Electron, Capacitor, PWA – was, wann, wie & warum?

Write once, run anywhere – dieser alte Java-Traum ist dank Webtechnologien längst Realität geworden. Neuerdings haben Cross-Plattform-Entwickler aber die Wahl zwischen altbewährten Ansätzen wie Ionics Capacitor und GitHub Electron, bei denen Web-Apps in native Container verpackt werden, und den neuen Progressive Web Apps (PWA), bei denen eine Webanwendung aus dem Browser heraus installiert wird. Optisch geben sich beide Methoden nicht viel, doch sie unterscheiden sich hinsichtlich der Verteilung und im Funktionsumfang.

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1. Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Christian Liebel @christianliebel Consultant
2. The image part with relationship ID rId12 was not found in the file. The image part with relationship ID rId12 was not found in the file. Special Day Cross-Plattform Applications Thema Sprecher Datum, Uhrzeit Figma, Storybook und Angular: Toolchain für plattformunabhängige UI-Entwicklung Andreas Wissel DO, 23. September 2021, 09.15 bis 10.15 Realtime Cross-Plattform-Applikationen mit Angular, ASP.NET Core und SignalR Fabian Gosebrink DO, 23. September 2021, 10.45 bis 11.45 Angular & Ionic – Cross-Plattform aus einer Hand Max Schulte DO, 23. September 2021, 12.15 bis 13.15 Electron.NET – Neue Features, Tipps und Tricks Gregor Biswanger DO, 23. September 2021, 15.30 bis 16.30 Electron, Capacitor, PWA – was, wann, wie & warum? Christian Liebel DO, 23. September 2021, 17.00 bis 18.00
3. Hello, it’s me. Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Christian Liebel Twitter: @christianliebel Email: christian.liebel @thinktecture.com Angular & PWA Slides: thinktecture.com /christian-liebel
4. Intro Progressive Web Apps Electron Capacitor Summary Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
5. Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum »Cross-platform and cross-device development will become the norm in the next few years.« Christian Weyer
6. In 2021, the cross-platform story still works out – and it’s better than ever! Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Today One team One codebase Maximum reach
7. Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
8. Intro Progressive Web Apps Electron Capacitor Summary Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
9. Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Responsive Linkable Discoverable Installable App-like Connectivity Independent Fresh Safe Re-engageable Progressive
10. Architecture Overview & Deployment Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps Browser Internet Single-Page Application Cache fetch JS HTML CSS Server Service Worker
11. Install Experience Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps
12. Web Native Web App Gap Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps Web App Gap
13. Project Fugu Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps »Let’s bring the web back – API by API« Thomas Steiner, Google
14. Project Fugu Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps Contacts Picker Screen Wake Lock API Picture in picture File System Access API Capability missing? http://bit.ly/new-fugu-request
15. Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Project Fugu https://fugu-tracker.web.app/
16. Fugu Example: File System Access API if ('showOpenFilePicker' in window) { const handle = await window.showOpenFilePicker(); const file = await handle.getFile(); // do something with the file } else { // use fallback API or disable feature in app } Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps Feature Detection Browser takes care of calling OS-level APIs
17. Browser Cross-Platform Web APIs Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps window.showOpenFilePicker(); Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT IFileDialog … NSOpenPanel
18. https://paint.js.org Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum LIVE DEMO
19. Store Deployments (Simplified) Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps https://example.com .appx .apk Server Microsoft Store Play Store Source Files
20. Advantages - One single codebase, maximum reach - No app store, installation, third-party software, … required - No app store approvals required - Super easy deployment (SFTP is enough, no redeployment via MSI, …) - Latest app version is always available - App Store support for Microsoft Store, Google Play Store (Trusted Web Activity, TWA), Samsung Galaxy Store (currently US only) - Fully backwards compatible Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps
21. Disadvantages - No Apple App Store support (uploading PWAs is discouraged) - Web App Gap - not all native APIs are available on the web platform - expected to get smaller thanks to Project Fugu - not all web APIs are available in every browser - No control over execution environment - Requires an up-to-date browser If that’s an issue, web apps are still an option! Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps
22. Deployment Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Electron/Capacitor JS HTML CSS .ipa .exe .app ELF .apk Single-Page Application Capacitor Electron
23. Intro Progressive Web Apps Electron Capactior Summary Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
24. Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
25. Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Electron Architecture Desktop OS Electron Renderer Process (Chromium) Electron Main Process (Node.js) macOS Windows Linux Single-Page Application Electron API Custom Node.js Modules IPC Remote Node.js Electron- App
26. Advantages - Many desktop target platforms - Windows 7+, macOS 10.10+, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora - macOS App Store, Microsoft Store, Snapcraft - Access to all native APIs - Well-defined runtime environment (Chromium and Node.js) - Integration scenarios with native applications Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Electron
27. Disadvantages - Wrapper is large in size (“hello world” starts with ~100 MB) - Outdated Node.js & Chromium versions may pose security risks to users – developers have to take care of regular updates of the wrapper - Each Electron instance leads to RAM overhead (e.g. Slack) Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Electron
28. Alternatives Tauri https://github.com/tauri-apps/tauri Windows: WebView2 macOS: WebKit Linux: WebKitGTK Smaller binaries, but different browser environments Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Electron
29. Intro Progressive Web Apps Electron Capacitor Summary Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
30. – Provided by Ionic – Native projects are source assets (instead of build assets) – Backwards-compatible with Cordova (and many of its plug-ins) Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Capacitor
31. Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum https://appfigures.com/top-sdks/development/all
32. Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Cordova Architecture Cordova Application Single-Page Application HTML JS CSS Assets Cordova Plugins Geolocation Notifications Media Camera Custom Plugins HTML Rendering Engine (WebView) Cordova Native APIs Cordova APIs HTML APIs Mobile OS Android iOS Windows 10 UWP and more… OS APIs OS APIs
33. Advantages - Supports app development for iOS, Android - Access to all native APIs - Official App Store deployments Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Capacitor
34. Disadvantages - Plug-ins are often outdated - App store membership required - Dependent on guidelines and goodwill of platform provider - App/update validation can take several hours or days Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Capacitor
35. Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum https://www.heise.de/news/Epic-Games-CEO-wirft-Apple-Monopolpraktiken-vor-6035278.html (04.05.2021)
36. Intro Progressive Web Apps Electron Capacitor Summary Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
37. Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Target Platforms PROGRESSIVE WEB APPS CAPACITOR ELECTRON + cars, smart fridges, …
38. - Developers should aim for Progressive Web Apps - If required, web apps can be (additionally) wrapped in a Capacitor or Electron container à your web app investment always pays off! - Consider Capacitor and Electron as “uber-polyfills” that might become increasingly irrelevant in the future - Feature-detect modern web APIs and use them, fall back to Electron/Capacitor APIs or alternatives if unavailable - Report your use cases and missing web capabilities to browser vendors Electron, Capacitor, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Recap
39. Thank you for your kind attention! Christian Liebel @christianliebel christian.liebel@thinktecture.com PWA/Electron/Cordova Cheat Sheet