electron/docs/api/ipc-main.md
2015-12-04 21:07:33 +00:00

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# ipcMain
The `ipcMain` module, when used in the main process, handles asynchronous and
synchronous messages sent from a renderer process (web page). Messages sent from
a renderer will be emitted to this module.
## Sending Messages
It is also possible to send messages from the main process to the renderer
process, see [webContents.send][webcontents-send] for more information.
* When sending a message, the event name is the `channel`.
* To reply a synchronous message, you need to set `event.returnValue`.
* To send an asynchronous back to the sender, you can use
`event.sender.send(...)`.
An example of sending and handling messages between the render and main
processes:
```javascript
// In main process.
const ipcMain = require('electron').ipcMain;
ipcMain.on('asynchronous-message', function(event, arg) {
console.log(arg); // prints "ping"
event.sender.send('asynchronous-reply', 'pong');
});
ipcMain.on('synchronous-message', function(event, arg) {
console.log(arg); // prints "ping"
event.returnValue = 'pong';
});
```
```javascript
// In renderer process (web page).
const ipcRenderer = require('electron').ipcRenderer;
console.log(ipcRenderer.sendSync('synchronous-message', 'ping')); // prints "pong"
ipcRenderer.on('asynchronous-reply', function(event, arg) {
console.log(arg); // prints "pong"
});
ipcRenderer.send('asynchronous-message', 'ping');
```
## Listening for Messages
The `ipcMain` module has the following method to listen for events:
### `ipcMain.on(channel, callback)`
* `channel` String - The event name.
* `callback` Function
When the event occurs the `callback` is called with an `event` object and a
message, `arg`.
## IPC Event
The `event` object passed to the `callback` has the following methods:
### `event.returnValue`
Set this to the value to be returned in a synchronous message.
### `event.sender`
Returns the `webContents` that sent the message, you can call
`event.sender.send` to reply to the asynchronous message, see
[webContents.send][webcontents-send] for more information.
[webcontents-send]: web-contents.md#webcontentssendchannel-arg1-arg2-