Creating real cross-platform applications with Angular, Cordova & Electron

Based on Angular, we’re able to write beautiful and performant web applications. TypeScript, Components, Services, Dependency Injection - everything fits well together. But how can we use that knowledge to create real cross-platform applications, which run on any form factor, on any device and on any operating system? Which architecture do we need? Where can we plug in platform-based code, but still use more than 95 % shared code? Questions, which we’ll answer in this workshop. We’re going to create a real cross-platform application with Angular, bring it to mobile with Cordova and back to real desktop applications with Electron. Let’s get our hands dirty!

GitHub: https://github.com/thinktecture/hamburg-angularjs-meetup-cross-platform

Transcript

1. Creating real cross-platform applications
   Angular, Cordova & Electron
   Manuel Rauber
   @manuelrauber
   Software Architect
   

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2. The guy who’s talkin’
   Software Architect @ Thinktecture AG
   ! manuel.rauber@thinktecture.com
   " @manuelrauber
   # https://manuel-rauber.com
   Microsoft MVP
   Manuel Rauber
   Angular, Cordova & Electron
   Creating real cross-platform applications
   

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3. Cross-Platform
   Angular
   Cordova
   Electron
   Creating real cross-platform applications
   Angular, Cordova & Electron
   Talking Points
   

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4. Gotta catch’em all!
   Creating real cross-platform applications
   Angular, Cordova & Electron
   Cross-Platform
   

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5. Creating real cross-platform applications
   Angular, Cordova & Electron
   Single- vs. Multi- vs. Cross-Platform
   macOS
   Linux
   Windows iOS
   Windows Phone
   Android
   BlackBerry 10
   FireOS
   Browser
   TV
   …
   Refrigerator
   

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6. Creating real cross-platform applications
   Angular, Cordova & Electron
   

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7. Creating real cross-platform applications
   Angular, Cordova & Electron
   The web as a platform
   

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8. Creating real cross-platform applications
   Angular, Cordova & Electron
   But it doesn’t look like a
   native application!
   Exactly.
   

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9. Creating real cross-platform applications
   Angular, Cordova & Electron
   https://spotifyblogcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/overview.png
   

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10. Creating real cross-platform applications
    Angular, Cordova & Electron
    http://media.idownloadblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Google-Docs-Sheets-Slides-teaser-001.jpg
    

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11. Creating real cross-platform applications
    Angular, Cordova & Electron
    Powered by
    

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12. • Lightweight service-based architecture
    • Functional services with dedicated interfaces
    • Use other services, like database or file system
    • (JSON-based) Web APIs
    • Application push services via WebSocket
    • SignalR
    • Socket.io
    Creating real cross-platform applications
    Angular, Cordova & Electron
    Architecture
    HTTP HTTPS WebSocket
    Service A Service B Service C
    Web APIs
    (ASP.NET, Node.js, …)
    HTML5-Application
    (Single-Page Application)
    Web Cordova Electron
    

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13. Overview
    • Client- & Server-side framework
    • MV* architecture
    • Components, Views, View Models
    • Modules, Services, dependency injection
    • Data binding, routing, HTTP, animations
    • First class IDE support
    • JetBrains WebStorm
    • Visual Studio Code
    • Build tooling with Angular CLI
    • Ahead-of-Time compilation
    • Tree Shaking
    Creating real cross-platform applications
    Angular, Cordova & Electron
    Angular
    

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14. • Native application shell with integrated web browser
    • Android: Android specific browser / CrossWalk
    • iOS: UiWebView / WkWebView
    • Windows Mobile: Internet Explorer / Edge
    • HTML5 app is hosted within an integrated web browser
    • Provides access to the underlying native platforms via plugins
    • Native SDKs to build the apps are needed
    Creating real cross-platform applications
    Angular, Cordova & Electron
    Cordova
    

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15. Creating real cross-platform applications
    Angular, Cordova & Electron
    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
    

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16. • Allows creating real desktop applications (.exe, .app)
    • Combines a full-blown Chromium browser with Node.js
    • Does not rely on the target machine’s installed browsers
    • No need to install native SDKs for building
    • Access native platform APIs
    • Electron API
    • Node.js modules
    • Advanced features like auto updates & crash reporter
    Creating real cross-platform applications
    Angular, Cordova & Electron
    Electron
    

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17. Creating real cross-platform applications
    Angular, Cordova & Electron
    Electron - Architecture
    Desktop OS
    Electron Renderer Process
    (technically Chromium)
    Electron Main Process
    (technically Node.js)
    macOS Windows Linux
    Single-Page
    Application
    Electron API
    Custom Node.js
    modules
    IPC
    Remote
    Node.js
    

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18. Creating real cross-platform applications
    Angular, Cordova & Electron
    macOS
    iOS
    Windows Mobile
    Android
    Windows Desktop
    Windows 10/UWP
    Linux
    Browser
    

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19. A glance across the border
    • Basic idea: Remove the App Stores!
    • Bring native experience directly to the browser
    • Platform push services
    • Offline
    • Installable
    • Initiate led by Google since 2015
    • PWA is not a technology but a collection of features
    • Backwards compatible
    Creating real cross-platform applications
    Angular, Cordova & Electron
    Progressive Web Apps
    

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20. • Modern applications need a modern architecture
    • Web Technology Stack to achieve “real cross-platform”
    • Cordova & Electron for native platform integrations
    • Build tooling supports daily development and production workflow
    • Progressive Web Apps show an interesting future
    Creating real cross-platform applications
    Angular, Cordova & Electron
    Summary
    

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21. • Angular: https://angular.io
    • Apache Cordova: https://cordova.apache.org/
    • Electron: http://electron.atom.io/
    • Gulp: http://gulpjs.com/
    • Webpack: https://webpack.github.io/
    • Rollup: http://rollupjs.org/
    • Angular CLI: https://cli.angular.io/
    • PWA: https://developers.google.com/web/progressive-web-apps/
    Creating real cross-platform applications
    Angular, Cordova & Electron
    Resources
    

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22. Thank you! Questions?
    Repository
    Manuel Rauber
    @manuelrauber
    Software Architect
    https://github.com/thinktecture/hamburg-angularjs-meetup-cross-platform
    

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