If you ever dreamed to use Javascript in your .NET application there is a simple way: Use Jint.
Jint implements the ECMA 5.1 spec and can be use from any .NET implementation (Xamarin, .NET Framework, .NET Core). Just use the NuGet package and has no dependencies to other stuff - it’s a single .dll and you are done!
Why should integrate Javascript in my application?
In our product “OneOffixx” we use Javascript as a scripting language with some “OneOffixx” specific objects.
The pro arguments for Javascript:
- It’s a well known language (even with all the brainfuck in it)
- You can sandbox it quite simple
- With a library like Jint it is super simple to interate
I highly recommend to checkout the GitHub page, but here a some simple examples, which should show how to use it:
Example 1: Simple start
After the NuGet action you can use the following code to see one of the most basic implementations:
public static void SimpleStart()
{
var engine = new Jint.Engine();
Console.WriteLine(engine.Execute("1 + 2 + 3 + 4").GetCompletionValue());
}
We create a new “Engine” and execute some simple Javascript and returen the completion value - easy as that!
Example 2: Use C# function from Javascript
Let’s say we want to provide a scripting environment and the script can access some C# based functions. This “bridge” is created via the “Engine” object. We create a value, which points to our C# implementation.
public static void DefinedDotNetApi()
{
var engine = new Jint.Engine();
engine.SetValue("demoJSApi", new DemoJavascriptApi());
var result = engine.Execute("demoJSApi.helloWorldFromDotNet('TestTest')").GetCompletionValue();
Console.WriteLine(result);
}
public class DemoJavascriptApi
{
public string helloWorldFromDotNet(string name)
{
return $"Hello {name} - this is executed in {typeof(Program).FullName}";
}
}
Example 3: Use Javascript from C#
Of course we also can do the other way around:
public static void InvokeFunctionFromDotNet()
{
var engine = new Engine();
var fromValue = engine.Execute("function jsAdd(a, b) { return a + b; }").GetValue("jsAdd");
Console.WriteLine(fromValue.Invoke(5, 5));
Console.WriteLine(engine.Invoke("jsAdd", 3, 3));
}
Example 4: Use a common Javascript library
Jint allows you to inject any Javascript code (be aware: There is no DOM, so only “libraries” can be used).
In this example we use handlebars.js:
public static void Handlebars()
{
var engine = new Jint.Engine();
engine.Execute(File.ReadAllText("handlebars-v4.0.11.js"));
engine.SetValue("context", new
{
cats = new[]
{
new {name = "Feivel"},
new {name = "Lilly"}
}
});
engine.SetValue("source", " says meow!!!\n");
engine.Execute("var template = Handlebars.compile(source);");
var result = engine.Execute("template(context)").GetCompletionValue();
Console.WriteLine(result);
}
Example 5: REPL
If you are crazy enough, you can build a simple REPL like this (not sure if this would be a good idea for production, but it works!)
public static void Repl()
{
var engine = new Jint.Engine();
while (true)
{
Console.Write("> ");
var statement = Console.ReadLine();
var result = engine.Execute(statement).GetCompletionValue();
Console.WriteLine(result);
}
}
Jint: Javascript integration done right!
As you can see: Jint is quite powerfull and if you feel the need to integrate Javascript in your application, checkout Jint!
The sample code can be found here .
Hope this helps!
