What is growl?
The growl npm package allows for sending notifications to the desktop environment from a Node.js application. It works across different operating systems, providing a simple way to display alerts, information, or errors directly to the user's desktop.
What are growl's main functionalities?
Basic Notification
This code sends a basic notification with the message 'Hello World' to the user's desktop. It's the simplest form of notification, showcasing the ease of use of the growl package.
require('growl')('Hello World');
Notification with Title
This example demonstrates how to send a notification that includes a title. The title helps to provide context or categorize the notification.
require('growl')('Message with title', { title: 'Notification Title' });
Notification with Options
This code snippet shows how to send a notification with additional options. In this case, the notification is made sticky, meaning it will remain visible until the user interacts with it, and it's labeled as 'Reminder'.
require('growl')('Sticky notification', { sticky: true, label: 'Reminder' });
Other packages similar to growl
node-notifier
node-notifier is a more versatile package than growl, offering a broader range of notification options and greater customization. It supports Windows Toasters, macOS Notification Center, and Linux notifications, making it a strong alternative with cross-platform capabilities.
noty
noty is primarily focused on web notifications rather than desktop notifications. It provides a flexible way to display notifications on web pages with various styles and options. While it serves a different context, it's an alternative for users looking to notify within web applications.
Growl for nodejs
Growl support for Nodejs. This is essentially a port of my Ruby Growl Library.
Installation
Install the Kiwi package manager for nodejs
and run:
$ kiwi -v install growl
Examples
Callback functions are optional
var growl = require('growl')
growl.notify('You have mail!')
growl.notify('5 new messages', { sticky: true })
growl.notify('5 new emails', { title: 'Email Client', image: 'Safari', sticky: true })
growl.notify('Show Safari icon', { image: 'Safari' })
growl.notify('Show icon', { image: 'path/to/icon.icns' })
growl.notify('Show image', { image: 'path/to/my.image.png' })
growl.notify('Show png filesystem icon', { image: 'png' })
growl.notify('Show pdf filesystem icon', { image: 'article.pdf' })
growl.notify('Show pdf filesystem icon', { image: 'article.pdf' }, function(){
// ... notified
})
Options
- title
- name
- sticky
- weither or not the notification should remainin until closed
- image
- Auto-detects the context:
- path to an icon sets --iconpath
- path to an image sets --image
- capitalized word sets --appIcon
- filename uses extname as --icon
- otherwise treated as --icon
Fetch the current version of 'growlnotify':
growl.binVersion(function(err, version){ ... })
// => 'n.n.n'
License
(The MIT License)
Copyright (c) 2009 TJ Holowaychuk tj@vision-media.ca
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.