gen_js_api aims at simplifying the creation of OCaml bindings for JavaScript libraries. It must currently be used with the js_of_ocaml compiler, although other ways to run OCaml code "against" JavaScript might be supported later with the same binding definitions (for instance, Bucklescript, or direct embedding of a JS engine in a native OCaml application).
gen_js_api is based on the following ideas:
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Authors of bindings write OCaml signatures for JavaScript libraries and the tool generates the actual binding code with a combination of implicit conventions and explicit annotations.
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The generated binding code takes care of translating values between OCaml and JavaScript and of dealing with JavaScript calling conventions.
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All syntactic processing is done by authors of bindings: the client code is normal OCaml code and does not depend on custom syntax nor on JS-specific types.
gen_js_api can be used in two complementary ways:
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Generating .ml implementations from annotated .mli interfaces, in order to create the code for stub libraries.
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As a ppx preprocessor on implementations to define local bindings.
The repository contains some examples of OCaml bindings to JavaScript libraries created with gen_js_api:
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Very partial bindings to jQuery, with some example client code.
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Partial bindings to JavaScript strings and regexps and JavaScript dates.
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Some ad hoc test to exercise various features.
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An example of a self-contained program, a simple calculator, implementing local .bindings
- Install and use
- Low-level binding to JavaScript
- Using gen_js_api to generate .ml from .mli
- Using gen_js_api as a ppx processor
- Default naming convention
- JS-able types and type declarations
- Value bindings
- Class-wrapping bindings
- TODO list
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js_of_ocaml: The compiler and runtime system on which gen_js_api relies. (Note: gen_js_api doesn't depend on js_of_ocaml's OCaml library, nor on its language extension.)
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goji: A DSL to describe OCaml bindings for JavaScript libraries.
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DefinitelyMaybeTyped: A project to parse DefinitelyTyped interfaces and produce OCaml interfaces.
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ReScript: Another compiler from OCaml to JavaScript, featuring the genType ppx for generating TS / Flow types and runtime converters.
gen_js_api has been created by LexiFi for porting a web application from JavaScript to OCaml. The tool has been used in production since 2015.
This gen_js_api package is licensed by LexiFi under the terms of the MIT license.
See see Changelog
Contact: alain.frisch@lexifi.com
Contributors:
- Alain Frisch
- Sebastien Briais