I want to build desktop application that will use node.js and express to "render" the gui in a browser.
Since the client will have access to my application, is there any easy method to embed everything in my exe ?
I don't like the idea of having so many folders in my application folder, this makes it easy for everyone to modify and steal the source code.
The two popular solutions for delivering web-based cross-platform applications are:
NW.js
Electron
I prefer NW.js because it has better backward compatibility, particularly on OS X. They have different feature sets, so you may want to play around with both to see which one meets your needs.
Related
Could you please give me a piece of advice about how to implement CRUD or DB(PouchDB) modifications using FORMs or any other efficient way in Electron?
The point is I would like whole application to behave as desktop tool and it seems to be possible in Electron. However I cannot determine the best way to do this especially if I would like to add to nice eye-candy tricks to make UX as smooth as possible.
First of all electron is not responsible for the visual appearance of your application. It is a framework which wraps your webapp into a desktop application.
That means you need to use standard web technologies (html/js/css) to create your site including 'eye-candy' and animations.
My suggestion is to do a tutorial which explains how to connect electron with a javascript framework like angular. If this is running you can attach a database and all the hot shizzle afterwards.
This tutorial is very good and well explained:
https://scotch.io/tutorials/creating-desktop-applications-with-angularjs-and-github-electron
enjoy!
Hope I'm not being to general but: I have been tasked with the job of "rejuvenating/modernizing" a monolithic Java EE (JSF/CDI/EJB/JPA) app. Since the requirements state that it should support multiple clients, I have split up the code in a server (JAX-RS interfaces) and a client part (not yet done)
The server is pretty straightforward but I'm wondering about the UI part. Nowadays (hope I don't sound too oldskool) various Node JS spin-offs seem to be popular but I'm under the impression that they have the most value to offer in the "scalable server" section. Does the various Angular/React/Node framework have anything to offer for the client if you have something more complex than a single page app?
It appears to be a really hard time to pick a UI technology nowadays. Sure, the server/DB part which contains most of the business logic are pretty future-proof but still, one would like to focus on one UI technology. There are various jQuery-based frameworks like Kendo, Vaadin & co etc. One option would be to stick with JSF + ICEfaces/PrimeFaces and just work with the REST interface. And then there is JavaFX which looks nice but the future looks a bit uncertain.
So. If the backend is not going to be Node JS, does Node JS have anything to offer for the UI part that can't be done more easily with other frameworks and does anyone have other insights on the UI layer in general. Predicting is hard, especially the future ;-)
Node.js is a way to run javascript on the server side, not client side. That said, npm (nodes package manager) or its wrappers (like bower) are quite often used to manage the client side dependencies - which is very useful to have.
Angular and react (among others) are client side javascript ui frameworks to help make writing ui much nicer. Neither depend on the backend being written in node.js and can work with any rest api (or other server side apis) - or no api at all if that backend injects all the data the page needs into the page itself.
Electron, which combines NodeJS and Chromium (render Process).
https://electronjs.org/
Formerly known as atom shell it was created by Github, it is the core of the Atom Editor, VS Code, Slack app, and a ton of “thick client” applications. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_client
There are several implementations which allow you to use Node.JS modules on a client-side (ie. web browser). You can then use html/css and call Node.JS modules directly from your DOM which is used to implement UI.
I'm most familiar with NW.js which I've used couple of times. Others would be for example Electron or AppJS
I was given the following to consider:
Develop desktop application using Nodeweb kit.
Also develop web application using the same code base.
Applications should look identical.
Both apps must use the same code base. The reason for this is to cut down development expenses.
If it was up to me I would not even consider using node-webkit for desktop. There are far better desktop solutions for Win platforms. For web application using Node is certanly viable.
But people who plan the project somehow think Node is a way to go for both apps.
After lots of thinking, I came to the conclusion that doing what they want will only increase dev and maintenance costs.
I consider using express (maybe even Sails.js) for web application. I made some tests where I used express on node-webkit and it run just fine.
Certanly NW is powerfull platform (popcorn). Just in my case I fail to see how can it cut down the dev expense
Am I right to be against this solution? Is this a plausible decision and I am not seeing another solution?
Any opinion is very welcome
I have actually done exactly this, and it worked very well. The trick was to write some Node Webkit code that will "detect" that it's running as a desktop application, instead of a web app, and thus integrate with desktop notifications etc.
Yes, it was more work than just writing a web app, but it was also less work (and maintenance) than developing separate applications. You get to use a lot of common code, because of the fact that you are running in a browser already, that I feel the project saved a lot of time.
In fact, I am currently working on another application that requires some desktop features (file access, notifications) but the same functionality as the web application, and I'm proposing that the development happens in Node Webkit.
The important criteria here for me is that both applications are 90% the same, the desktop just adds things you don't normally have on the web. So the core of the application is exactly the same AngularJS application, with some JavaScript injected by the Node Webkit startup page to add the required desktop behaviour.
You haven't presented reasons why you think node-webkit is not a suitable option for desktop application.
On the other hand I think client's opinion that development in node and node-webkit will be able to cut down costs is not ungrounded.
nw.js (formerly node-webkit) is basically a Chromium browser with intergrated node.js engine. So if you develop a web-application using node.js (and any of its frameworks) then you will be able to reuse it in nw.js fairly easy.
I am trying to understand classification/naming of scripts,
I havent found any software vocabulary online that I can read,
I have many scripts which my own, and from open sources.
I want to put my script to correct folders.
Whats difference between those concepts in practice?
Plugins are the complete programs and these can be installed in your system and can be used in browser whereas add-ons are not complete programs ,these are used to add functionality to your browser.
for example, Flash Player is a plugin which can be installed in your system as well in browser to play video,
InPrivate Filtering is an add-on which is used in some browser to provide privacy.
So, add-ons provide additional and limited functionality to your browser.
Does anyone know of any article/publication on the security architecture of Metro app?
For example, can the metro app call an external service. If it can,
under what condition. Will it prompt the user first? And if so will
they be able to change their restriction later and how?
Cross domain scripting in a website is usually considered a big
no-no. But if I were to turn the same code into a metro app (since
presumably they're both written in Html 5 + js), does it mean I can
make ajax calls to any server irrespective of their domain? Is it
even possible to port a website into an app? If so how easy is that?
What about accessing local file system? Or does it have to go
through the contracts to do so?
And this is kind of related but if I were to write a website (not an
app). And the site was opened using Metro IE10, can it subscribe
into the metro specific js events? I guess I'm trying to figure out
how to save cost by doing as little development as possible. I
prefer a website that can target multiple platforms and only target
specific platform for the features that absolutely require it - also
not to thrilled with the idea of having to go through microsoft in
order to publish my app.
Any help appreciated.
Metro applications can call into web services located on other machines, but their ability to interact with the local machine is severely limited.
Similarly, accessing arbitrary parts of the local filesystem is not permitted. If your application has the documents (or music or photos) library permission, it can access the files in those libraries.