I'm trying to find out if smaller file size is possible, to have distributable one file for Express based API server app with some trayicon for basic controls - basically exit + restart app + open the API in default browser.
With Electron Builder I can do --ia32 target in about 68MB, but wonder if any lower size is possible, to learn more about it. But was having problem trying to get Systray2 and related solutions working using pkg (getting ENONENT on the exe file from node_modules (yes, tried adding it to package.json pkg assets, or even copied that exe to traybin folder under project root). I am sure there is a way but I may be missing something maybe obvious, so ready made Git would be great.
So if anything handy possible, is there some boilerplate ready to download? It just feels like waste of space to download Electron, when I only use the builder, Tray & Notification, but no mainWindow, ipc Renderer etc...
Not sure if this is relevant for you still, but I actually ran across the exact same requirement today. After many trials & errors, I did manage to solve it simply by setting the copyDir flag to true as shown in the below code when using the systray2 npm package:
const systray = new SysTray({
menu: {
icon: os.platform() === 'win32' ? './logo_s.ico' : './logo_s.png',
isTemplateIcon: os.platform() === 'darwin',
title: 'App',
tooltip: 'App',
items: [
itemExit
]
},
debug: false,
copyDir: true // This makes the systray2 work with pkg
})
My win-x64 binary size ended up at 38MB with Brotli compression (fastify server + systray2 + some css/images/js).
I didn't compare it with Electron Builder though, but I have a hunch it would be larger than that :)
Related
Consider I have been done with my NodeJs with Express and MongoDB Application. I can bundle up my application to deliver the same to client but in that case client have to install all required npm modules and change mongoDB connection url. So to counter this issue:
Is there any other way to bundle my application so client do not need to install any npm modules to run application? If yes, then how client can connect to his mongodb?
pkg by Vercel works really well for me. It bundles everything into a single executable that runs out of a terminal. This makes it really easy to distribute.
To connect to a Mongo instance, you would have to have some kind of configuration file that the user edits. I recommend putting into the user data folder (Application Support on Mac and AppData on Windows), but you could have it sit right next to the packaged executable.
You can use good old webpack by setting it's target. here is an example webpack.config.js file for node:
import webpack from 'webpack';
export default {
entry: "./server.js",
output: {
// output bundle will be in `dist/buit.js`
filename: `built.js`,
},
target: 'node',
mode: 'production',
plugins: [
new webpack.optimize.LimitChunkCountPlugin({
maxChunks: 1
})
],
};
I am running the webpack / webpack-dev-server portion of the base Vue.js Webpack template (https://github.com/vuejs-templates/webpack/) inside of a docker container I created. The container also contains the vue CLI in order to create new projects (you can get my container here if you want: https://hub.docker.com/r/ncevl/webpack-vue/).
Hot-reload does not work after moving from the webpack-simple template to this one.
Everything was working using the Webpack-Simple template which you can clone / see over here: https://github.com/vuejs-templates/webpack-simple
I was able to get the simple template running (with hot-reload working as intended) with the following webpack-development-server launch command:
webpack-dev-server --hot --inline --progress --host 0.0.0.0 --watch-poll
That said the full (not simple) version of the webpack template does not appear to use a webpack-dev-server launch command and instead appears to use additional middleware as referenced in build/dev-server.js (https://github.com/vuejs-templates/webpack/blob/master/template/build/dev-server.js) and the webpack dev config.
Since the --watch-poll was the key to getting the WDS hot-reload functionality to work within a docker container in the last project, my thinking is that I need to do something similar with the webpack-hot-middleware but I dont see anything in their docs (over here: https://github.com/glenjamin/webpack-hot-middleware) that talks about changing to a polling based approach.
I am not 100% sure the polling flag will do the trick since I can see the container recompile my source when I make a change. I can also see the change in my browser if I refresh it manually.
Whats stranger still is if I inspect my page in browser within chrome dev tools, and then head over to network / XHR I can see that the browser actually does receive information from the webpack-dev-server, but visually it does not update.
Give the above I assume websockets (or socket.io which I think is used) are working and communicating between the browser and the WDS so maybe this is a browser caching issue of some sort?
I checked in my console and found this so it is looking like a header issue:
For reference the text error from that image (to make it easier for anyone having the same issue to find this post) is:
EventSource cannot load http://__webpack_hmr/. No 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header is present on the requested resource. Origin 'http://0.0.0.0:8080' is therefore not allowed access.
Again the Hot-Reload / Hot Module Reload was working with this identical container setup when using the webpack-simple Vue.js template.
I am wondering if anyone has run into anything similar or has any ideas on how to add the polling option . I guess my alternative would be roll back to a more basic webpack config and rebuild that portion of things to use the traditional webpack-dev-server / webpack config but give the above I am not sure that is going to fix it.
I am adding this as a separate answer since it more specifically answers the question in the title, while my other answer more specifically explains what solved my actual problem.
The vue.js webpack template project (which can either be init'd from the Vue CLI or pulled from its repo over here: https://github.com/vuejs-templates/webpack) separates its config files into several different directories.
I am posting this answer so that anyone who runs into the need to add polling to their project will be able to understand how / where to do that.
The base project structure for a Vue.js webpack template project looks like this:
The files that you care about if you are messing with trying to get hot module reload working are related to creating your server primarily with webpack-dev-middleware. The most important files related to that are highlighted here:
Basically if you want to add the polling code to the webpack-dev-middleware server you need to be in the /build/dev-server.js file on lines 20 to 24 that look like this:
var devMiddleware = require('webpack-dev-middleware')(compiler, {
publicPath: webpackConfig.output.publicPath,
quiet: true
})
To add polling you would add it just before or after quiet: true. As a side note, if you are having trouble with HMR I would change "quiet:true" to queit false to get a more verbose read out of whats going on from webpack-dev-middleware. I have included verbose and polling modifications to the above code here:
var devMiddleware = require('webpack-dev-middleware')(compiler, {
publicPath: webpackConfig.output.publicPath,
quiet: false, //Changed to for additional verbosity
watchOptions: { //Add Polling
aggregateTimeout: 300,
poll: 1000
}
})
My other answer is in regards to what ended up solving my problem, not necessarily how to actually add polling (which might be necessary for someone else but did not end up being needed to make my dockerized setup work).
It should also be noted that sometimes when HMR (webpack hot module reload) is not detecting changes it is due to the fact that webpack-hot-middleware or webpack-dev-middleware is running into an issue whereby some invisible characters are / were added to the name of the base project directory (probably by someone building the base Vue project) and therefore webpack on certain OSes is not able to see the changes.
If that happens to you and you are on OSx or running webpack inside of a docker container and you can't get HMR to detect changes, try to rename your vue-webpack project directory and it should work.
Ok. So I can't really take credit for this one since it was actually answered by Discuss user Cristian Pallarés over here: http://webpack.github.io/docs/webpack-dev-server.html#combining-with-an-existing-server
Christian says:
I was just trying the same. I just use "php artisan serve" on localhost:8000, and Webpack Dev Server on localhost:3000. You should make this:
set your webpack config "output.publicPath" as "http://localhost:3000/static/" instead of "/static/"
make your php application load this:
The key is the output.publicPath being absolute. Now, you should run "php artisan serve" and launch your webpack dev server too (in my case I use gulp).
Basically I took that and dug through the Vue.js Webpack Template files to locate the config file where webpack was looking for the public path. the public path setting ended up being in the index.js file located in the /config directory of the template.
I changed my code to look like this:
assetsSubDirectory: 'http://localhost:8080/static/', //!!Changed from /static/
assetsPublicPath: 'http://localhost:8080/', //!!Changed from /
As opposed to the previous setting which DID NOT WORK and looked like this:
assetsSubDirectory: '/static/',
assetsPublicPath: '/',
After that I was able to see my changes hot reload while running the vue.js Webpack template from within my docker container.
I am trying to include a precompiled binary with an electron app. I began with electron quick start app and modified my renderer.js file to include this code that is triggered when a file is dropped on the body:
spawn = require('child_process').spawn,
ffmpeg = spawn('node_modules/.bin/ffmpeg', ['-i', clips[0], '-an', '-q:v', '1', '-vcodec', 'libx264', '-y', '-pix_fmt', 'yuv420p', '-vf', 'setsar=1,scale=trunc(iw/2)*2:trunc(ih/2)*2,crop=in_w:in_h-50:0:50', '/tmp/out21321.mp4']);
ffmpeg.stdout.on('data', data => {
console.log(`stdout: ${data}`);
});
ffmpeg.stderr.on('data', data => {
console.log(`stderr: ${data}`);
});
I have placed my precompiled ffmpeg binary in node_modules/.bin/. Everything works great in the dev panel, but when I use electron-packager to set up the app, it throws a spawn error ENOENT to the console when triggered. I did find a very similar question on SO, but the question doesn't seem to be definitively answered. The npm page on electron-packager does show that they can be bundled, but I cannot find any documentation on how to do so.
The problem is that electron-builder or electron-packager will bundle your dependency into the asar file. It seems that if the dependency has a binary into node_modules/.bin it is smart enough to not package it.
This is the documentation for asar packaging for electron-builder on that topic. It says
Node modules, that must be unpacked, will be detected automatically
I understand that it is related to existing binaries in node_modules/.bin.
If the module you are using is not automatically unpacked you can disable asar archiving completely or explicitly tell electron-builder to not pack certain files. You do so in your package.json file like this:
"build": {
"asarUnpack": [
"**/app/node_modules/some-module/*"
],
For your particular case
I ran into the same issue with ffmpeg and this is what I've done:
Use ffmpeg-static. This package bundles statically compiled ffmpeg binaries for Windows, Mac and Linux. It also provides a way to get the full path of the binary for the OS you are running: require('ffmpeg-static').path
This will work fine in development, but we still need to troubleshoot the distribution problem.
Tell electron-builder to not pack the ffmpeg-static module:
"build": {
"asarUnpack": [
"**/app/node_modules/ffmpeg-static/*"
],
Now we need to slightly change the code to get the right path to ffmpeg with this code: require('ffmpeg-static').path.replace('app.asar', 'app.asar.unpacked') (if we are in development the replace() won't replace anything which is fine).
If you are using webpack (or other javascript bundler)
I ran into the issue that require('ffmpeg-static').path was returning a relative path in the renderer process. But the issue seemed to be that webpack changes the way the module is required and that prevents ffmpeg-static to provide a full path. In the Dev Tools the require('ffmpeg-static').path was working fine when run manually, but when doing the same in the bundled code I was always getting a relative path. So this is what I did.
In the main process add this before opening the BrowserWindow: global.ffmpegpath = require('ffmpeg-static').path.replace('app.asar', 'app.asar.unpacked'). The code that runs in the main process is not bundled by webpack so I always get a full path with this code.
In the renderer process pick the value this way: require('electron').remote.getGlobal('ffmpegpath')
I know I'm a bit late but just wanted to mention ffbinaries npm package I created a while ago exactly for this purpose.
It'll allow you to download ffmpeg/ffplay/ffserver/ffprobe binaries to specified location either during application boot (so you don't need to bundle it with your application) or in a CI setup. It can autodetect platform, you can also specify it manually.
If anyone happens to need an answer to this question: I do have a solution to this, but I have no idea if this is considered best practice. I couldn't find any good documentation for including 3rd party precompiled binaries, so I just fiddled with it until it finally worked. Here's what I did (starting with the electron quick start, node.js v6):
From the app directory I ran the following commands to include the ffmpeg binary as a module:
mkdir node_modules/ffmpeg
cp /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg node_modules/ffmpeg/
ln -s ../ffmpeg/ffmpeg node_modules/.bin/ffmpeg
(replace /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg with your current binary path, download it from here) Placing the link allowed electron-packager to include the binary I saved to node_modules/ffmpeg/.
Then to get the bundled app path I installed the npm package app-root-dir by running the following command:
npm i -S app-root-dir
Since I could then get the app path, I just appended the subfolder for my binary and spawned from there. This is the code that I placed in renderer.js:.
var appRootDir = require('app-root-dir').get();
var ffmpegpath=appRootDir+'/node_modules/ffmpeg/ffmpeg';
console.log(ffmpegpath);
const
spawn = require( 'child_process' ).spawn,
ffmpeg = spawn( ffmpegpath, ['-i',clips_input[0]]); //add whatever switches you need here
ffmpeg.stdout.on( 'data', data => {
console.log( `stdout: ${data}` );
});
ffmpeg.stderr.on( 'data', data => {
console.log( `stderr: ${data}` );
});
This is how I would do it:
Taking cues from tsuriga's answer, here is my code:
Note: replace or add OS path accordingly.
Create a directory ./resources/mac/bin
Place you binaries inside this folder
Create file ./app/binaries.js and paste the following code:
'use strict';
import path from 'path';
import { remote } from 'electron';
import getPlatform from './get-platform';
const IS_PROD = process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production';
const root = process.cwd();
const { isPackaged, getAppPath } = remote.app;
const binariesPath =
IS_PROD && isPackaged
? path.join(path.dirname(getAppPath()), '..', './Resources', './bin')
: path.join(root, './resources', getPlatform(), './bin');
export const execPath = path.resolve(path.join(binariesPath, './exec-file-name'));
Create file ./app/get-platform.js and paste the following code:
'use strict';
import { platform } from 'os';
export default () => {
switch (platform()) {
case 'aix':
case 'freebsd':
case 'linux':
case 'openbsd':
case 'android':
return 'linux';
case 'darwin':
case 'sunos':
return 'mac';
case 'win32':
return 'win';
}
};
Add the following code inside the ./package.json file:
"build": {
....
"extraFiles": [
{
"from": "resources/mac/bin",
"to": "Resources/bin",
"filter": [
"**/*"
]
}
],
....
},
import binary file path as:
import { execPath } from './binaries';
#your program code:
var command = spawn(execPath, arg, {});
Why this is better?
Most of the answers require an additional package called app-root-dir
The original answer doesn't handle the (env=production) build or the pre-packed versions properly. He/she has only taken care of development and post-packaged versions.
So I have a setup, probably as most people have, where their app code is mounted into a Docker container through a separate volume.
The problem is that if I run gulp, and specifically gulp-watch, to watch for file modifications etc. within docker, on the app code mounted within the docker container, to properly build and restart node within the docker container as necessary, it seems to get cpu intensive (as in polling for file changes instead of listening for file change events) to the point where my machine buckles.
I think this is due to a limitation of having the file system mounted from the native host to the docker container but how are folks working around this? Are they doing all of their work in the container? Native host then constantly building? Or am I missing something where my setup is incorrect with gulp-watch / nodemon?
For anyone using gulp4
The only way I could get this to work is to use usePolling like below
gulp.watch('./**/*', {interval: 1000, usePolling: true}, gulp.series('superTask'));
Try changing the gulp.watch options. This has been much better for me:
gulp.watch('./**/*', {interval: 1000, mode: 'poll'}, ['build']);
You should use the plugin gulp-watch instead of gulp.watch. The latter uses stat polling, which is much too heavy for the shared file system. gulp-watch uses inotify events to watch the file system on OSX.
The previous answer of usePoll: true didn't work. This one did:
gulp.watch('./**/*', {interval: 1000, usePolling: true}, ['build']);
Jesse's answer didn't work for me, but it was really close. Now, the option seems to be:
gulp.watch('./**/*', {interval: 1000, usePoll: true}, ['build']);
The mode field has been switched out for the usePoll field flag.
See the API section for more details.
In a docker container that has a nodemon installed (npm i -g nodemon) there is an alternative to gulp watch.
Let's say that one wants to watch changes to a swagger.yaml file in ./swagger/swagger.yaml and convert it to a project.json file for use with swagger UI.
Assuming that the correct node modules are installed, or that a stand-alone yaml to json convert tool is installed, one could run the following:
nodemon -L --watch ./editor/api/swagger/* --exec "node ./cvt_yaml_to_json.js"
where:
./editor/api/swagger/* is the directory to watch for file changes
"node ./cvt_yaml_to_json.js" is the command to execute (it can be an arbitrary command). In this case it is a JavaScript script which depends on js-yaml module (npm i js-yaml) and performs YAML to JSON conversion like this:
const yaml = require("js-yaml");
const path = require("path");
const fs = require("fs");
const swaggerYamlFile = "/api/project/editor/api/swagger/swagger.yaml";
const swaggerJsonFile = "/api/project/project.json";
//Converts yaml to json
const doc = yaml.safeLoad(fs.readFileSync(swaggerYamlFile));
fs.writeFileSync(swaggerJsonFile, JSON.stringify(doc, null, " "));
I have a Sails.JS application with Angular.JS front-end.
The angular files are stored in /assets/linker and they are injected properly on start. My issue is that when I change css or js file from assets the change doesn't appear on the server, the loaded js file is the same as when the server started. I tried to clear my browser cache and tried in another browser, but still the same.
I also tried to run the application with forever -w and nodemon, but still nothing. The application is in dev mode, anyway starting with sails lift --dev does not solve the issue neither.
I have feeling that I miss something in configuration. Is there any way to force reloading of assets?
You need to check your Gruntfile configuration. It's where the magic happen in term of linker and livereload.
Specifically, you'll need to look at the watch task and the related tasks.
By default it looks like this :
watch: {
api: {
// API files to watch:
files: ['api/**/*']
},
assets: {
// Assets to watch:
files: ['assets/**/*'],
// When assets are changed:
tasks: ['compileAssets', 'linkAssets']
}
}
I found the problem. I made the Angular.js structure with angular generator
which adds not only the js structure, but also karma test environment containing shell and bat scripts, karma framework and more.
Building sails application with all these files in watched folder is breaking the refresh functionality. There's no errors in console and nothing in the running application, but the files from assets are not reloaded anymore.
Tip of the day: be careful with the files you have in assets and take a look what does generators generate!
I came here looking for livereload, after a little search
Live Reloading
Enabling Live Reload in Your HTML
in current version of Sails v0.10 there is a file for watch task: tasks/config/watch.js