hermes's Introduction

Hermes

Client-side messaging channel for sending data from one browser tab to another with the same origin. Think of it as a PubSub module that can send messages across multiple browser tabs.

To see a demo of Hermes in action, open this page in multiple browser tabs.

Usage

Get a copy of hermes.js or dist/hermes.min.js and include it in your code:

<script src="/path/to/hermes.js"></script>

Hermes also supports AMD, so it can also be included this way:

require(['path/to/hermes'], function(hermes) { });

Hermes exposes an object named hermes which contains the API methods.

API

send(name, data, [includeSelf=false]): Send data to other browser tabs subscribed to a specified topic.
- name: The name of the topic in which the data will be sent to.
- data: The data to be sent. This needs to be a JSON-serializable object.
- includeSelf (optional, default=false): A boolean indicating whether the data should also be sent to the current tab.
```
hermes.send('some-topic', 'hello world');
hermes.send('some-topic', { title: 'awesome' });
hermes.send('some-topic', { title: 'awesome' }, true);
```
on(name, callback): Add a callback function for a specified topic.
- name: The name of the topic to subscribe to.
- callback: The callback function, which accepts a single argument representing the data that was sent originally.
```
hermes.on('some-topic', function(data) { });
```
off(name, [callback]): Remove a callback function for a specified topic.
- name: The name of the topic to unsubscribe from.
- callback (optional): The callback function to remove, or don't provide in order to remove all callback functions for the name topic.
```
hermes.off('some-topic', callbackFunction);
hermes.off('some-topic');
```