events

This package contains pre-implemented events that you can just glue to your existing class like a breeze.

class MyClass extends EventTarget {}
let myInstance = new MyClass();

myInstance.addEventListener('load', () => console.log('hooray!'));
myInstance.dispatchEvent('load'); // hooray!

Key features

• Extensive type checking
• Standards compilant [1]
• Can be both extends'ed and implements'ed
• Can be used in both TypeScript and pure JavaScript
• Support for one-time events using promises

One-time events

Sometimes you need to wait until a component is ready before you can continue in your code. Apart from the classic addEventListener, you can leverage the promisified method once which lets you keep your code clean and flat:

class Component extends EventTarget {
    constructor() {
        doThings();
        this.dispatchEvent('loaded', { status: 'ready' });
    }
}

const comp = new Component();
const event = await comp.once('loaded');
event.status === 'ready'

Implementing

Sometimes you need your class to inherit from something different than EventTarget. Then you can use the static method factories which are shipped with this library. In JavaScript you can do it like this:

class MyClass extends DifferentClass {}

MyClass.prototype.addEventListener = EventTarget.addEventListener();
MyClass.prototype.removeEventListener = EventTarget.removeEventListener();
MyClass.prototype.dispatchEvent = EventTarget.dispatchEvent();
MyClass.prototype.once = EventTarget.once();

And in TypeScript like this:

class MyClass
extends DifferentClass
implements EventTarget<MyEvents>
{
    public addEventListener = EventTarget.addEventListener<MyEvents>();
    public removeEventListener = EventTarget.removeEventListener<MyEvents>();
    public dispatchEvent = EventTarget.dispatchEvent<MyEvent>();
    public once = EventTarget.once<MyEvent>();
}

Type checking options

If you use TypeScript, you can choose from three type checking options.

Minimum checking

If you use the non-generic EventTarget, you'll get all the functionality without having to worry about any typing at all.

class Person extends EventTarget
{
    kill()
    {
        let options = { somethingOther: 42 };
        let eventName: string = 'died';
        this.dispatchEvent(eventName, options);
    }
}

let john = new Person();
john.addEventListener('anything you want', (e) => {
    e.target; // EventTarget
    e.timeStamp // number
    e.somethingOther // any
});

Loose checking

If you want to only allow for certain events, you can pass a union of string literals as the type argument of EventTarget to make something like EventTarget<'load'|'unload'>.

class Person extends EventTarget<'died'>
{
    kill()
    {
        let options = { somethingOther: 42 };

        this.dispatchEvent('died', options);
        this.dispatchEvent('was born', options); // Error
    }
}

let jane = new Person();
myInstance.addEventListener('died', (e) => {
    e.name; // 'died'
    e.target; // EventTarget<'died'>
    e.somethingOther // any
});

Strict checking

If you want to get maximum type safety and cool editor auto-completion, you should describe the events with an interface and then pass the interface to EventTarget.

interface PersonEvents
{
    died: {};
    killed: { byWhom: Person };
}

class Person extends EventTarget<PersonEvents>
{
    kill(murderer: Person)
    {
        this.dispatchEvent('died');
        this.dispatchEvent('killed', { byWhom: murderer });
    }

    letDie()
    {
        this.dispatchEvent('died');
    }
}

let alex = new Person();

alex.addEventListener('killed', (e) => {
    e.name; // 'killed'
    e.target; // still only EventTarget, not Person, but I'm working on it
    e.byWhom; // Person
});

alex.addEventListener('died', (e) => {
    e.byWhom; // error
});