I'm building an app using proton-native.
it uses native modules written in C++, for example, keytar.
Proton-native uses a tool named launchui to package nodejs app as an executable. It's basically simple wrapper for nodejs with the following structure on windows:
- myapp.exe
- node.dll
- app/
- - main.js
- - node_modules/
- - - - keytar/
Native modules (node addons) does not work by default for such constructions because node-gyp tool links them against node.exe.
The usual approach is to run something like electron-rebuild, which would compile native modules to a version of node incorporated by electronjs.
However, In case of launchui there are no tools for that yet.
Could someone skilled in node-gyp or C++ linking explain what whould be the best approach to properly re-build native modules for launchui? I keep getting The specified procedure could not be found after running electron-rebuild and trying to run the app.
I have used dependencywalker to analyze current dependencies of the keytar.node and it shows that it depends on node.exe, however it should depend on node.dll.
Related
I would like to create a TypeScript library in Deno.
If I do this, how can developers using Node use my library?
This is covered in section 8.1.1 of the Deno manual:
dnt - Publishing Deno modules for Node.js
Library authors may want to make their Deno modules available to Node.js users. This is possible by using the dnt build tool.
dnt allows you to develop your Deno module mostly as-is and use a single Deno script to build, type check, and test an npm package in an output directory. Once built, you only need to npm publish the output directory to distribute it to Node.js users.
For more details, see https://github.com/denoland/dnt
it is generic question.
I know that if I have java project I can run mvn clean install and it will build the project and the artifacts will be jar or war in target folder
if U have node.js application How I can build it ? I know that I have package.json that could run with npm install and the artifices are node modules but I guess there is a way to build the result of the node application . what is the type of the result ?
How to build node js application?
You don't really "build" a regular node.js application. There is no compile step. There is no separate executable. Whatever your main entry Javascript file is, you would just run it with node main.js and everything else will be loaded from there as your Javascript files load other modules. The Javascript interpreter will compile your JS files on the fly as they are encountered. If there is a syntax error when the file is loaded, it will throw an exception at that time.
For the simplest possible hello world application, you'd just put this into a text file named main.js:
console.log("Hello World");
And, then type this at the command line:
node main.js
And, you would see your output in the console. No compile step. No build step.
There are transpilers and there are packagers that can do special things, but none of that is needed for a regular node.js app.
but if I write something wrong in the code.How i can check it for example like mvn
Javascript is an interpreted language (like PHP, Python, Perl, etc...), not like Java. You will likely get a run-time error when you run your app if you write something wrong in the code. Of course, there are all sorts of tools that will check things for you before you run your code (such as linters), but Javascript does not work like Java in that regard.
If you want a "typed" and "checked" language, then you can use TypeScript which is "compiled" into Javascript that node.js can run and the compile step for TypeScript will check your syntax for you, enforce data typing, etc...
I am learning building Node modules and packaging it with Electron. I've successfully built an module out of a CPP file and can run it with node. However, to run it with Electron I need to rebuild Electron. There are instructions out there, for example:
https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/v0.37.2/docs/tutorial/using-native-node-modules.md#using-native-node-modules
https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/2330
Here I have an addon.node file after running node-gyp build. I can reference it in the node application from anywhere: var addon = require('.Release\addon'); and it works fine. However, when I build Electron with it I don't understand where to put the .node file so that it is used in the build. Before I run node_modules\.bin\electron-rebuild (see bullet point 1 link above) where should I put the addon.node file? Is it right to say that before I even test it withing Electron (with console.log or something) I need to run electron-rebuild. Is there a step that I missing that I need to take from having the addon.node file to starting to build it into Electron?
Thank you.
I am trying to figure out an effective way to bundle and distribute various dependencies (node modules and/or "client"-side scripts and framework like Angular) with my Electron App.
Although the basic approach of npm install module-name --save works well for development, it is not so good in the end when it comes to minimizing the size of your app and using minified resources at runtime. For instance, virtually all npm packages (including node modules) come with a lot of "extra baggage" like readmes, various versions of components (minified, not minified, ES2015, no-ES2015, etc). While these are great for development, all these files have absolutely no need to be included in the version you will be distributing.
Currently there seem to be 2 ways to sort of address the problem:
Electron Builder recommends using 2-file package.json system.
Any dependency that is used during development only should be npm-installed using --save-dev and then prunning should be used when building the app for distribution.
In that regard I have several questions:
I am not quite sure why there is a need for 2-file package.json system if one can install dev-only modules/ dependencies with --save-dev and then use pruning during the actual app build/compilation?
Regardless of which method above is used, you still end up with full npm packages in your app, inclduying all the miscellaneous/duplicated files that are not used by your app. So how does one "prune" so to speak the npm packages themselves so that only the actual files that are being used at run-time (like minified scripts) get included?
Will using Bower for "client-side" packages (like AngularJS 2, Bootstrap, jQuery, etc.) and using npm for node modules (like fs-extra) be a better option in as far as separation of concerns and ease of bundling later?
Could WebPack be used to produce only the needed files, at least for the "cient-side", so that only real node modules will be included with the app, while the rest of it will be in the form of web-pack compiled set of files?
Any practical tips on how this bundling of dependencies and distribution should be accredited out in practice? Gulp-scripts? Web-pack scripts? Project structure?
Thank you.
I am still in the learning curve of adopting the best practices in code deployment. But here is my starting list of what is recommended.
Yes, npm install --save-dev is the first easiest thing to isolate dev and build specific packages. This includes gulp/grunt/webpack and its loaders or additional packages. These are used only for building and never in the code that actually is run. All packages used by the app should be installed with npm install --save so that it is project level available. So, in production, you would no npm install --production in machines which will not install dev packages at all. See What's the difference between dependencies, devDependencies and peerDependencies in npm package.json file? for more info.
While the original recommendation was to use bower for client side and npm for server side, both can be installed using npm too. After all, both does the same job of managing the packages and dependencies. However, if web pack is used, it is recommended that npm is used for client side dependencies also.
package.json should be thought of managing the dependent packages only and not for building. For building and picking only the required files, you need task runners like gulp/grunt or bundlers like web pack.
While gulp/grunt is very popular for build automation which includes bundling all dependent javascript in file and minifying them in to one file, webpack/browserify is a better option as it supports module import. Module import is intuitive way of require one module in another in node js type of coding
var util = require('./myapp/lib/utils.js') This is powerful way of mentioning the required dependencies in the code. The web pack builder runs like gulp as build process. But instead of looking through html file for all js files, looks at starting js file and and determines all dependent code mentioned by the require statements recursively and packages accordingly. It also minifies the code. It also loads css and image files in one bundle to reduce server trips. If needed, some modules can be configured to be loaded at runtime dynamically further reducing page load. NPM vs. Bower vs. Browserify vs. Gulp vs. Grunt vs. Webpack discusses this at length.
Webpack can be used to bundle client side app optimally while server side need not be bundled or minified as there is no download.
In web pack, though you can mention dependent modules with lib file path, the recommendation is to npm install all dependencies and mention the module name. For example if you have installed jquery, instead of giving path like /libs/jquery.min.js, you can mention as 'jquery'. Webpack will automatically pull the jquery lib and dependencies and minimise it. If they are common modules, it will be chunked too. So, it is better to npm install dependent packages instead of bower install.
ES2015 provides lot of benefits during coding time including type checking and modules. However all browsers do not yet support the spec natively. So you need to transpile the code to older version that browsers understand. This is done by transpilers like Babel that can be run with gulp. Webpack has in-built babel loader so web pack understands ES2015. It is recommended to use ES2015 module system as it will soon become the defacto way of coding and since there is transpiler, there is no worry of this not being supported in IE8/9.
For project structure you could have
server
client
src containing js files
dist containing html and build files generated
webpack.dev.config.js and webpack.prod.config.js can be at root level.
I have found that this area is an ocean and different schools of best practices.This is probably one set of best practices. Feel free to choose the set that works for your scenario. Look forward for more comments to add to this set.
I started a tutorial on Angular 2.0, the first step in setting up the workspace is installing Node.js and NPM.
Why do we have install Node.js for Angular 2.0?
I don't remember doing this for angular 1.X.
Technically, Node.js and NPM are not needed to do Angular2 work. It does ease things though. Here's the main reasons I speculate are behind this choice:
CLI: Since a while now the de facto way to build and develop new Angular apps is to use the CLI tooling which relies on Node and NPM as well.
TypeScript: Examples are .ts, and you need to run a compiler step to get them into .js, which can be done on-the-fly easily with Node.js and NPM (plus it's a way of easily getting typing files);
Web Server: Serving your Angular SPA from a "real" albeit light web server prevents probably some nasty issues that come with checking your site using file:// links.
The Quickstart guide itself actually continues to mention some more concrete reasons as well:
Here's what these scripts do:
npm start - runs the compiler and a server at the same time, both in "watch mode"
npm run tsc - runs the TypeScript compiler once
npm run tsc:w - runs the TypeScript compiler in watch mode; the process keeps running, awaiting changes to TypeScript files and re-compiling when it sees them
npm run lite - runs the lite-server, a light-weight, static file server with excellent support for Angular apps that use routing
npm run typings - runs the typings tool separately
npm run postinstall - called by npm automatically after it successfully completes package installation. This script installs the TypeScript definition files defined in typings.json
You can also have a look at the Quickstart source and further dive into where NPM is needed.
Footnote: there's a similar question about needing Node.js for AngularJS (1.x).
Because Anglar2 is based on Typescript, Web Components and ES6 which need compilation for performance and broader browser support. Typescript is compiled to ES5 JavaScript and the other features require shims for backwards compatibility.
Since Typescript is a superset of JavaScript, and it's compiled to JavaScript anyway, you can write your code in plain JavaScript but it's not recommended.
For a more detailed explanation check out these videos on YouTube
Why Typescript
Instalation steps
NodeJS gives you the tool npm that allows you to download libraries and packages you would use in Angular 2. From the shell you can go to your folder and type npm install to install dependencies you need to have installed to get your angular project going. It will make it easier for you! If you want a complete starter kit go to https://github.com/buckyroberts, you can fork or download the zip with all the starter files to get you going :)
You do not need to use Node anywhere in production to use any front-end JavaScript framework, whether it is jQuery, AngularJS, ReactJS, Angular2, etc.
Angular2 can be used in isolation but to get and feel better development environment, angular2 should be used with nodejs and npm. Some of the nodejs modules helps you in web development.