So I'm building a node module for use with node-webkit that creates a new object and exports it. Standard fare. But since Node has no access to the nw-gui module of node-webkit, I'm just passing it in as a parameter to the constructor. Something like this:
function Example(gui) {
this.gui = gui; //Save for later
}
Example.prototype.createExampleMenu = function() {
return new this.gui.Menu();
}
exports.example = Example;
Works great. But I'm trying to modify .prototype methods of node-webkit's inner modules, like Menu and MenuItem. Is the only way to modify those methods (or add new ones) in the constructor itself? If I try to add new prototype methods outside, it (obviously) fails since this.gui hasn't been set. Basically, I'm trying to make it nicer to add new prototype methods to node-webkit modules without doing it in the constructor. Anyone?
I'm in no way an expert but from what I understand of the implementation of node-webkit from reading its source code, I doubt you can modify any of the objects defined in nw.gui.
If you look at the implementation of Node's standard require function in a running node-webkit instance, you'll find:
function (name) {
if (name == 'nw.gui')
return nwDispatcher.requireNwGui();
return global.require(name);
}
which means that requires of nw.gui are very special indeed.
Rather than requiring JavaScript code, this returns an internal binary object that only appears to be a required library.
Looking a little deeper, we find the nwDispatcher.nwGui.Menu is defined as:
function Menu(option) {
if (typeof option != 'object')
option = { type: 'contextmenu' };
if (option.type != 'contextmenu' && option.type != 'menubar')
throw new String('Invalid menu type: ' + option.type);
this.type = option.type;
v8_util.setHiddenValue(this, 'items', []);
nw.allocateObject(this, option);
}
which calls methods of the nw object, which is an object that is not available outside of this function, (i.e. the function acts as a closure over it.)
Further inspection of the various prototype methods of nw.gui.Menu shows that each call refers (internally) to this nw object to handle method dispatch to internally defined functions (written in C++).
So, rather than a group of standard JavaScript prototypical objects, the nw.gui module calls internal binary functions within the node-webkit runtime which are not exposed via its defined API.
From the node-webkit wiki:
Do not change UI types' prototype.