GLFW for Node.js

This is a part of Node3D project.

npm i -s glfw-raub

Node.js addon with GLFW3 bindings.

• GLFW version 3.4.0 backend.
• Exposes low-level GLFW interface.
• Multiple windows for a single Node.js process.
• Able to switch to fullscreen and back.
• Has Window class, simplifying low-level interactions.
• Has Document class, capable of tricking other libs, as if we are in a browser.

import glfw from 'glfw-raub';
const { Window } = glfw;

const wnd = new Window({ title: 'GLFW Test', vsync: true });

wnd.loop(() => {
	if (wnd.shouldClose || wnd.getKey(glfw.KEY_ESCAPE)) {
		process.exit(0);
		return;
	}
	
	glfw.testScene(wnd.width, wnd.height);
});

Note: this addon uses N-API, and therefore is ABI-compatible across different Node.js versions. Addon binaries are precompiled and there is no compilation step during the npm i command.

GLFW

This is a low-level interface, where most of the stuff is directly reflecting GLFW API. GLFW does NOT EXPOSE OpenGL commands, it only controls the window-related setup and resources. To access OpenGL/WebGL API you can use webgl-raub or any other similar addon.

Aside from several additional features, this addon directly exposes the GLFW API to JS. E.g.:

DBG_EXPORT JS_METHOD(pollEvents) {
	glfwPollEvents();
	RET_GLFW_VOID;
}

Nothing is added between you and GLFW, unless necessary or explicitly mentioned.

• All glfw* functions are accessible as glfw.*. E.g. glfwPollEvents -> glfw.pollEvents.
• All GLFW_* constants are accessible as glfw.*. E.g. GLFW_TRUE -> glfw.TRUE.
• Method glfw.createWindow takes some additional arguments. This is mostly related to JS events being generated from GLFW callbacks, and here's where you provide an Emitter object.
• Pointers are directly exposed as numbers to JS and are expected as arguments in specific methods. Such as, glfw.createWindow returns a number (pointer), and then you provide it back to e.g. glfw.setWindowTitle.

See this example for raw GLFW calls.

See TS declarations for more details.

---

class Window

const { Window } = glfw;
const wnd = new Window({ title: 'GLFW Test', vsync: true });

This class helps managing window objects and their events. It can also switch between fullscreen, borderless and windowed modes.

The first window creates an additional invisible root-window for context sharing (so that you can also close any window and still keep the root context). The platform context (pointers/handles) for sharing may be obtained when necessary.

See TS declarations for more details.

---

class Document

const { Document } = glfw;
const doc = new Document({ title: 'GLFW Test', vsync: true });

Document inherits from Window and has the same features in general. It exposes additional APIs to mimic the content of web document. There are some tricks to provide WebGL libraries with necessary environment. Document is specifically designed for compatibility with three.js. Other web libraries may work too, but may require additional tweaking.

See TS declarations for more details.

---

Extras

• glfw.hideConsole(): void - tries to hide the console window on Windows.
• glfw.showConsole(): void - shows the console window if it has been hidden.
• glfw.drawWindow(w: number, cb: (dateNow: number) => void): void - this is a shortcut to call pollEvents, then cb, and then swapBuffers, where you only supply cb and C++ side does the rest.
• glfw.platformDevice(w: number): number - returns the window HDC on Windows, or whatever is similar on other systems.
• glfw.platformWindow(w: number): number - returns the window HWND on Windows, or whatever is similar on other systems.
• glfw.platformContext(w: number): number - returns the window WGL Context on Windows, or whatever is similar on other systems.