Callback types

In order to pass a JS function to a C function expecting a callback, you must first create a callback type with the expected return type and parameters. The syntax is similar to the one used to load functions from a shared library.

import koffi from 'koffi';
// CJS: const koffi = require('koffi');

// With the classic syntax, this callback expects an integer and returns nothing
const ExampleCallback = koffi.proto('ExampleCallback', 'void', ['int']);

// With the prototype parser, this callback expects a double and float, and returns the sum as a double
const AddDoubleFloat = koffi.proto('double AddDoubleFloat(double d, float f)');

For alternative calling conventions (such as stdcall on Windows x86 32-bit), you can specify as the first argument with the classic syntax, or after the return type in prototype strings, like this:

const HANDLE = koffi.pointer('HANDLE', koffi.opaque());
const HWND = koffi.alias('HWND', HANDLE);

// These two declarations work the same, and use the __stdcall convention on Windows x86
const EnumWindowsProc = koffi.proto('bool __stdcall EnumWindowsProc (HWND hwnd, long lParam)');
const EnumWindowsProc = koffi.proto('__stdcall', 'EnumWindowsProc', 'bool', ['HWND', 'long']);

Once your callback type is declared, you can use a pointer to it in struct definitions, as function parameters and/or return types, or to call/decode function pointers.

Transient and registered callbacks

Koffi only uses predefined static trampolines, and does not need to generate code at runtime, which makes it compatible with platforms with hardened W^X migitations (such as PaX mprotect). However, this imposes some restrictions on the maximum number of callbacks, and their duration.

Thus, Koffi distinguishes two callback modes:

• Transient callbacks can only be called while the C function they are passed to is running, and are invalidated when it returns. If the C function calls the callback later, the behavior is undefined, though Koffi tries to detect such cases. If it does, an exception will be thrown, but this is not guaranteed. However, they are simple to use, and don't require any special handling.
• Registered callbacks can be called at any time, but they must be manually registered and unregistered. A limited number of registered callbacks can exist at the same time.

Transient callbacks

Use transient callbacks when the native C function only needs to call them while it runs (e.g. qsort, progress callback, sqlite3_exec). Here is a small example with the C part and the JS part.

#include <string.h>

int TransferToJS(const char *name, int age, int (*cb)(const char *str, int age))
{
    char buf[64];
    snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "Hello %s!", str);
    return cb(buf, age);
}

import koffi from 'koffi';
// CJS: const koffi = require('koffi');

const lib = koffi.load('./callbacks.so'); // Fake path

const TransferCallback = koffi.proto('int TransferCallback(const char *str, int age)');

const TransferToJS = lib.func('TransferToJS', 'int', ['str', 'int', koffi.pointer(TransferCallback)]);

let ret = TransferToJS('Niels', 27, (str, age) => {
    console.log(str);
    console.log('Your age is:', age);
    return 42;
});
console.log(ret);

// This example prints:
//   Hello Niels!
//   Your age is: 27
//   42

Registered callbacks

Changed in Koffi 3.0 (see note below)

Use registered callbacks when the function needs to be called at a later time (e.g. log handler, event handler, fopencookie/funopen). Call koffi.register(func, type) to register a callback function, with two arguments: the JS function, and the callback type.

When you are done, call koffi.unregister() (with the value returned by koffi.register()) to release the slot. A maximum of 8192 callbacks can exist at the same time. Failure to do so will leak the slot, and subsequent registrations may fail (with an exception) once all slots are used.

The example below shows how to register and unregister delayed callbacks.

static const char *(*g_cb1)(const char *name);
static void (*g_cb2)(const char *str);

void RegisterFunctions(const char *(*cb1)(const char *name), void (*cb2)(const char *str))
{
    g_cb1 = cb1;
    g_cb2 = cb2;
}

void SayIt(const char *name)
{
    const char *str = g_cb1(name);
    g_cb2(str);
}

import koffi from 'koffi';
// CJS: const koffi = require('koffi');

const lib = koffi.load('./callbacks.so'); // Fake path

const GetCallback = koffi.proto('const char *GetCallback(const char *name)');
const PrintCallback = koffi.proto('void PrintCallback(const char *str)');

const RegisterFunctions = lib.func('void RegisterFunctions(GetCallback *cb1, PrintCallback *cb2)');
const SayIt = lib.func('void SayIt(const char *name)');

let cb1 = koffi.register(name => 'Hello ' + name + '!', koffi.pointer(GetCallback));
let cb2 = koffi.register(console.log, 'PrintCallback *');

RegisterFunctions(cb1, cb2);
SayIt('Kyoto'); // Prints Hello Kyoto!

koffi.unregister(cb1);
koffi.unregister(cb2);

Special considerations

Decoding pointer arguments

Koffi does not have enough information to convert callback pointer arguments to an appropriate JS value. In this case, your JS function will receive a BigInt value with the pointer address (or null is the pointer is null).

You can pass this value through to another C function that expects a pointer of the same type, or you can use koffi.decode() function to decode pointer arguments.

The following examples uses it to sort an array of strings in-place with the standard C function qsort():

import koffi from 'koffi';
// CJS: const koffi = require('koffi');

const lib = koffi.load('libc.so.6');

const SortCallback = koffi.proto('int SortCallback(const void *first, const void *second)');
const qsort = lib.func('void qsort(_Inout_ void *array, size_t count, size_t size, SortCallback *cb)');

let array = ['foo', 'bar', '123', 'foobar'];

qsort(koffi.as(array, 'char **'), array.length, koffi.sizeof('void *'), (ptr1, ptr2) => {
    let str1 = koffi.decode(ptr1, 'char *');
    let str2 = koffi.decode(ptr2, 'char *');

    return str1.localeCompare(str2);
});

console.log(array); // Prints ['123', 'bar', 'foo', 'foobar']

Asynchronous callbacks

JS execution is inherently single-threaded, so JS callbacks must run on the main thread. There are two ways you may want to call a callback function from another thread:

• Call the callback from an asynchronous FFI call (e.g. waitpid.async)
• Inside a synchronous FFI call, pass the callback to another thread

In both cases, Koffi will queue the call back to JS to run on the main thread, as soon as the JS event loop has a chance to run (for example when you await a promise).

Handling of exceptions

If an exception happens inside the JS callback, the C API will receive 0 or NULL (depending on the return value type).

Handle the exception yourself (with try/catch) if you need to handle exceptions differently.