NodeJS

The API for the NodeJS package closely mirrors the official spatie/ray package API, so it's likely that if it exists there, it's available to use in your NodeJS project.

Importing the package

When working with NodeJS, import the package as you would normally:

// es module import:
import { ray } from 'node-ray';

// commonjs import:
const { ray } = require('node-ray');

When creating a bundle for use within a browser-based environment (i.e. with webpack), import the /web variant:

// es module import:
import { ray } from 'node-ray/web';

// commonjs import:
const { ray } = require('node-ray/web');

To use node-ray directly in a webpage, include the standalone umd-format script via CDN. The standalone version is bundled with everything except the axios library, which must be included separately and before the standalone script.

    <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/axios@latest"></script>
    <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/node-ray@latest/dist/standalone.js"></script>
    <script>
        window.ray = Ray.ray;
        window.Ray = Ray.Ray;
    </script>

Enabling and disabling

Ray can be enabled or disabled at runtime using enable() or disable().

ray('this is sent');
ray().disable();
ray('this is not sent');
ray().enable();
ray('this is also sent');

You can check if Ray is enabled or disabled with the enabled and disabled functions.

ray().disable();

ray().enabled(); // false
ray().disabled(); // true

ray().enable();

ray().enabled(); // true
ray().disabled(); // false

Working with screens

Ray can create or clear new screens of information.

ray().newScreen();

ray().newScreen('my new screen');

ray().clearScreen();

ray().clearAll();

screenshot

App visibility

The Ray app can be shown or hidden programmatically.

ray().showApp();

ray().hideApp();

Payload types

Ray can display payloads of several types, including JSON, file contents, images, XML, and HTML.

ray().json('{ "name": "my object" }');

ray().toJson({ name: 'my object' });

ray().file('test.txt');

ray().image('https://placekitten.com/200/300');

ray().html('<strong>hello</strong> world');

ray().xml('<one><two><three>3</three></two></one>');

screenshot

Using colors

Ray can display the data you send with different colors.

Available colors:

green
orange
red
blue
purple
gray

ray('this is green').green();

ray('this is purple').purple();

screenshot

Using sizes

Ray can display stuff in large, normal, or small text.

ray('small').small();

ray('regular');

ray('large').large();

screenshot

Displaying tables

Ray can display an object formatted in a table. Complex items such as arrays and objects are pretty-printed and highlighted to make their contents pleasant to read.

ray().table({
    First: 'First value',
    Second: 'Second value',
    Third: 'Third value',
});

screenshot

An array of items can also be displayed with formatted values.

ray().table(['John', 'Paul', 'George', 'Ringo'], 'Beatles');

screenshot

Counting

Ray can count the number of times a piece of code is called, optionally with a specific name.

for(const n in [...Array(12).keys()]) {
    ray().count('first');
}

[1, 2].forEach(n => ray().count());

screenshot

Reset counters

Counter values persist across multiple calls to ray(). Reset all counters with clearCounters():

ray().count('first');
ray().count('first');
console.log(Ray.counters.get('first'); // displays '2'

ray().clearCounters();
console.log(Ray.counters.get('first'); // displays '0'

Conditionally showing items

You can conditionally show things using the showIf and showWhen methods. If you pass a truthy value, the item will be displayed.

You may also pass a callback that returns a boolean value.

ray('will be shown').showIf(() => true);

ray('will be shown').showWhen(true);

ray('will not be shown').showIf(false);

ray('will not be shown').showWhen(() => false);

Removing items

You can remove an item that is already displayed in Ray. To do this, call the remove function on an instance return by the ray function.

const rayInstance = ray('will be removed after 1 sec');

sleep(1); // assuming sleep() is defined somewhere

rayInstance.remove();

You can also conditionally remove items with the removeWhen function (or the removeIf alias).

ray('this one will be remove if the number is 2').removeWhen(number === 2);

removeWhen also accepts a callable.

ray('this one will be remove if the number is 2').removeWhen(() => number === 2); // return true to remove the item

See the caller of a function

Sometimes you want to know where your code is being called. You can quickly determine that by using the caller function.

ray().caller();

screenshot

If you want to see the entire stack trace, use the trace function.

ray().trace();

screenshot

Pausing code execution

Ray can pause code execution within async code.

async function test() {
    ray('before pausing');

    await ray().pause();

    ray('after resuming');
});

test();

screenshot

Displaying a notification

You can use Ray to display a notification.

ray().notify('This is my notification');

screenshot

Working with errors

Ray can display information about an Error or exception with the error method.

ray().error(new Error('my error message'));

Displaying class information

You can display the classname of an object with className().

const obj = new MyClass1();

ray().className(obj);

Working with dates

Ray can display information about a date in a nicely formatted table using the date() method. Specifying the format is optional. It uses the dayjs formatting style.

ray().date(new Date(), 'YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss');

screenshot

Measuring performance

You can use the measure function to display runtime and memory usage. When measure is called again, the time between this and previous call is also displayed.

const sleep = (seconds) => {
    const start = new Date().getTime();
    while (new Date().getTime() < start + (seconds * 1000)) { }
};

ray().measure();

sleep(1);

ray().measure();

sleep(2);

ray().measure();

screenshot

The measure call optionally accepts a callable. Ray will output the time needed to run the callable and the maximum memory used.

const sleep = (seconds) => {
    const start = new Date().getTime();
    while (new Date().getTime() < start + (seconds * 1000)) { }
};

ray().measure(() => {
    sleep(5);
});

The stopTime method can remove a stopwatch if you've previous called measure() with a name:


ray().measure('my timer');

sleep(1);

ray().measure('my timer');

ray().stopTime('my timer');

Calling stopTime() without specifying a name will delete all existing stopwatches.

Rendering HTML

To render a piece of HTML directly in Ray, you can use the html method.

ray().html('<b>Bold string<b>');

Displaying text content

To display raw text while preserving whitespace formatting, use the text method. If the text contains HTML, it will be displayed as-is and is not rendered.

ray().text('<em>this string is html encoded</em>');
ray().text('  whitespace formatting' . "\n" . '   is preserved as well.');

Showing events

You can information about an event that has executed by calling event(name, data), with data being optional.

ray().event('TestEvent', ['my argument']);

screenshot

Limiting the number of sent payloads

To limit the number of payloads sent by a particular ray() call, use the limit function. It works well for debugging loops.

for(let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    ray().limit(3).text(`A #${i}`); // counts to 3
    ray().limit(6).text(`B #${i}`); // counts to 6
    ray().text(`C #${i}`); // counts to 10
}

If the argument passed to limit() is a negative number or zero, limiting is disabled.

Using a rate limiter

A rate limiter can help to reduce the amount of sent messages. This would avoid spamming the desktop app, which can be helpful when using Ray in loops.

Ray.rateLimiter().max(10); // only 10 messages will be sent

Ray.rateLimiter().perSecond(10); // only 10 messages per second will be sent

To remove the rate limits again

Ray.rateLimiter().clear();

A message to the desktop app will be sent once to notify the user the rate limit has been reached.

Sending a payload once

To only send a payload once, use the once function. This is useful for debugging loops.

once() may be called with arguments:

for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    ray().once($i); // only sends "0"
}

You can also use once without arguments. Any function you chain on once will also only be called once.

for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    ray().once().html(`<strong>${i}</strong>`); // only sends "<strong>0</strong>"
}

Conditionally sending items to Ray

If for any reason you do not want to send payloads to Ray unless a condition is met, use the if() method.

You can call if() in two ways: only with a conditional, or with a conditional and a callback. A conditional can be either a truthy value or a callable that returns a truthy value.

Note that when if() is called with only a conditional, all following chained methods will only execute if the conditional is true. When using a callback with if(), all additional chained methods will be called.

for(let i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    ray().if(i < 10).text(`value is less than ten: ${i}`).blue();
    
    ray().if(() => i === 25).text("value is twenty-five!").green();
    
    // display "value: #" for every item, and display 
    // even numbered values as red
    ray().text(`value: ${i}`)
        .if(i % 2 === 0)
        .red();
}

You can even chain multiple if() calls without callbacks:

for(let i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    // display "value: #" for every item, and display even values as red
    // and odd values as blue, except for 10 -- which is shown with large 
    // text and in green.
    ray()
        .text(`value: ${i}`)
        .if($i % 2 === 0)
            .red()
        .if($i % 2 !== 0)
            .blue()
        .if($i === 10)
            .large()
            .green();
}

Or chain multiple calls to if() with callbacks that don't affect the chained methods following them:

for(let i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    // display "value: #" for all items and make each item green.
    // items less than 20 will have their text changed.
    // when the value is an even number, the item will be displayed with large text.
    ray().text(`value: ${i}`)
        .if(i < 10, ($ray) => {
            $ray.text(`value is less than ten: ${i}`);
        })
        .if(i >= 10 && i < 20, ($ray) => {
            $ray->text(`value is less than 20: ${i}`);
        })
        .if(i % 2 === 0, ($ray) => {
            $ray->large();
        })
        .green();
}

Feature demo

Here's a sample script that demonstrates a number of the features, both basic and advanced.

Save as demo.js, and run with node demo.js:

const { ray } = require('node-ray');

function test1() { 
    return ray().count('test one');
}

function test2() {
    return ray().count();
}

async function alternatingColorCounter() {
    return new Promise(resolve => {
        const myRay = ray();

        for(const i in [...Array(10).keys()]) {
            setTimeout( () => {
                const colorName = ['green', 'red', 'blue', 'orange'][i % 4];

                myRay.html(`counter: <strong>${i + 1}</strong>`).color(colorName);

                if (i === 9) {
                    resolve(true);
                }
            }, i * 1500);
        }
    });
}

async function main() {
    ray().showApp();

    ray().xml('<one><two><three>3333</three></two></one>');

    ray().table(['a string', true, [1, 2, 3], {a:1, b:2}]);

    ray().sendCustom({ name: 'object' });

    await alternatingColorCounter();

    await ray().pause();

    [1,2].forEach(n => test1());

    [1,2,3,4].forEach(n => test2());

    ray().image('https://placekitten.com/200/300').blue();

    ray().html('<strong>hello world</strong>').small();
}

main();

NodeJS

##Importing the package

##Enabling and disabling

##Working with screens

##App visibility

##Payload types

##Using colors

##Using sizes

##Displaying tables

##Counting

##Reset counters

##Conditionally showing items

##Removing items

##See the caller of a function

##Pausing code execution

##Displaying a notification

##Working with errors

##Displaying class information

##Working with dates

##Measuring performance

##Rendering HTML

##Displaying text content

##Showing events

##Limiting the number of sent payloads

##Using a rate limiter

##Sending a payload once

##Conditionally sending items to Ray

##Feature demo

Importing the package

Enabling and disabling

Working with screens

App visibility

Payload types

Using colors

Using sizes

Displaying tables

Counting

Reset counters

Conditionally showing items

Removing items

See the caller of a function

Pausing code execution

Displaying a notification

Working with errors

Displaying class information

Working with dates

Measuring performance

Rendering HTML

Displaying text content

Showing events

Limiting the number of sent payloads

Using a rate limiter

Sending a payload once

Conditionally sending items to Ray

Feature demo