---
title: C + JerryScript
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---
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[JerryScript](https://jerryscript.net/) is a lightweight JavaScript engine. It
is designed for microcontrollers and similar environments.
[SheetJS](https://sheetjs.com) is a JavaScript library for reading and writing
data from spreadsheets.
This demo uses JerryScript and SheetJS to pull data from a spreadsheet and print
CSV rows. We'll explore how to load SheetJS in a JerryScript realm and process
spreadsheets from C programs.
The ["Integration Example"](#integration-example) section includes a complete
command-line tool for reading data from files.
:::caution pass
This demo requires a much larger heap size than is normally used in JerryScript
deployments! In local testing, the following sizes were needed:
- 8192 (8M) for https://docs.sheetjs.com/pres.xlsx
- 65536 (64M) for https://docs.sheetjs.com/pres.numbers
:::
:::note Tested Environments
This demo was tested in the following environments:
| Architecture | Commit | Date |
|:-------------|:----------|:-----------|
| `darwin-x64` | `35465ed` | 2024-05-25 |
| `darwin-arm` | `35465ed` | 2024-05-25 |
| `win10-x64` | `47bd5d4` | 2024-04-14 |
| `win11-arm` | `35465ed` | 2024-05-25 |
| `linux-x64` | `cefd391` | 2024-03-21 |
| `linux-arm` | `35465ed` | 2024-05-25 |
The Windows tests were run in WSL.
:::
## Integration Details
:::info pass
The official JerryScript documentation and examples are out of date. This
explanation was verified against the latest release (commit `514fa67`).
:::
### Initialize JerryScript
The global engine instance can be initialized with `jerry_init` and cleaned up
with `jerry_cleanup`:
```c
#include "jerryscript.h"
int main (int argc, char **argv) {
/* Initialize engine */
/* highlight-next-line */
jerry_init(JERRY_INIT_EMPTY);
// ... use engine methods ...
/* cleanup before exiting */
/* highlight-next-line */
jerry_cleanup();
return 0;
}
```
API methods use `jerry_value_t` values to represent JS values and miscellany.
Values representing errors can be distinguished using `jerry_value_is_error`.
`jerry_value_t` values can be freed with `jerry_value_free`.
### Evaluate Code
Evaluating code involves two steps:
- `jerry_parse` will parse the script
- `jerry_run` will run the parsed script object
:::note pass
The return value of `jerry_parse` is a `jerry_value_t` value that can be safely
freed after `jerry_run`.
:::
The following `eval_str` function parses and executes scripts. If parsing fails,
the function will return the parsing error. If parsing succeeds, the function
will return the result of executing the code.
```c
jerry_value_t eval_str(const char *code, size_t sz) {
/* try to parse code */
jerry_value_t parsed = jerry_parse(code, sz, NULL);
/* return the parse error if parsing failed */
if(jerry_value_is_error(parsed)) return parsed;
/* run the code */
jerry_value_t out = jerry_run(parsed);
/* free the parsed representation */
jerry_value_free(parsed);
/* return the result */
return out;
}
```
### Load SheetJS Scripts
[SheetJS Standalone scripts](/docs/getting-started/installation/standalone) can
be parsed and run in JerryScript.
Scripts can be read from the filesystem using standard C functions:
```c
static char *read_file(const char *filename, size_t *sz) {
FILE *f = fopen(filename, "rb");
if(!f) return NULL;
long fsize; { fseek(f, 0, SEEK_END); fsize = ftell(f); fseek(f, 0, SEEK_SET); }
char *buf = (char *)malloc(fsize * sizeof(char));
*sz = fread((void *) buf, 1, fsize, f) - 1;
fclose(f);
return buf;
}
```
The shim script must be evaluated before the main library. In both cases, after
reading the script file, the previous `eval_str` function can run the code:
```c
/* evaluate shim.min.js */
{
size_t sz; const jerry_char_t *script = (jerry_char_t *)read_file("shim.min.js", &sz);
jerry_value_t result = eval_str(script, sz);
if(jerry_value_is_error(result)) { // failed to parse / execute
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to evaluate shim.min.js"); return 1;
}
jerry_value_free(result);
}
/* evaluate xlsx.full.min.js */
{
size_t sz; const jerry_char_t *script = (jerry_char_t *)read_file("xlsx.full.min.js", &sz);
jerry_value_t result = eval_str(script, sz);
if(jerry_value_is_error(result)) { // failed to parse / execute
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to evaluate xlsx.full.min.js"); return 1;
}
jerry_value_free(result);
}
```
### Reading Files
Binary file data can be passed from C to JerryScript with `ArrayBuffer` objects.
#### Creating ArrayBuffers
`jerry_arraybuffer` will generate an `ArrayBuffer` object of specified length.
After creating the array, `jerry_arraybuffer_write` will copy data.
The following `load_file` function reads a file from the filesystem and loads
the data into an `ArrayBuffer`:
```c
static jerry_value_t load_file(const char *filename) {
/* read file */
size_t len; char *buf = read_file(filename, &len);
if(!buf) return 0;
/* create ArrayBuffer */
jerry_value_t out = jerry_arraybuffer(len);
/* copy file data into ArrayBuffer */
jerry_arraybuffer_write(out, 0, (const uint8_t*)buf, len);
return out;
}
```
The process may fail. The result should be tested with `jerry_value_is_error`:
```c
jerry_value_t ab = load_file("pres.xlsx");
if(!ab || jerry_value_is_error(ab)) { // failed to create ArrayBuffer
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to read pres.xlsx"); return 1;
}
```
#### Creating Global Variable
The `ArrayBuffer` object must be bound to a variable before it can be used.
:::note pass
The goal is to bind the `ArrayBuffer` to the `buf` property in global scope.
:::
1) Get the global `this` variable (using `jerry_current_realm`):
```c
/* get the global variable */
jerry_value_t this = jerry_current_realm();
if(jerry_value_is_error(this)) { // failed to get global object
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to get global object"); return 1;
}
```
2) Create a JerryScript string (`"buf"`) for the property:
```c
/* create a string "buf" for the property access */
jerry_value_t prop = jerry_string_sz("buf");
if(jerry_value_is_error(this)) { // failed to create "buf"
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to create string"); return 1;
}
```
3) Assign the property using `jerry_object_set`:
```c
/* set global["buf"] to the ArrayBuffer */
jerry_value_t set = jerry_object_set(this, prop, ab);
if(jerry_value_is_error(set)) { // failed to set property
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to assign ArrayBuffer"); return 1;
}
```
#### Parsing Data
:::note pass
The goal is to run the equivalent of the following JavaScript code:
```js
/* `buf` is the `ArrayBuffer` from the previous step */
var wb = XLSX.read(buf);
```
:::
The `ArrayBuffer` from the previous step is available in the `buf` variable.
That `ArrayBuffer` can be passed to the SheetJS `read` method[^1], which will
parse the raw data and return a SheetJS workbook object[^2].
`var wb = XLSX.read(buf)` can be stored in a byte array and evaluated directly:
```c
/* run `var wb = XLSX.read(buf)` */
{
const jerry_char_t code[] = "var wb = XLSX.read(buf);";
jerry_value_t result = eval_str(code, sizeof(code) - 1);
if(jerry_value_is_error(result)) {
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to parse file"); return 1;
}
jerry_value_free(result);
}
```
#### Generating CSV
:::note pass
The goal is to run the equivalent of the following JavaScript code:
```js
/* `wb` is the workbook from the previous step */
XLSX.utils.sheet_to_csv(wb.Sheets[wb.SheetNames[0]])
```
:::
A SheetJS workbook object can contain multiple sheet objects[^3]. The `Sheets`
property is an object whose keys are sheet names and whose values are sheet
objects. The `SheetNames` property is an array of worksheet names.
The first sheet name can be found at `wb.SheetNames[0]`. The first sheet object
can be found at `wb.Sheets[wb.SheetNames[0]]`.
The SheetJS `sheet_to_csv` utility function[^4] accepts a sheet object and
generates a JS string.
Combining everything, `XLSX.utils.sheet_to_csv(wb.Sheets[wb.SheetNames[0]])`
generates a CSV string based on the first worksheet in the workbook `wb`:
```c
const jerry_char_t code[] = "XLSX.utils.sheet_to_csv(wb.Sheets[wb.SheetNames[0]])";
jerry_value_t csv = eval_str(code, sizeof(code) - 1);
if(jerry_value_is_error(result)) { // CSV generation failed
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to generate csv"); return 1;
}
```
#### Pulling Strings
JerryScript exposes encoding-aware methods to pull JS strings into C. The
`JERRY_ENCODING_UTF8` encoding forces UTF8 interpretations.
The `jerry_string_size` function returns the number of bytes required to store
the string. After allocating memory, `jerry_string_to_buffer` will copy data.
The following `pull_str` function uses `malloc`:
```js
char *pull_str(jerry_value_t str, size_t *sz) {
/* determine string size in bytes */
jerry_size_t str_sz = jerry_string_size(str, JERRY_ENCODING_UTF8);
/* allocate memory */
jerry_char_t *buf = (jerry_char_t *)malloc(str_sz + 1);
/* copy from JS string to C byte array */
jerry_string_to_buffer(str, JERRY_ENCODING_UTF8, buf, str_sz + 1);
/* pass back size and return the pointer */
*sz = str_sz;
return (char *)buf;
}
```
This function can be used to pull the `csv` value from the previous section:
```c
size_t sz; char *buf = pull_str(result, &sz);
printf("%s\n", buf);
```
## Complete Example
The "Integration Example" covers a traditional integration in a C application,
while the "CLI Test" demonstrates other concepts using the `jerry` CLI tool.
### Integration Example
Build Dependencies (click to show)
The JerryScript build system requires `cmake`.
Debian and WSL additionally require `python3` and `python-is-python3` packages.