Cross-Platform Desktop Apps with Electron - JazzCon 2018

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Up Ahead • What is Electron? • Why desktop? • Crash course • Tips

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.NET + Mono + Xamarin Pros: • Shared .NET code base Cons: • Xamarin Mac !== Xamarin iOS/Android • Native UI is hard • Deployment • Licensing

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Electron Pros: • HTML + CSS + JavaScript • Node.js + Chromium • No deployment dependencies

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Electron Cons: • HTML + CSS + JavaScript

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History • Created by GitHub for Atom • Formerly Atom Shell • Active since January 2013 • 1.0 release May 2016 • Current: 1.8.4 March 16th • 2.0 Beta

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Electron Features • Rapid development • Themes • Shared code/UI • Deployment + “silent” updates • Native UX

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Why Desktop Apps? • Offline • Printers, devices, other local hardware • On-premises • Internal, LOB • Edit local files • App Store • Kiosk • Desktop > Intranet • Sometimes it “just feels right”

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Desktop App Ideas • Disconnected data entry • Editor • Time management • Media player • Email client • Messaging, collaboration • Kiosk • Mapping, route planner • Social media client • Calendar • Bulk media editor • File management, backup • Document generation, reading • Audio/video conferencing • Games

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Atom

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Slack

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Visual Studio Code

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Postman

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GitHub Desktop

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Jibo

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> npm install electron > touch main.js > touch index.html

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( main.js )

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( main.js )

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( main.js ) ( index.html )

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( main.js ) ( home.html ) ( editor.html ) ( settings.html )

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main.js

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main.js

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main.js

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main.js

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main.js

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main.js

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main.js

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index.html

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index.html > electron main.js

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index.html

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index.html

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index.html

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index.html

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index.html

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index.html

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index.html

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index.html

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main.js

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main.js

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Process modules • app • ipc • dialog • menu, menu-item • power-monitor • tray

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Render modules • ipc • remote • web-frame

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Modules available to both • clipboard • crash-reporter • native-image • screen • shell

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Deploying Electron • Phase 1: Copy Files • Phase 2: Compile to App • Phase 3: Build Installer • Phase 4: Automatic Updates

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Recommended Tools • electron-debug • electron-reload • electron-packager • electron-builder • electron-updater • electron-mocha

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Devtron

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Boilerplate Projects • electron-boilerplate • electron-react-boilerplate

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electron-prebuilt-compile • ES7 (Babel), TypeScript, GraphQL • React.js • LESS, Sass/SCSS, Stylus • Jade • Vue components

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photonkit.com

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Tips • Use CSS default cursor • Keep windows open • Offload work to main over ipc

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Local Storage • Read/write .json files – Pro tip: use fs-jetpack • nedb • pouchdb

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Relational DB Storage • seriate (SQL Server) • pg • mysql • oracledb

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From here… https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome-electron Pluralsight: “Electron Fundamentals” by Jake Trent http://electron.atom.io http://atom-slack.herokuapp.com/