Typist

Animated typing utility.

Installation

Install @bitpas/typist with npm.

npm install @bitpas/typist

Usage

Import

Import Typist as an ES module

import Typist from '@bitpas/typist';

or require as CommonJS.

const Typist = require('@bitpas/typist');

Initialize

Declare a new instance of Typist.

The Typist instance method takes two arguments: a required callback to which Typist's output is passed as the argument, and an optional configuration object to override Typist's defaults.

const myCallback = (output) => console.log(output);
const myOptions = { speed: 320 };
const myTypist = new Typist(myCallback, myOptions);

Run

On the initialized instance of Typist, pass the desired output as a string to the type method, and call the start method to begin the animation.

myTypist.type('My typed message.').start();

React hook example

import React, { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import Typist from '@bitpas/typist';

const Component = () => {
  const [greeting, setGreeting] = useState('');

  useEffect(() => {
    const greetingTypist = new Typist(setGreeting);
    greetingTypist.type('foobar').start();

    return function cleanup() {
      greetingTypist.stop();
    };
  }, []);

  return <h1>{greeting}</h1>;
};

export default Component;

Combining methods

Non-chainable methods

The instance methods start and stop are not chainable. start should come at the end of a method chain to begin the animation. stop is useful in cases such as React effect cleanup.

Chainable methods

The instance methods type, backspace, and pause can be chained to create complex output.

myTypist
  .type('Delete me')
  .backspace('all')
  .type('Vowels: aeiouy')
  .pause(500)
  .backspace()
  .type('[y]')
  .pause(1000)
  .backspace(3)
  .type(' and sometimes y')
  .start();

API

new Typist(callback, [options])

• Arguments
  • callback: function - Callback to which the output from Typist is passed as an argument
  • options: object - Optional configuration settings
• Returns: Typist

Non-chainable instance methods

Typist.start()

• Arguments: none
• Returns: undefined

Typist.stop()

• Arguments: none
• Returns: undefined

Chainable instance methods

Typist.type(string)

• Arguments
  • string string: Output to callback
• Returns: Typist instance object

Typist.backspace(value)

• Arguments
  • value number or string:
    • n: Delete n characters
    • 'all': Delete output length
    • Default: 1
• Returns: Typist instance object

Typist.pause(value)

• Arguments
  • value number: time in milliseconds
• Returns: Typist instance object

Options

// default options
const defaults = {
  speed: 120,
};

speed number

• Speed of the animation in milliseconds