NodeJS EventEmitter Tutorial with Examples

NodeJS EventEmitter
Example of EventEmitter
EventEmitter Class

1. NodeJS EventEmitter

NodeJS supports events in applications very perfectly. Every action on a computer is an event. For example, when you read a file on hard drive. It means that you have to do two actions "open the file" and "close it" after finishing reading it, so here we have two " Open "&" Close " events. Based on events, you insert your codes to do something.

var fs = require('fs');

// Create a stream to read file
var rs = fs.createReadStream('C:/test/demo.txt');

// The event 'open':
rs.on('open', function() {
    console.log('File opened!');
});

Module events provides you with an EventEmitter class, that is a central class in the NodeJS, assisting in defining an event, registering Listeners of this event, and emitting (emit) the event.

Listener

In the NodeJS, the Listener is a function. It will be called to execute when an event occurs. Probably, 0, 1 or many Listeners are being bound to such event.

For simplicity, look at the following illustration: a mouse and a mouse trap. An event is prepared to take place. When the event occurs (the cake is stolen), the mouse trap will perform its task. The mouse trap herein is a "Listener", which will work when the event happens.

2. Example of EventEmitter

Import Eventsmodule, and declare an EventEmitter object:

// Import events module
var events = require('events');


// Create an EventEmitter object
var eventEmitter = new events.EventEmitter();

// Add Event Listener
eventEmitter.addListener('bellRing', bellRingHandler1);

// Add Event Listener
eventEmitter.addListener('bellRing', bellRingHandler2);

Emit the event:

// Fire bellRing event!!
eventEmitter.emit('bellRing', 'Jerry');

first-example.js

// Import events module
var events = require('events');


// Create an eventEmitter object
var eventEmitter = new events.EventEmitter();

// A Listener
var bellRingHandler1 = function bellRingHandler1(who) {
   console.log("\n");
   console.log('The Bell Ringing..... (Handler 1)');

   console.log(" " + who + " was standing behind the door!");
   if(who == 'Jerry') {
       console.log(' Tom, help me!!');
       return;
   }
   console.log(" Welcome " + who);
}

// A Listener
var bellRingHandler2 = function bellRingHandler2(who) {
   console.log("\n");
   console.log('The Bell Ringing..... (Handler 2)');

   eventEmitter.emit("nobodyIsAtHome");
}

// A Listener
var nobodyIsAtHomeHandler = function nobodyIsAtHomeHandler()  {
   console.log("\n");
   console.log(" Sorry, Nobody is at home now, Please leave your message!")
}


// Add Event Listeners
eventEmitter.addListener('bellRing', bellRingHandler1);
eventEmitter.addListener('bellRing', bellRingHandler2);

eventEmitter.addListener('nobodyIsAtHome', nobodyIsAtHomeHandler);

// ----- Testing ------

// Fire bellRing event!!
eventEmitter.emit('bellRing', 'Jerry');

Run the example:

node eventemitter-examples/first-example.js

3. EventEmitter Class

No	Method	Description
1	addListener(event, listener)	Add a listener the end of the listeners array forthe specified event. This method doesn't check whether this listener has ever been added or not.
2	on(event, listener)	Exactly, this method is 100% identical to the addListener method.
3	once(event, listener)	Add a listener to the listeners array of the specified event. But this listener is only called one time when an event happens. After that it is removed from the array.
4	removeListener(event, listener)	Remove a listener from the listeners array of the specified event. If a listener has been added to this array many times. To remove this listener fully, you need to call this method many times.
5	removeAllListeners([event])	Remove all listeners, or remove all listeners of an event designated.
6	setMaxListeners(n)	By default, EventEmitters will print a warning if more than 10 listeners are added for a particular event. This is a useful default which helps finding memory leaks. Obviously not all Emitters should be limited to 10. You can set a different number, or set to zero for unlimited.
7	listeners(event)	Return a listeners array to the specified event.
8	emit(event, [arg1], [arg2], [...])	Executes each listener in the array in turn, with parameters. Return true if the array has at least one listener. On the contrary, return false.

NodeJS EventEmitter Tutorial with Examples

1. NodeJS EventEmitter

2. Example of EventEmitter

3. EventEmitter Class

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