weak-event-pool
A simple event pool implementation that uses WeakRef
to hold references to event handlers, allowing them to be garbage collected automatically when they are no longer referenced elsewhere.
Features
- Subscribe to events with
on
andonce
. - Unsubscribe handlers using the handler function or the returned
symbol
ID. - Handlers are held with
WeakRef
, enabling automatic garbage collection. - Manual sweeping of dead handlers via
sweepDeadHandlers
. - Debug utility
gcDebug
to inspect the pool state.
Installation
npm install weak-event-pool
# or
yarn add weak-event-pool
Usage Example
import EventPool from 'weak-event-pool';
// 1. Basic Subscription and Emission
console.log('--- Basic Subscription ---');
const handler1 = (data: { message: string }) => console.log('Handler 1 received:', data.message);
EventPool.on('myEvent', handler1);
EventPool.emit('myEvent', { message: 'Hello!' }); // Output: Handler 1 received: Hello!
// 2. Unsubscribing
console.log('\n--- Unsubscribing ---');
EventPool.off('myEvent', handler1);
EventPool.emit('myEvent', { message: 'This will not be received' }); // No output
// 3. Unsubscribing by ID
console.log('\n--- Unsubscribing by ID ---');
const handler2 = (data: { message: string }) => console.log('Handler 2 received:', data.message);
const handler2Id = EventPool.on('anotherEvent', handler2);
EventPool.offById(handler2Id);
EventPool.emit('anotherEvent', { message: 'This will not be received either' }); // No output
// 4. Once Listener
console.log('\n--- Once Listener ---');
const onceHandler = (data: { message: string }) => console.log('Once handler received:', data.message);
EventPool.once('singleEvent', onceHandler);
EventPool.emit('singleEvent', { message: 'First emit' }); // Output: Once handler received: First emit
EventPool.emit('singleEvent', { message: 'Second emit' }); // No output (handler was removed)
// 5. Weak Reference and Sweeping (Requires running with --expose-gc in Node.js)
console.log('\n--- Weak Reference & Sweeping ---');
let weakHandler: ((data: { message: string }) => void) | null = (data: { message: string }) => console.log('Weak handler received:', data.message);
EventPool.on('weakEvent', weakHandler);
EventPool.emit('weakEvent', { message: 'Before GC' }); // Output: Weak handler received: Before GC
// Remove the strong reference to the handler
weakHandler = null;
console.log('Suggesting Garbage Collection...');
if (global.gc) {
global.gc(); // Suggest GC (behavior is implementation-dependent)
} else {
console.warn('global.gc is not available. Run Node.js with --expose-gc flag for this part of the example.');
}
console.log('Calling sweepDeadHandlers...');
EventPool.sweepDeadHandlers(); // Manually clean up handlers whose WeakRef has been collected
EventPool.emit('weakEvent', { message: 'After GC' }); // No output if handler was collected and swept
EventPool.gcDebug(); // Inspect the state of the event pool
// Clean up for subsequent examples/tests
EventPool.removeAll();
API
EventPool
is a static class and cannot be instantiated. All methods are accessed directly on EventPool
.
EventPool.on<T = any>(event: string, handler: Handler<T>): symbol
Registers a handler function for a specific event. Returns a uniquesymbol
ID for the subscription.EventPool.once<T = any>(event: string, handler: Handler<T>): symbol
Registers a handler function that will be invoked only once for the specified event. Returns a uniquesymbol
ID.EventPool.off<T = any>(event: string, handler: Handler<T>): void
Unregisters a specific handler function from an event.EventPool.offById(eventId: symbol): void
Unregisters a handler using its uniquesymbol
ID returned byon
oronce
.EventPool.removeAll(): void
Removes all registered handlers for all events.EventPool.removeAllListeners(event: string): void
Removes all registered handlers for a specific event.EventPool.emit<T = any>(event: string, ...args: T[]): void
Emits an event, invoking all registered handlers for that event. Automatically callscleanDeadHandlers
for the event before emitting.EventPool.sweepDeadHandlers(): void
Iterates through all events and removes handlers whoseWeakRef
has been collected by the garbage collector. This is done automatically before eachemit
, but can be called manually if needed.EventPool.gcDebug(): void
Prints the current state of the event pool to the console, showing active and potentially collected handlers for debugging purposes.
How it Works
Instead of holding strong references to handler functions, EventPool
uses WeakRef
. This means that if a handler function is no longer referenced anywhere else in your application, the JavaScript engine's garbage collector is free to reclaim the memory occupied by that function.
The sweepDeadHandlers
method (called automatically by emit
and available manually) then iterates through the stored WeakRef
instances. If deref()
returns undefined
, it indicates the original handler has been collected, and the corresponding entry is removed from the event pool's internal maps. This prevents the pool from growing indefinitely with references to functions that no longer exist.
Development
- Build:
npm run build
- Test:
npm test
- Coverage:
npm run coverage
- Run Example:
npm run example
(requires Node.js with--expose-gc
flag for the GC demonstration part)
License
MIT