ...]]]) => EventEmitter eventEmitter

eventEmitter.unflag(event)

Arguments

eventEmitter.pipe([event], eventEmitter)

Arguments

eventEmitter.unpipe([event], eventEmitter)

Arguments

eventEmitter.listeners([event])

Arguments

eventEmitter.unbindAll([event])

Aliases

• eventEmitter.removeAllListeners

Arguments

A Foot Note

If you like my library feel free to use it however you want. If you wish to contribute to LucidJS please feel free to send me a pull request or make your own fork. Commentary is welcome on any of my projects.

Cheers and happy coding.