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Installation

Distribution Flavours​

To cater to various needs, WEBMIDI.js is distributed in 3 different flavours:

  • Immediately Invoked Function Expression (IIFE): This version adds its objects directly to the global namespace. This is the legacy approach which is often easier for beginners.

  • ES6 Module (ESM): This is the modern approach which allows you to import the objects as needed (works in newer versions of browsers and Node.js).

  • CommonJS Module (CJS): this is the flavour traditionnally used by Node.js and often with bundling tools such as WebPack.

All 3 flavours come in full and minified versions with sourcemap.

Retrieving the Library​

Depending on your needs and environment, you can retrieve and install WEBMIDI.js in a variety of different ways. Let's look at all of them.

Linking From CDN​

The fastest way to get started is to link the library directly from the jsDelivr CDN (Content Delivery Network). Just add a <script> tag to your HTML page:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/webmidi@latest/dist/iife/webmidi.iife.js"></script>

You can retrieve different versions and flavours of the library by modifying the URL. For example, to grab a different flavour replace /dist/iife/webmidi.iife.js by one of these:

  • /dist/cjs/webmidi.cjs.js
  • /dist/cjs/webmidi.cjs.min.js
  • /dist/esm/webmidi.esm.js
  • /dist/esm/webmidi.esm.min.js
  • /dist/iife/webmidi.iife.js
  • /dist/iife/webmidi.iife.min.js

If you want more control over versions and flavours, check out the jsDelivr examples.

Installing Manually​

Obviously, you can also install the library the old-fashioned way by manually downloading it and placing it somewhere in your project. Link to it from your HTML page using a <script> tag as usual.

Installing with NPM​

Arguably, the easiest approach is to install the library with NPM (Node Package Manager) or Yarn. At the root of your project, simply issue the following command to perform the installation (obviously, Node.js needs to be installed on your system):

npm install webmidi

Then, you can use any of these approaches depending on your environment:

The IIFE (Immediately-Invoked Function Expression) approach creates objects directly in the global namespace and might be easier for beginners.

<!-- Script tag in HTML page -->
<script src="node_modules/webmidi/dist/iife/webmidi.iife.js"></script>

Using CommonJS is the traditional approach for Node.js.

const {WebMidi} = require("webmidi");

This is the modern approach using the ECMAScript module format. You can use it in browsers (see compatibility) and in Node.js v12+. Going forward, this is the favoured approach.

Browsers:

import {WebMidi} from "./node_modules/webmidi/dist/esm/webmidi.esm.min.js";

Node.js:

import {WebMidi} from "webmidi";
caution

Insecure Origins​

Starting with version 77, Chrome deprecated Web MIDI usage on insecure origins. This means that, going forward, any page using the library will need to be hosted on a secure origin:

  • https://
  • localhost:
  • file:///

Also, the user will need to explicitely authorize usage via a prompt (no matter if system exclusive messages are used or not).