Node Native Extension Boilerplate

A very approachable node native extension.

This repository serves as a nearly minimal native extension built on Nan with enough tooling to also make it a great starting point for more complex projects.

Building

To compile the extension for the first time, run

$ npm i
$ npm run configure
$ npm run build

All subsequent builds only need npm run build

You can confirm everything built correctly by running the test suite.

Working With the Extension Locally

After building:

$ node
> var NativeExtension = require('./')
undefined
> NativeExtension.aString()
'This is a thing.'
> NativeExtension.aBoolean()
false
> NativeExtension.nothing()
undefined
> 

To run tests:

$ npm test

or to run test continuously

$ npm test -- watch

The Parts

File | Contents -------------|---------------- NativeExtension.cc | Represents the top level of the module. C++ constructs that are exposed to javascript are exported here functions.cc | Example top-level functions. These functions demonstrate how to build and return various js types. index.js | The main entry point for the node dependency binding.gyp | Describes your node native extention to the build system (node-gyp). As you add source files to the project, you should also add them to the binding file.