electron/docs/api/ipc-renderer.md
Jeremy Apthorp 2fad53e66b refactor: use v8 serialization for ipc (#20214)
* refactor: use v8 serialization for ipc

* cloning process.env doesn't work

* serialize host objects by enumerating key/values

* new serialization can handle NaN, Infinity, and undefined correctly

* can't allocate v8 objects during GC

* backport microtasks fix

* fix compile

* fix node_stream_loader reentrancy

* update subframe spec to expect undefined instead of null

* write undefined instead of crashing when serializing host objects

* fix webview spec

* fix download spec

* buffers are transformed into uint8arrays

* can't serialize promises

* fix chrome.i18n.getMessage

* fix devtools tests

* fix zoom test

* fix debug build

* fix lint

* update ipcRenderer tests

* fix printToPDF test

* update patch

* remove accidentally re-added remote-side spec

* wip

* don't attempt to serialize host objects

* jump through different hoops to set options.webContents sometimes

* whoops

* fix lint

* clean up error-handling logic

* fix memory leak

* fix lint

* convert host objects using old base::Value serialization

* fix lint more

* fall back to base::Value-based serialization

* remove commented-out code

* add docs to breaking-changes.md

* Update breaking-changes.md

* update ipcRenderer and WebContents docs

* lint

* use named values for format tag

* save a memcpy for ~30% speedup

* get rid of calls to ShallowClone

* extra debugging for paranoia

* d'oh, use the correct named tags

* apparently msstl doesn't like this DCHECK

* funny story about that DCHECK

* disable remote-related functions when enable_remote_module = false

* nits

* use EnableIf to disable remote methods in mojom

* fix include

* review comments
2019-10-09 13:59:08 -04:00

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Markdown

# ipcRenderer
> Communicate asynchronously from a renderer process to the main process.
Process: [Renderer](../glossary.md#renderer-process)
The `ipcRenderer` module is an [EventEmitter][event-emitter]. It provides a few
methods so you can send synchronous and asynchronous messages from the render
process (web page) to the main process. You can also receive replies from the
main process.
See [ipcMain](ipc-main.md) for code examples.
## Methods
The `ipcRenderer` module has the following method to listen for events and send messages:
### `ipcRenderer.on(channel, listener)`
* `channel` String
* `listener` Function
* `event` IpcRendererEvent
* `...args` any[]
Listens to `channel`, when a new message arrives `listener` would be called with
`listener(event, args...)`.
### `ipcRenderer.once(channel, listener)`
* `channel` String
* `listener` Function
* `event` IpcRendererEvent
* `...args` any[]
Adds a one time `listener` function for the event. This `listener` is invoked
only the next time a message is sent to `channel`, after which it is removed.
### `ipcRenderer.removeListener(channel, listener)`
* `channel` String
* `listener` Function
* `...args` any[]
Removes the specified `listener` from the listener array for the specified
`channel`.
### `ipcRenderer.removeAllListeners(channel)`
* `channel` String
Removes all listeners, or those of the specified `channel`.
### `ipcRenderer.send(channel, ...args)`
* `channel` String
* `...args` any[]
Send an asynchronous message to the main process via `channel`, along with
arguments. Arguments will be serialized with the [Structured Clone
Algorithm][SCA], just like [`postMessage`][], so prototype chains will not be
included. Sending Functions, Promises, Symbols, WeakMaps, or WeakSets will
throw an exception.
> **NOTE**: Sending non-standard JavaScript types such as DOM objects or
> special Electron objects is deprecated, and will begin throwing an exception
> starting with Electron 9.
The main process handles it by listening for `channel` with the
[`ipcMain`](ipc-main.md) module.
### `ipcRenderer.invoke(channel, ...args)`
* `channel` String
* `...args` any[]
Returns `Promise<any>` - Resolves with the response from the main process.
Send a message to the main process via `channel` and expect a result
asynchronously. Arguments will be serialized with the [Structured Clone
Algorithm][SCA], just like [`postMessage`][], so prototype chains will not be
included. Sending Functions, Promises, Symbols, WeakMaps, or WeakSets will
throw an exception.
> **NOTE**: Sending non-standard JavaScript types such as DOM objects or
> special Electron objects is deprecated, and will begin throwing an exception
> starting with Electron 9.
The main process should listen for `channel` with
[`ipcMain.handle()`](ipc-main.md#ipcmainhandlechannel-listener).
For example:
```javascript
// Renderer process
ipcRenderer.invoke('some-name', someArgument).then((result) => {
// ...
})
// Main process
ipcMain.handle('some-name', async (event, someArgument) => {
const result = await doSomeWork(someArgument)
return result
})
```
### `ipcRenderer.sendSync(channel, ...args)`
* `channel` String
* `...args` any[]
Returns `any` - The value sent back by the [`ipcMain`](ipc-main.md) handler.
Send a message to the main process via `channel` and expect a result
synchronously. Arguments will be serialized with the [Structured Clone
Algorithm][SCA], just like [`postMessage`][], so prototype chains will not be
included. Sending Functions, Promises, Symbols, WeakMaps, or WeakSets will
throw an exception.
> **NOTE**: Sending non-standard JavaScript types such as DOM objects or
> special Electron objects is deprecated, and will begin throwing an exception
> starting with Electron 9.
The main process handles it by listening for `channel` with [`ipcMain`](ipc-main.md) module,
and replies by setting `event.returnValue`.
> :warning: **WARNING**: Sending a synchronous message will block the whole
> renderer process until the reply is received, so use this method only as a
> last resort. It's much better to use the asynchronous version,
> [`invoke()`](ipc-renderer.md#ipcrendererinvokechannel-args).
### `ipcRenderer.sendTo(webContentsId, channel, ...args)`
* `webContentsId` Number
* `channel` String
* `...args` any[]
Sends a message to a window with `webContentsId` via `channel`.
### `ipcRenderer.sendToHost(channel, ...args)`
* `channel` String
* `...args` any[]
Like `ipcRenderer.send` but the event will be sent to the `<webview>` element in
the host page instead of the main process.
## Event object
The documentation for the `event` object passed to the `callback` can be found
in the [`ipc-renderer-event`](structures/ipc-renderer-event.md) structure docs.
[event-emitter]: https://nodejs.org/api/events.html#events_class_eventemitter
[SCA]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Workers_API/Structured_clone_algorithm
[`postMessage`]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/postMessage