Electron, Cordova & PWA - was, wann, wie & warum?

Write once, run anywhere – dieser alte Java-Traum ist dank Webtechnologien längst Realität geworden. Neuerdings haben Cross-Platform-Entwickler aber die Wahl zwischen altbewährten Ansätzen wie Apache Cordova 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.

PWA-Professional Christian Liebel erklärt Ihnen, für welche Anwendungsfälle sich PWAs eignen und wann Sie ergänzend oder alternativ zu Electron oder Cordova greifen sollten.

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1. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Christian Liebel @christianliebel Consultant
2. Hello, it’s me. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Christian Liebel Twitter: @christianliebel Email: christian.liebel @thinktecture.com Angular & PWA Slides: thinktecture.com /christian-liebel
3. Intro Progressive Web Apps Electron Cordova Summary Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
4. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum BASTA! Spring 2013 »Cross-platform and cross- device development will become the norm in the next few years.« Christian Weyer
5. In 2020, the cross-platform story still works out – and it’s better than ever! Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Today One team One codebase Maximum reach
6. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
7. Intro Progressive Web Apps Electron Cordova Summary Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
8. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Responsive Linkable Discoverable Installable App-like Connectivity Independent Fresh Safe Re-engageable Progressive
9. Cheat Sheet Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps
10. Architecture Overview & Deployment Electron, Cordova, 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, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps
12. Web Native Web App Gap Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps Web App Gap
13. Project Fugu Electron, Cordova, 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, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps Contacts Picker Screen Wake Lock API Picture in picture Native File System API
15. Fugu Example: Native File System API if ('chooseFileSystemEntries' in window) { const handle = await window.chooseFileSystemEntries(); const file = await handle.getFile(); // do something with the file } else { // use fallback API or disable feature in app } Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps Feature Detection Browser takes care of calling OS-level APIs
16. Browser Cross-Platform Web APIs Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps window.chooseFileSystemEntries(); Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT IFileDialog … NSOpenPanel
17. https://paint.js.org Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum LIVE DEMO
18. Store Deployments (Simplified) Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps https://example.com .appx .apk Server Microsoft Store Play Store Source Files
19. 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, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps
20. 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, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Progressive Web Apps
21. Deployment Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Electron/Cordova JS HTML CSS .ipa .exe .app ELF .apk .appx Single-Page Application Cordova Electron
22. Intro Progressive Web Apps Electron Cordova Summary Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
23. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
24. Electron, Cordova, 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
25. 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, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Electron
26. 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, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Electron
27. Intro Progressive Web Apps Electron Cordova Summary Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
28. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum https://appfigures.com/top-sdks/development/all
29. Electron, Cordova, 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
30. Alternative: Capacitor – Provided by Ionic – Different Workflow: native projects are source assets instead of build assets – Backwards-compatible with Cordova (and many of its plug-ins) Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Cordova
31. Advantages - Supports app development for iOS, Android, macOS, UWP (+ Electron, Web) - Access to all native APIs - Official App Store deployments Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Cordova
32. Disadvantages - Plug-ins are often outdated - Cordova’s web and Electron platforms are inconvenient to use - Dependent on guidelines and goodwill of platform provider - App/update validation can take several hours or days Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Cordova
33. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum https://medium.com/quark-works/why-our-app-got-removed-from-the-google-play-store-how-we-fixed-it-4c8d430eafa0 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/09/technology/apple-app-store-competition.html https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/30/18203551/apple-facebook-blocked-internal-ios-apps
34. Intro Progressive Web Apps Electron Cordova Summary Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
35. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Target Platforms PROGRESSIVE WEB APPS CORDOVA ELECTRON + cars, smart fridges, …
36. - Developers should aim for Progressive Web Apps - If required, web apps can be (additionally) wrapped in a Cordova or Electron container à your web app investment always pays off! - Consider Cordova 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/Cordova APIs or alternatives if unavailable - Report your use cases and missing web capabilities to browser vendors Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Recap
37. Thank you for your kind attention! Christian Liebel @christianliebel christian.liebel@thinktecture.com