I am using React Native and Node.js. I want to share code between the two. My folder structure is as so.
myreactnativeapp/
mynodeserver/
myshared/
In the react native and node apps I have included the
package.json
"dpendencies" : {
"myshared": "git+https://myrepository/ugoshared.git"
}
This can then be included in each project via require/import etc. This all works fine and for production I'm happy with it. (Though I'd love to know a better way?)
The issue I'm facing is in development it's really slow.
The steps for a change to populate are:
Make changes in Shared
Commit Changes to git
Update the npm module
In development, I really want the same codebase to be used rather than this long update process. I tried the following:
Adding a symlink in node_models/shared - doesn't work in react-native package mangaer
Using relative paths ../../../shared - doesn't work in react-native package mangaer
Any other ideas?
Update 1
I created a script.sh which I run to copy the files into a local directory before the package manager starts. It's not ideal but at least I only have to restart the packager instead of messing with git etc.
#myreactnativeapp/start.sh
SOURCE=../myshared
MODULE=myshared
rm -rf ./$MODULE
mkdir ./$MODULE
find $SOURCE -maxdepth 1 -name \*.js -exec cp -v {} "./$MODULE/" \;
# create the package.json
echo '{ "name": "'$MODULE'" }' > ./$MODULE/package.json
# start the packager
node node_modules/react-native/local-cli/cli.js start
Then in my package.json I update the script to
"scripts": {
"start": "./start.sh",
},
So, the process is now.
Make a change
Start/Resetart the packager
Automatic:
Script copies all .js files under myshared/ -> myreactnativeapp/myshared/
Script creates a package.json with the name of the module
Because I've added the package.json to the copied files with the name of the module, in my project I can just include the items the same as I would if the module was included via the package manager above. In theory when I switch to using the package in production I wont have to change anything.
Import MyModule from 'myshared/MyModule'
Update 2
My first idea got tiresome restarting the package manager all the time. Instead i created a small node script in the shared directory to watch for changes. Whenever there is a change it copies it to the react native working directory.
var watch = require('node-watch')
var fs = require('fs')
var path = require('path')
let targetPath = '../reactnativeapp/myshared/'
watch('.', { recursive: false, filter: /\.js$/ }, function(evt, name) {
console.log('File changed: '+name+path.basename(__filename))
// don't copy this file
if(path.basename(__filename) === name) {
return
}
console.log(`Copying file: ${name} --> ${targetPath+name}`);
fs.copyFile(name, targetPath+name, err => {
if(err) {
console.log('Error:', err)
return;
}
console.log('Success');
})
});
console.log(`Starting to watch: ${__dirname}. All files to be copied to: ${targetPath}`)
I'm creating a CLI application in NodeJS and the package is going to be published on NPM. The application is very simple as it has only two files. Here is the structure of application:
package.json
{
"name": "mycliapp",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "Some description",
"main": "./bin/cli.js",
"preferGlobal": true,
"bin": {
"mycliapp": "bin/cli.js"
},
}
bin/cli.js
const nodePlop = require('node-plop');
const configPath = './bin/config.js';
const plop = nodePlop(configPath, {
force: argv.force || argv.f
});
bin/config.js
{
// some configuration
}
Now if I create symlink with npm install -g from this directory and run the command mycliapp from the same development directory, it works absolutely fine but if I run this mycliapp command from any other directory in my computer, the const configPath = './bin/config.js' is tried to be taken from the current working directory not from the actual npm package and hence the config file is not found.
How can I solve this issue? I tried using __dirname and __filename with path.join but nothing seems to be working.
I also published this package on npm and installed from there, the same issue is occurring.
The JSON in your package.json is malformed -- you should remove the trailing comma after you set the bin parameter.
Also, if your configuration file is in the same directory as your script, you should reference it within your script as ./config.js.
Finally, you need to include a shebang (#!/usr/bin/env node) at the top of your cli.js file or any file you intend to use as your point of entry into the app so that your system knows what interpreter to use to execute the file.
See this post on the npm blog for more information.
I am trying to understand as how to make a local module. At the root of node application, I have a directory named lib. Inside the lib directory I have a .js file which looks like:
var Test = function() {
return {
say : function() {
console.log('Good morning!');
}
}
}();
module.exports = Test;
I have modified my package.json with an entry of the path to the local module:
"dependencies": {
"chat-service": "^0.13.1",
"greet-module": "file:lib/Test"
}
Now, if I try to run a test script like:
var greet = require('greet-module');
console.log(greet.say());
it throws an error saying:
Error: Cannot find module 'greet-module'
What mistake am I making here?
modules.export is incorrect. It should be module.exports with an s.
Also, make sure after you add the dependency to do an npm install. This will copy the file over to your node_modules and make it available to the require function.
See here for a good reference.
Update:
After going through some examples to figure this out I noticed, most projects have the structure I laid out below. You should probably format your local modules to be their own standalone packages. With their own folders and package.json files specifying their dependencies and name. Then you can include it with npm install -S lib/test.
It worked for me once I did it, and it'll be a good structure moving forward. Cheers.
See here for the code.
I have my index.html in the directory called wwwroot and it's being accessed from the browser on locahost:5001. Whe nI installed some packages using NPM, the directory node_modules was placed on the same level as wwwroot.
When I'm linking to the files, I use a relative path like this.
href="../node_modules/package_this_or_that/package.min.js"
It seems to me that a better approach would be to have those delivered to the wwwroot directory and have them reside there. Not all the contents of the packages, just the files that are actually being used (skipping readmes etc.).
Is there a package for that? Or is it something that needs to be done using a build script?
This answer recommends using GULP which seems dated now.
You are not supposed to access node_modules files from front-end like your html or cshtml files. So you are right you should copy them to the wwwroot folder.
You can use grunt as linked in Tseng comment but I personally prefer Gulp, I think it's much quicker and easier to use.
Your package.json file:
{
"version": "1.0.0",
"name": "asp.net",
"private": true,
"devDependencies": {
"gulp": "3.9.1",
"gulp-cached": "1.1.0",
}
}
Then create a gulpfile.js at your project's root level and you can write something like
var gulp = require('gulp'),
cache = require('gulp-cached'); //If cached version identical to current file then it doesn't pass it downstream so this file won't be copied
gulp.task('default', 'copy-node_modules');
gulp.task('copy-node_modules', function () {
try {
gulp.src('node_modules/**')
.pipe(cache('node_modules'))
.pipe(gulp.dest('wwwroot/node_modules'));
}
catch (e) {
return -1;
}
return 0;
});
Finally open the Task Runner Explorer (if you are using Visual Studio) and execute either your default task or directly the copy-node_modules task.
Gulp is very useful, I suggest you explore other different gulp tasks. You can concat and minify both CSS and JS files, remove comments, you can even create a watch task that executes other tasks as soon as a file changes.
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.