React Native Event Listeners

(This package isn't only restricted to react-native projects. The source is written in plain js with no dependencies to react-native.)

Why

In some very specific cases it can be charming to have a simple global event listener. While working with global event listeners you don't have to pass touch events through the component tree into other components or can bypass easily the redux architecture for example.

Installation

npm install --save react-native-event-listeners

yarn add react-native-event-listeners

Usage Example

Hint: The event listeners also work across different files. You only have to import the EventRegister in every file you need to send or receive your events.

import { EventRegister } from 'react-native-event-listeners'

/*
 * RECEIVER COMPONENT
 */
class Receiver extends PureComponent {
    constructor(props) {
        super(props)
        
        this.state = {
            data: 'no data',
        }
    }
    
    componentWillMount() {
        this.listener = EventRegister.addEventListener('myCustomEvent', (data) => {
            this.setState({
                data,
            })
        })
    }
    
    componentWillUnmount() {
        EventRegister.removeEventListener(this.listener)
    }
    
    render() {
        return <Text>{this.state.data}</Text>
    }
}

/*
 * SENDER COMPONENT
 */
const Sender = (props) => (
    <TouchableHighlight
        onPress={() => {
            EventRegister.emit('myCustomEvent', 'it works!!!')
        })
    ><Text>Send Event</Text></TouchableHighlight>
)

API

// import
import { EventRegister } from 'react-native-event-listeners'

static method	return value	description
addEventListener	string \| boolean	return value is the id of the event listener or false on error
removeEventListener	boolean	true on success otherwise false
removeAllListeners	boolean	true on success otherwise false
emitEvent	void	no return value
on	string \| boolean	shorthand for addEventListener
rm	boolean	shorthand for removeEventListener
rmAll	boolean	shorthand for removeAllListeners
emit	void	shorthand for emitEvent