javascript on the desktop

Post on 10-May-2015

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Although Web and mobile apps are getting more capable every day, often your application makes the most sense on the desktop. In this talk, we’ll look at some recent technologies that have allowed significant desktop apps — like Barnes & Noble’s NOOK Study e-textbook reader, or Adobe’s Brackets IDE — to be written in HTML5 and JavaScript. Projects like the Chromium Embedded Framework, node-webkit, and AppJS provide an excellent native-to-JS bridge. With them in hand, you can bring the full power of the Node.js and front-end ecosystems to bear, while still gaining the advantages of running as a native app.

TRANSCRIPT

@DOMENIC

JAVASCRIPT ON THE DESKTOP

Building desktop apps in HTML5 and JavaScript

@DOMENIC

• https://github.com/domenic

• https://npmjs.org/~domenic

• http://slideshare.net/domenicdenicola

Things I’ve done recently:

• http://es6isnigh.com

• Promises/A+

• Real-World Windows 8 Apps in JS

DOMENIC DENICOLA

@DOMENIC

WHY DESKTOP APPS?

Two reasons:

@DOMENIC

WHY DESKTOP APPS?

@DOMENIC

WHY DESKTOP APPS?

@DOMENIC

WHY DESKTOP APPS?

@DOMENIC

WHY DESKTOP APPS?

@DOMENIC

IN THE WILD

@DOMENIC

IN THE WILD

@DOMENIC

THE CHROME CONTENT API

@DOMENIC

CHROMIUM EMBEDDED FRAMEWORK

http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/

@DOMENIC

CHROMIUM EMBEDDED FRAMEWORK• Windows, Mac OS X, Linux

• Create objects in C++, expose them through JS

• Integrate NPAPI plugins

• Intercept HTTP requests, including custom schemes

• Completely customizable browser settings, restrictions, and flags

• … and it’s C++, so do whatever you want!

@DOMENIC

CHROMIUM EMBEDDED FRAMEWORK

// Create an instance of our CefClient implementation. Various// methods in the MyClient instance will be called to notify// about and customize browser behavior. CefRefPtr<CefClient> client(new MyClient());

// Information about the parent window, client rectangle, etc.CefWindowInfo info;info.SetAsChild(...);

// Browser initialization settings.CefBrowserSettings settings;

// Create the new browser window object.CefBrowser::CreateBrowser(info, client, "http://www.google.com", settings);

@DOMENIC

BUT I DON’T LIKE C++…

TO THE RESCUE!

@DOMENIC

AppJS Node-WebKit

TWO PROJECTS, BOTH ALIKE IN DIGNITY

@DOMENIC

APPJS

var appjs = require('appjs');appjs.serveFilesFrom(__dirname + '/content');

appjs.router.post('/', function (req, res, next) { res.send('Hello, World!');});

var window = appjs.createWindow({ url: '/', width: 640, height: 480, fullscreen: false, showChrome: true, // border and title bar disableSecurity: true // allow cross-origin requests});

@DOMENIC

APPJS: CONTROL NODE FROM YOUR APP

window.on('ready', function () { window.frame.show(); window.require = require; window.process = process; window.module = module;});

@DOMENIC

APPJS: CONTROL YOUR APP FROM NODE

window.on('close', ...);window.on('resize', ...);window.on('minimize', ...);window.on('fullscreen', ...);

window.frame.show();window.frame.hide();window.frame.fullscreen();window.frame.openDevTools();

window.dispatchEvent(new window.Event('custom'));

@DOMENIC

APPJS: MENU BARS

var menu = appjs.createMenu([{ label: '&File', submenu: [ { label: 'E&xit', action: function () { window.close(); } } ]}]);

window.frame.setMenuBar(menu);

@DOMENIC

APPJS: MORE COOL STUFF• Add tray icons and tray menus

• Add a require that works for modules on both the Node side and the browser side

• Redirect Node’s stdout/stderr to the Chromium dev console

• Use Express to handle routes, render views, etc.

• Use any third-party Node package to do anything!

@DOMENIC

NODE-WEBKIT

<html> <head> <title>Hello World!</title> </head> <body> <h1>Hello World!</h1> <p>We are using node.js <script>document.write(process.version);</script> </p> </body></html>

@DOMENIC

NODE-WEBKIT: A TECHNICAL MARVEL• Not built on CEF; they did the work themselves

• Merged Node and Chromium’s event loops by implementing Chromium’s in terms of libuv• For example: modal dialogs like alert() block Node’s event loop

• Node objects and DOM objects reside in the same V8 heap: no inter-process communication, serialization, or thread issues. Direct access!

• Apps can have multiple windows; distinct window variables, but shared global variable.

• Great plugin integration: just drop NPAPI plugins into a plugins folder.

• Package apps by concatenating them with the nw executable (!)

@DOMENIC

NODE-WEBKIT: PACKAGE.JSON

{ "name": "nw-demo", "main": "index.html", "node-main": "start.js", "window": { "title": "Node-WebKit Demo", "icon": "demo.ico", "width": 640, "height": 480, "toolbar": false, "fullscreen": false }}

@DOMENIC

NODE-WEBKIT: PLATFORM INTEGRATION

window.minimize();window.enterFullscreen();window.showDevTools();window.requestAttention(true);

var gui = require('nw.gui');var menu = new gui.Menu();menu.append(new gui.MenuItem({ label: 'Item A', icon: 'images/a.png', click: function () { }}));

window.addEventListener('contextmenu', function (event) { menu.popup(event.clientX, event.clientY);});

@DOMENIC

NODE-WEBKIT: PLATFORM INTEGRATION

var gui = require('nw.gui');

var clipboard = gui.Clipboard.get();clipboard.get('text');clipboard.set('I <3 Node-WebKit', 'text');clipboard.clear();

<input type="file" /><input type="file" multiple /><input type="file" nwdirectory /><input type="file" nwsaveas />

$('input[type=file]').click();

@DOMENIC

DEMO TIME

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