Electron, Cordova, PWA – was, wann, wie und warum

Slides from our Electron / Cordova / PWA talk at BASTA!2019 in Mainz

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

Transcript

1. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Thorsten Hans @ThorstenHans Consultant Christian Liebel @christianliebel Consultant
2. Hello, it’s me. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Christian Liebel Follow me: @christianliebel Blog: christianliebel.com Email: christian.liebel @thinktecture.com Cross-Platform & Serverless
3. Focus: Cloud Native & Infrastructure as Code Consultant @ Thinktecture AG thorsten.hans@thinktecture.com thorsten.hans@gmail.com thinktecture.com thorsten-hans.com https://thns.io/slides @ThorstenHans Thorsten Hans Was, wann, wie und warum Electron, Cordova, PWA
4. Intro Progressive Web Apps Electron Cordova Summary Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
5. 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, 2014
6. In 2019, the cross-platform story still works out – and it’s better than ever! Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum BASTA! 2019 One team One codebase Maximum reach
7. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
8. Intro Progressive Web Apps Electron Cordova Summary Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
9. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Responsive Linkable Discoverable Installable App-like Connectivity Independent Fresh Safe Re-engageable Progressive
10. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Install Experience
11. Cross-Vendor Initiative Led By… Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Project Fugu – A More Capable Web »Let’s bring the web back – API by API« Thomas Steiner, Google
12. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Project Fugu Contacts Picker Wake Lock API Picture in picture Native File System API Capability missing? http://bit.ly/new-fugu-request
13. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Project Fugu https://goo.gle/fugu-api-tracker
14. 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 Project Fugu Feature Detection Browser takes care of calling OS-level APIs
15. https://liebel.io/paint Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum LIVE DEMO
16. - One single codebase, maximum reach - No app store, installation, third-party software, … required - Super easy deployment (FTP is enough, no app store reviews, redeployment via MSI, …) - App Store support for Microsoft Store & Google Play Store (TWA) - Fully backwards compatible Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Advantages
17. - 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 Disadvantages
18. Intro Progressive Web Apps Electron Cordova Summary Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
19. Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum
20. - 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 Advantages
21. - 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 Disadvantages
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. - Supports app development for iOS, Android, macOS, UWP - Access to all native APIs - Official store deployments Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Advantages
25. - Plug-ins are often outdated - Cordova’s web and Electron platforms are inconvenient to use - Dependent on guidelines and goodwill of platform provider Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Disadvantages
26. 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
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 Target Platforms PROGRESSIVE WEB APPS CORDOVA ELECTRON + cars, smart fridges, …
29. - 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 Electron, Cordova, PWA Was, wann, wie und warum Recap
30. Thank you for your kind attention! Christian Liebel @christianliebel christian.liebel@thinktecture.com Thorsten Hans @ThorstenHans thorsten.hans@thinktecture.com