brillo

Brillo

Simple electron IPC using promises

Here's a simple example - register some main actions:

/** MAIN PROCESS **/
import { brilloMain } from 'brillo';

brilloMain.register({
  async mainAction() {
    return 5 + 5;
  }
});

Then call that action from the renderer and wait for a response:

/** RENDERER PROCESS **/
import { brilloRenderer } from 'brillo';

brilloRenderer.talk('mainAction').then(response => {
  console.log(response); // outputs '10'
});

Easy-peasy.

Install

Brillo requires electron as a peer dependency (version >= 6).

# yarn
yarn add -D electron
yarn add brillo

# npm
npm install -D electron
npm install -S brillo

brilloMain

brilloMain.register(actions)

• actions Object - set of methods you can 'talk' to from a renderer

Note: Actions must return a promise.

import { brilloMain } from 'brillo';

brilloMain.register({
  async action1() {},
  async action2() {},
});

brilloMain.talk(action, payload, window)

• action String - name of brilloRenderer action
• payload Any - data subject to same limitations as electron's IPC modules
• window BrowserWindow instance (optional) - send message to one window only (defaults to all open windows)

Returns a promise.

import { brilloMain } from 'brillo';
import { BrowserWindow } from 'electron';

const win = new BrowserWindow();

brilloMain.talk('rendererAction', 'someData', win)
  .then(response => console.log(response));

brilloRenderer

brilloRenderer.register(actions)

• actions Object - set of methods you can 'talk' to from the main process

Note: Actions must return a promise

import { brilloRenderer } from 'brillo';

brilloRenderer.register({
  async action1() {},
  async action2() {},
});

brilloRenderer.talk(action, payload)

• action String - name of brilloMain action
• payload Any - data subject to same limitations as electron's IPC modules

Returns a promise.

import { brilloRenderer } from 'brillo';

brilloRenderer.talk('mainAction', 'someData')
  .then(response => console.log(response));

A somewhat practical example

From the main process, set up a resource for the renderer to 'talk' to:

/** MAIN PROCESS **/
import { brilloMain } from 'electron';

brilloMain.register({
  async getUser({ id }) {
    return await getUserById(id);
  },
});

Now let's call that resource from the renderer:

/** RENDERER PROCESS **/
import React, { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import { brilloRenderer } from 'brillo';

export function ShowUser() {
  const [user, setUser] = useState(null);
  useEffect(() => {
    brilloRenderer.talk('getUser', { id: 15 })
      .then(setUser);
  }, []);

  return user ? (
    <div>
      {user.name} has loaded successfully!
    </div>
  ) : (
    <div>
      No user yet!
    </div>
  ); 
}

Helpful tips

Make some constant helpers

Since IDE's can't 'intellisense' strings, remembering and typing action names can be error-prone. Instead, create a list of helpers in a shared file that you can access from both your main and renderer processes:

// shared.js
const actions = {
  getUser: 'getUser',
  getProfile: 'getProfile',
};

// main.js
import { brilloMain } from 'brillo';
import { actions } from './shared';

brilloMain.register({
  [actions.getUser]: async (id) => {
    return await getUser(id);
  }
});

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.