Embind
Embind is used to bind C++ functions and classes to JavaScript, so that the compiled code can be used in a natural way by “normal” JavaScript. Embind also supports calling JavaScript classes from C++.
Embind has support for binding most C++ constructs, including those introduced in C++11 and C++14. Its only significant limitation is that it does not currently support raw pointers with complicated lifetime semantics.
This article shows how to use EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS()
blocks to create bindings for functions, classes, value types, pointers (including both raw and smart pointers), enums, and constants, and how to create bindings for abstract classes that can be overridden in JavaScript. It also briefly explains how to manage the memory of C++ object handles passed to JavaScript.
Tip
In addition to the code in this article:
- There are many other examples of how to use Embind in the Test Suite.
- Connecting C++ and JavaScript on the Web with Embind (slides from CppCon 2014) contains more examples and information about Embind’s design philosophy and implementation.
Note
Embind was inspired by Boost.Python and uses a very similar approach for defining bindings.
A quick example
The following code uses an EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS()
block to expose the simple C++ lerp()
function()
to JavaScript.
// quick_example.cpp
#include <emscripten/bind.h>
using namespace emscripten;
float lerp(float a, float b, float t) {
return (1 - t) * a + t * b;
}
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(my_module) {
function("lerp", &lerp);
}
To compile the above example using embind, we invoke emcc with the bind option:
emcc --bind -o quick_example.js quick_example.cpp
The resulting quick_example.js file can be loaded as a node module or via a <script>
tag:
<!doctype html>
<html>
<script>
var Module = {
onRuntimeInitialized: function() {
console.log('lerp result: ' + Module.lerp(1, 2, 0.5));
}
};
</script>
<script src="quick_example.js"></script>
</html>
Note
We use the onRuntimeInitialized
callback to run code when the runtime is ready, which is an asynchronous operation (in order to compile WebAssembly).
Note
Open the developer tools console to see the output of console.log
.
The code in an EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS()
block runs when the JavaScript file is initially loaded (at the same time as the global constructors). The function lerp()
’s parameter types and return type are automatically inferred by embind.
All symbols exposed by embind are available on the Emscripten Module
object.
Important
Always access objects through the Module object object, as shown above.
While the objects are also available in the global namespace by default, there are cases where they will not be (for example, if you use the closure compiler to minify code or wrap compiled code in a function to avoid polluting the global namespace). You can of course use whatever name you like for the module by assigning it to a new variable: var MyModuleName = Module;
.
Classes
Exposing classes to JavaScript requires a more complicated binding statement. For example:
class MyClass {
public:
MyClass(int x, std::string y)
: x(x)
, y(y)
{}
void incrementX() {
++x;
}
int getX() const { return x; }
void setX(int x_) { x = x_; }
static std::string getStringFromInstance(const MyClass& instance) {
return instance.y;
}
private:
int x;
std::string y;
};
// Binding code
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(my_class_example) {
class_<MyClass>("MyClass")
.constructor<int, std::string>()
.function("incrementX", &MyClass::incrementX)
.property("x", &MyClass::getX, &MyClass::setX)
.class_function("getStringFromInstance", &MyClass::getStringFromInstance)
;
}
The binding block defines a chain of member function calls on the temporary class_
object (this same style is used in Boost.Python). The functions register the class, its constructor()
, member function()
, class_function()
(static) and property()
.
Note
This binding block binds the class and all its methods. As a rule you should bind only those items that are actually needed, as each binding increases the code size. For example, it would be rare to bind private or internal methods.
An instance of MyClass
can then be created and used in JavaScript as shown below:
var instance = new Module.MyClass(10, "hello");
instance.incrementX();
instance.x; // 11
instance.x = 20; // 20
Module.MyClass.getStringFromInstance(instance); // "hello"
instance.delete();
Memory management
JavaScript, specifically ECMA-262 Edition 5.1, does not support finalizers or weak references with callbacks. Therefore there is no way for Emscripten to automatically call the destructors on C++ objects.
Warning
JavaScript code must explicitly delete any C++ object handles it has received, or the Emscripten heap will grow indefinitely.
var x = new Module.MyClass;
x.method();
x.delete();
var y = Module.myFunctionThatReturnsClassInstance();
y.method();
y.delete();
Value types
Manual memory management for basic types is onerous, so embind provides support for value types. Value arrays
are converted to and from JavaScript Arrays and value objects
are converted to and from JavaScript Objects.
Consider the example below:
struct Point2f {
float x;
float y;
};
struct PersonRecord {
std::string name;
int age;
};
PersonRecord findPersonAtLocation(Point2f);
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(my_value_example) {
value_array<Point2f>("Point2f")
.element(&Point2f::x)
.element(&Point2f::y)
;
value_object<PersonRecord>("PersonRecord")
.field("name", &PersonRecord::name)
.field("age", &PersonRecord::age)
;
function("findPersonAtLocation", &findPersonAtLocation);
}
The JavaScript code does not need to worry about lifetime management.
var person = Module.findPersonAtLocation([10.2, 156.5]);
console.log('Found someone! Their name is ' + person.name + ' and they are ' + person.age + ' years old');
Advanced class concepts
Raw pointers
Because raw pointers have unclear lifetime semantics, embind requires their use to be marked with allow_raw_pointers
.
For example:
class C {};
C* passThrough(C* ptr) { return ptr; }
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(raw_pointers) {
class_<C>("C");
function("passThrough", &passThrough, allow_raw_pointers());
}
Note
Currently the markup serves only to whitelist raw pointer use, and show that you’ve thought about the use of the raw pointers. Eventually we hope to implement Boost.Python-like raw pointer policies for managing object ownership.
External constructors
There are two ways to specify constructors for a class.
The zero-argument template form invokes the natural constructor with the arguments specified in the template. For example:
class MyClass {
public:
MyClass(int, float);
void someFunction();
};
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(external_constructors) {
class_<MyClass>("MyClass")
.constructor<int, float>()
.function("someFunction", &MyClass::someFunction)
;
}
The second form of the constructor takes a function pointer argument, and is used for classes that construct themselves using a factory function. For example:
class MyClass {
virtual void someFunction() = 0;
};
MyClass* makeMyClass(int, float); //Factory function.
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(external_constructors) {
class_<MyClass>("MyClass")
.constructor(&makeMyClass, allow_raw_pointers())
.function("someFunction", &MyClass::someFunction)
;
}
The two constructors present exactly the same interface for constructing the object in JavaScript. Continuing the example above:
var instance = new MyClass(10, 15.5);
// instance is backed by a raw pointer to a MyClass in the Emscripten heap
Smart pointers
To manage object lifetime with smart pointers, embind must be told about the smart pointer type.
For example, consider managing a class C
’s lifetime with std::shared_ptr<C>
. The best way to do this is to use smart_ptr_constructor()
to register the smart pointer type:
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(better_smart_pointers) {
class_<C>("C")
.smart_ptr_constructor("C", &std::make_shared<C>)
;
}
When an object of this type is constructed (e.g. using new Module.C()
) it returns a std::shared_ptr<C>
.
An alternative is to use smart_ptr()
in the EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS()
block:
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(smart_pointers) {
class_<C>("C")
.constructor<>()
.smart_ptr<std::shared_ptr<C>>("C")
;
}
Using this definition, functions can return std::shared_ptr<C>
or take std::shared_ptr<C>
as arguments, but new Module.C()
would still return a raw pointer.
unique_ptr
embind has built-in support for return values of type std::unique_ptr
.
Custom smart pointers
To teach embind about custom smart pointer templates, you must specialize the smart_ptr_trait
template.
Non-member-functions on the JavaScript prototype
Methods on the JavaScript class prototype can be non-member functions, as long as the instance handle can be converted to the first argument of the non-member function. The classic example is when the function exposed to JavaScript does not exactly match the behavior of a C++ method.
struct Array10 {
int& get(size_t index) {
return data[index];
}
int data[10];
};
val Array10_get(Array10& arr, size_t index) {
if (index < 10) {
return val(arr.get(index));
} else {
return val::undefined();
}
}
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(non_member_functions) {
class_<Array10>("Array10")
.function("get", &Array10_get)
;
}
If JavaScript calls Array10.prototype.get
with an invalid index, it will return undefined
.
Deriving from C++ classes in JavaScript
If C++ classes have virtual or abstract member functions, it’s possible to override them in JavaScript. Because JavaScript has no knowledge of the C++ vtable, embind needs a bit of glue code to convert C++ virtual function calls into JavaScript calls.
Abstract methods
Let’s begin with a simple case: pure virtual functions that must be implemented in JavaScript.
struct Interface {
virtual void invoke(const std::string& str) = 0;
};
struct InterfaceWrapper : public wrapper<Interface> {
EMSCRIPTEN_WRAPPER(InterfaceWrapper);
void invoke(const std::string& str) {
return call<void>("invoke", str);
}
};
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(interface) {
class_<Interface>("Interface")
.function("invoke", &Interface::invoke, pure_virtual())
.allow_subclass<InterfaceWrapper>("InterfaceWrapper")
;
}
allow_subclass()
adds two special methods to the Interface binding: extend
and implement
. extend
allows JavaScript to subclass in the style exemplified by Backbone.js. implement
is used when you have a JavaScript object, perhaps provided by the browser or some other library, and you want to use it to implement a C++ interface.
Note
The pure_virtual
annotation on the function binding allows JavaScript to throw a helpful error if the JavaScript class does not override invoke()
. Otherwise, you may run into confusing errors.
extend
example
var DerivedClass = Module.Interface.extend("Interface", {
// __construct and __destruct are optional. They are included
// in this example for illustration purposes.
// If you override __construct or __destruct, don't forget to
// call the parent implementation!
__construct: function() {
this.__parent.__construct.call(this);
},
__destruct: function() {
this.__parent.__destruct.call(this);
},
invoke: function() {
// your code goes here
},
});
var instance = new DerivedClass;
implement
example
var x = {
invoke: function(str) {
console.log('invoking with: ' + str);
}
};
var interfaceObject = Module.Interface.implement(x);
Now interfaceObject
can be passed to any function that takes an Interface
pointer or reference.
Non-abstract virtual methods
If a C++ class has a non-pure virtual function, it can be overridden — but does not have to be. This requires a slightly different wrapper implementation:
struct Base {
virtual void invoke(const std::string& str) {
// default implementation
}
};
struct BaseWrapper : public wrapper<Base> {
EMSCRIPTEN_WRAPPER(BaseWrapper);
void invoke(const std::string& str) {
return call<void>("invoke", str);
}
};
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(interface) {
class_<Base>("Base")
.allow_subclass<BaseWrapper>("BaseWrapper")
.function("invoke", optional_override([](Base& self, const std::string& str) {
return self.Base::invoke(str);
}))
;
}
When implementing Base
with a JavaScript object, overriding invoke
is optional. The special lambda binding for invoke is necessary to avoid infinite mutual recursion between the wrapper and JavaScript.
Base classes
Base class bindings are defined as shown:
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(base_example) {
class_<BaseClass>("BaseClass");
class_<DerivedClass, base<BaseClass>>("DerivedClass");
}
Any member functions defined on BaseClass
are then accessible to instances of DerivedClass
. In addition, any function that accepts an instance of BaseClass
can be given an instance of DerivedClass
.
Automatic downcasting
If a C++ class is polymorphic (that is, it has a virtual method), then embind supports automatic downcasting of function return values.
class Base { virtual ~Base() {} }; // the virtual makes Base and Derived polymorphic
class Derived : public Base {};
Base* getDerivedInstance() {
return new Derived;
}
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(automatic_downcasting) {
class_<Base>("Base");
class_<Derived, base<Base>>("Derived");
function("getDerivedInstance", &getDerivedInstance, allow_raw_pointers());
}
Calling Module.getDerivedInstance
from JavaScript will return a Derived
instance handle from which all of Derived
’s methods are available.
Note
Embind must understand the fully-derived type for automatic downcasting to work.
Overloaded functions
Constructors and functions can be overloaded on the number of arguments, but embind does not support overloading based on type. When specifying an overload, use the select_overload()
helper function to select the appropriate signature.
struct HasOverloadedMethods {
void foo();
void foo(int i);
void foo(float f) const;
};
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDING(overloads) {
class_<HasOverloadedMethods>("HasOverloadedMethods")
.function("foo", select_overload<void()>(&HasOverloadedMethods::foo))
.function("foo_int", select_overload<void(int)>(&HasOverloadedMethods::foo))
.function("foo_float", select_overload<void(float)const>(&HasOverloadedMethods::foo))
;
}
Enums
Embind’s enumeration support
works with both C++98 enums and C++11 “enum classes”.
enum OldStyle {
OLD_STYLE_ONE,
OLD_STYLE_TWO
};
enum class NewStyle {
ONE,
TWO
};
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(my_enum_example) {
enum_<OldStyle>("OldStyle")
.value("ONE", OLD_STYLE_ONE)
.value("TWO", OLD_STYLE_TWO)
;
enum_<NewStyle>("NewStyle")
.value("ONE", NewStyle::ONE)
.value("TWO", NewStyle::TWO)
;
}
In both cases, JavaScript accesses enumeration values as properties of the type.
Module.OldStyle.ONE;
Module.NewStyle.TWO;
Constants
To expose a C++ constant()
to JavaScript, simply write:
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(my_constant_example) {
constant("SOME_CONSTANT", SOME_CONSTANT);
}
SOME_CONSTANT
can have any type known to embind.
Memory views
In some cases it is valuable to expose raw binary data directly to JavaScript code as a typed array, allowing it to be used without copying. This is useful for instance for uploading large WebGL textures directly from the heap.
Memory views should be treated like raw pointers; lifetime and validity are not managed by the runtime and it’s easy to corrupt data if the underlying object is modified or deallocated.
#include <emscripten/bind.h>
#include <emscripten/val.h>
using namespace emscripten;
unsigned char *byteBuffer = /* ... */;
size_t bufferLength = /* ... */;
val getBytes() {
return val(typed_memory_view(bufferLength, byteBuffer));
}
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(memory_view_example) {
function("getBytes", &getBytes);
}
The calling JavaScript code will receive a typed array view into the emscripten heap:
var myUint8Array = Module.getBytes()
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open('POST', /* ... */);
xhr.send(myUint8Array);
The typed array view will be of the appropriate matching type, such as Uint8Array for an unsigned char
array or pointer.
Using val
to transliterate JavaScript to C++
Embind provides a C++ class, emscripten::val
, which you can use to transliterate JavaScript code to C++. Using val
you can call JavaScript objects from your C++, read and write their properties, or coerce them to C++ values like a bool
, int
, or std::string
.
The example below shows how you can use val
to call the JavaScript Web Audio API from C++:
Note
This example is based on the excellent Web Audio tutorial: Making sine, square, sawtooth and triangle waves (stuartmemo.com). There is an even simpler example in the emscripten::val
documentation.
First consider the JavaScript below, which shows how to use the API:
// Get web audio api context
var AudioContext = window.AudioContext || window.webkitAudioContext;
// Got an AudioContext: Create context and OscillatorNode
var context = new AudioContext();
var oscillator = context.createOscillator();
// Configuring oscillator: set OscillatorNode type and frequency
oscillator.type = 'triangle';
oscillator.frequency.value = 261.63; // value in hertz - middle C
// Playing
oscillator.connect(context.destination);
oscillator.start();
// All done!
The code can be transliterated to C++ using val
, as shown below:
#include <emscripten/val.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>
using namespace emscripten;
int main() {
val AudioContext = val::global("AudioContext");
if (!AudioContext.as<bool>()) {
printf("No global AudioContext, trying webkitAudioContext\n");
AudioContext = val::global("webkitAudioContext");
}
printf("Got an AudioContext\n");
val context = AudioContext.new_();
val oscillator = context.call<val>("createOscillator");
printf("Configuring oscillator\n");
oscillator.set("type", val("triangle"));
oscillator["frequency"].set("value", val(261.63)); // Middle C
printf("Playing\n");
oscillator.call<void>("connect", context["destination"]);
oscillator.call<void>("start", 0);
printf("All done!\n");
}
First we use global()
to get the symbol for the global AudioContext
object (or webkitAudioContext
if that does not exist). We then use new_()
to create the context, and from this context we can create an oscillator
, set()
its properties (again using val
) and then play the tone.
The example can be compiled on the Linux/macOS terminal with:
emcc -O2 -Wall -Werror --bind -o oscillator.html oscillator.cpp
Built-in type conversions
Out of the box, embind provides converters for many standard C++ types:
C++ type | JavaScript type |
---|---|
void | undefined |
bool | true or false |
char | Number |
signed char | Number |
unsigned char | Number |
short | Number |
unsigned short | Number |
int | Number |
unsigned int | Number |
long | Number |
unsigned long | Number |
float | Number |
double | Number |
std::string | ArrayBuffer, Uint8Array, Uint8ClampedArray, Int8Array, or String |
std::wstring | String (UTF-16 code units) |
emscripten::val | anything |
For convenience, embind provides factory functions to register std::vector<T>
(register_vector()
) and std::map<K, V>
(register_map()
) types:
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(stl_wrappers) {
register_vector<int>("VectorInt");
register_map<int,int>("MapIntInt");
}
A full example is shown below:
#include <emscripten/bind.h>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
using namespace emscripten;
std::vector<int> returnVectorData () {
std::vector<int> v(10, 1);
return v;
}
std::map<int, std::string> returnMapData () {
std::map<int, std::string> m;
m.insert(std::pair<int, std::string>(10, "This is a string."));
return m;
}
EMSCRIPTEN_BINDINGS(module) {
function("returnVectorData", &returnVectorData);
function("returnMapData", &returnMapData);
// register bindings for std::vector<int> and std::map<int, std::string>.
register_vector<int>("vector<int>");
register_map<int, std::string>("map<int, string>");
}
The following JavaScript can be used to interact with the above C++.
var retVector = Module['returnVectorData']();
// vector size
var vectorSize = retVector.size();
// reset vector value
retVector.set(vectorSize - 1, 11);
// push value into vector
retVector.push_back(12);
// retrieve value from the vector
for (var i = 0; i < retVector.size(); i++) {
console.log("Vector Value: ", retVector.get(i));
}
// expand vector size
retVector.resize(20, 1);
var retMap = Module['returnMapData']();
// map size
var mapSize = retMap.size();
// retrieve value from map
console.log("Map Value: ", retMap.get(10));
// figure out which map keys are available
// NB! You must call `register_vector<key_type>`
// to make vectors available
var mapKeys = retMap.keys();
for (var i = 0; i < mapKeys.size(); i++) {
var key = mapKeys.get(i);
console.log("Map key/value: ", key, retMap.get(key));
}
// reset the value at the given index position
retMap.set(10, "OtherValue");
Performance
At time of writing there has been no comprehensive embind performance testing, either against standard benchmarks, or relative to WebIDL Binder.
The call overhead for simple functions has been measured at about 200 ns. While there is room for further optimisation, so far its performance in real-world applications has proved to be more than acceptable.