Node-Five

This is a highly experimental, rapidly-changing project. The APIs might change overnight.

Node-Five brings a subset of HTML5 APIs to Node.js. Presently the main focus is on low-level graphics and audio (for example, Canvas and AudioContext), but other higher-level APIs are welcome. (HTML/CSS layout engine, anyone?)

Node-Five is written in JavaScript on top of Node-Qt.

Hello world

This example illustrates a minimal use of the HTML5 Canvas API:

var five = require('path-to-node-five-dir'),
    window = new five.Window(300, 150),
    canvas = new five.Canvas(window),
    ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');

ctx.fillStyle = 'black';
ctx.fillText('hello node, hello qt', 20, 20);

For other examples see the demos/ directory.

Getting started

Since the project is under heavy development, no npm packages are available at the moment. To start, clone the latest development version and install the necessary dependencies:

$ git clone git://github.com/arturadib/node-five.git
$ cd node-five
$ npm install

If everything went well you should be able to run the demos, for example:

$ node demos/03-game-goblins/game.js

To run the unit tests:

$ node make test

(Since different platforms generate different images based on several factors, it's likely the image-based regression tests will fail on your setup. Ignore those errors).

API reference

five

Main object. Typical usage is:

var five = require('path-to-node-five-dir');

useInterval()

Add event handler to Node's event loop via setTimeout(). This is the default event loop integration.

useTick()

Add event handler to Node's event loop via process.nextTick().
This should used in applications that require more instant responsiveness (CPU-intensive!).

stop()

Stop Node-Five's event loop. Applications never exit without a call to this method.

five.Window(width, height)

Native window constructor with the given height and width.

width = 640

Gets/sets window width in pixels

height = 480

Gets/sets window height in pixels

close()

Closes window. It can't be reopened.

addEventListener(event, callback)

Binds event to callback. Supported events are listed below.

removeEventListener(event, callback)

Removes callback from event handler.

Supported events for addEventListener()

• mousedown:
  Callback will be passed { clientX, clientY, button }. button values correspond
  to the convenience constants five.LeftButton, five.RightButton, etc.
  See http://developer.qt.nokia.com/doc/qt-4.8/qt.html#MouseButton-enum
  for a list of supported button codes

• mouseup:
  Callback will be passed { clientX, clientY, button } as in mousedown.

• mousemove:
  Callback will be passed { clientX, clientY }.

• keydown:
  Callback will be passed { key, char }.
  Key values correspond to the convenience constants five.Key_Esc, five.Key_Left, etc.
  See http://developer.qt.nokia.com/doc/qt-4.8/qt.html#Key-enum for the list of supported keys.
  char is the corresponding Unicode character, if available.

• keyup:
  Callback will be passed { key, char }. Details as in keydown.

five.Canvas(window)

Class/constructor for Canvas objects, either off-screen (no window argument) or inside an existing window.

width = 300

height = 150

viewWidth = width

(Non-standard) Width of the canvas view. Will crop canvas and create
scroll bars if smaller than the canvas width.

viewHeight = height

(Non-standard) Height of the canvas view. Will crop canvas and create scroll bars if smaller
than the canvas height.

scrollTop = 0

Vertical scroll position. To be used when height > viewHeight.
Maximum value is height - viewHeight.

scrollLeft = 0

Horizontal scroll position. To be used when width > viewWidth.
Maximum value is width - viewWidth.

top = 0

(Non-standard) Top position of the canvas with respect to parent window (if any), in pixels.
Only absolute positioning is available.

left = 0

(Non-standard) Left position of the canvas with respect to parent window (if any), in pixels.
Only absolute positioning is available.

getContext(type)

Presently only supports type == '2d'.

toDataURL()

five.Canvas.getContext('2d')

The documentation below is for exposed methods after a ctx = canvas.getContext('2d')
call, which returns a CanvasRenderingContext2D object.

ctx.fillStyle = 'color'

Currently only supports color types (e.g. 'rgb()', 'rgba()', 'blue', '#aabbcc', etc)

ctx.strokeStyle = 'color'

Currently only supports color types (e.g. 'rgb()', 'rgba()', 'blue', '#aabbcc', etc)

ctx.font = '10px family'

Currently only supports the format above

ctx.fillRect(x, y, w, h)

ctx.fillText(text, x, y)

ctx.translate(x, y)

ctx.scale(x, y)

ctx.beginPath()

ctx.closePath()

ctx.moveTo(x, y)

ctx.lineTo(x, y)

ctx.stroke()

ctx.drawImage(image, x, y)

Presently only supports images created via five.Image()

five.Image()

Constructor for image objects. Intended to mirror Image() constructor from browsers.

src = 'file_name'

Presently only supports local paths, e.g. ./images/file.png

complete

onload = callback

five.AudioContext

Class/constructor for AudioContext objects.

destination

Currently returns null

createBufferSource()

Returns a new AudioBufferSourceNode object

five.AudioContext.createBufferSource()

The documentation below is for exposed methods after a source = context.createBufferSource()
call, which returns an AudioBufferSourceNode object.

source.buffer = 'filename'

Non-compliant. Presently must specify local filename.

source.connect(dest)

dest is currently a dummy variable. The destination will always
be the default audio device

source.loop = true/false

source.noteOn(when)

Currently when = 0, i.e. immediately