Brr v0.0.5

Brr is a toolkit for programming browsers in OCaml with the js_of_ocaml compiler. It provides:

• Interfaces to a selection of browser APIs.
• Note based reactive support (optional and experimental).
• An OCaml console developer tool for live interaction with programs running in web pages.
• A JavaScript FFI for idiomatic OCaml programming.

Manuals

These manuals are available:

• The Web page howto explains how to compile and integrate your OCaml program in a web page.
• The OCaml console manual has intructions to setup the developer tool WebExtension to peek into your programs at runtime.
• The FFI manual explains how OCaml and JavaScript values are represented by js_of_ocaml and Brr. Recommended reading.
• The FFI cookbook has off-the-shelf design answers for common JavaScript binding scenarios.

Also the test directory of Brr's repository has a few examples that use the APIs.

Library brr

This library has the JavaScript FFI and the interfaces to the supported browser APIs.

• Jstr JavaScript strings
• Jv JavaScript values.
• Fut Future values.
• Brr Browser APIs.
• Brr_canvas Canvas APIs.
• Brr_io Clipboard, Form, Fetch, Geolocation, Media and Storage APIs.
• Brr_webaudio Web Audio API.
• Brr_webcrypto Web Crypto API.
• Brr_webgpu WebGPU API.
• Brr_webmidi Web MIDI API.
• Brr_webworkers Web and Service Worker APIs.

Library brr.note

This library has the Note reactive infrastructure for browsers and a few higher-level APIs.

Experimental, will break in the future.

• Brr_note Infrastructure for reactive browser interaction.
• Brr_note_kit
• Brr_note_legacy Legacy functionality.

Libraries brr.poke[d] and brr.ocaml_poke[_ui]

The brr.poke library provides a function to define a poke object for your program so that the OCaml console can interact with it. Use brr.poked to poke your program by side-effect without modifying its source. In both cases you need compile your JavaScript appropriately.

• Brr_poke OCaml poke object definition for the OCaml console.
• Brr_poked OCaml poke by side effect.

The brr.ocaml_poke library provides support to find and access the ocaml_poke object provided by your program. The brr.ocaml_poke_ui library provides an HTML interface to the poke object as an interactive toplevel (REPL). These APIs are used by the OCaml console.

• Brr_ocaml_poke ocaml_poke object for OCaml console.
• Brr_ocaml_poke_ui Interactive toplevel HTML interface for poke objects.

Supported browser APIs

The following JavaScript and browser functionality is supported:

• General support for JavaScript values is in Jv.
• JavaScript Strings are in Jstr.
• Left-pad support is in Jstr.pad_start.
• JavaScript Promises are in Fut to safely type them. Brr.Abort has support for aborting them.
• JavaScript ArrayBuffers and TypedArrays are in Brr.Tarray.
• Data encoding are in Brr.Base64, Brr.Json.
• Global objects and functions are in Brr.G.
• A remixed HTML DOM API is provided by Brr.Ev, Brr.At and Brr.El.
• Some browser functionality is in Brr.Console, Brr.Window, Brr.Navigator.
• The Blob API is in Brr.Blob
• The Broadcast and Channel Messsaging API is in Brr_io.Message.
• The Canvas 2D API is in Brr_canvas.C2d.
• The Cache API is in Brr_io.Fetch.Cache.
• The Clipboard API is in Brr_io.Clipboard.
• The File API is in Brr.File.
• The Fetch API is in Brr_io.Fetch.
• The Form element and Form Data API is in Brr_io.Form.
• The Geolocation API is in Brr_io.Geolocation.
• The History API is in Brr.Window.History.
• The Media capture, media streams and media element APIs are in Brr_io.Media.
• The Notification API is in Brr_io.Notification.
• The Performance API is in Brr.Performance.
• The Service Worker API is in Brr_webworkers.Service_worker.
• The URL API is in Brr.Uri.
• The Web Audio API is in Brr_webaudio.
• The Web Crypto API is in Brr_webcrypto.
• The WebGL2 API is in Brr_canvas.Gl.
• The WebGPU API is in Brr_webgpu.Gpu.
• The Web MIDI API is in Brr_webmidi.
• The Web Sockets API is in Brr_io.Websocket.
• The Web Storage API is in Brr_io.Storage.
• The Web Workers API is in Brr_webworkers.Worker.

Finally note that:

• Brr is incomplete. Exhaustiveness is a non-goal.
• Brr tracks long-term, universal and forward-looking browser changes.
• Brr does not provide one-to-one bindings to JavaScript APIs. Some of them may be remixed, tweaked and functionality may be deliberately left out.
• If you would like to add something, first get in touch on the issue tracker.