electron-connect

Utility tool to develop applications with Electron.

Using this in your Node.js scripts(e.g. gulpfile.js), you can livereload your Electron app.

It provides the following features:

start(and restart) Electron process in your Node.js script
reload renderer process in your Node.js script

Install

Use npm:

npm install -g electron-prebuilt
npm install electron-connect

Usage

electron-connect has server and client components. They communicate with each other using WebSocket. The server component manages Electron process and broadcasts reload event to client, and client components reload renderer's resources.

Server

Here is an example creating a server in gulpfile.

'use strict';

var gulp = require('gulp');
var electron = require('electron-connect').server.create();

gulp.task('serve', function () {

  // Start browser process
  electron.start();

  // Restart browser process
  gulp.watch('app.js', electron.restart);

  // Reload renderer process
  gulp.watch(['index.js', 'index.html'], electron.reload);
});

Client

A client can be created in browser process or renderer process.

RendererProcess

<html>
<body>
<!-- build:remove -->
<!-- Connect to server process -->
<script>require('electron-connect').client.create()</script>
<!-- end:build -->
</body>
</html>

Do you want to use this tool for only develop environment ? You can remove the <script> block in your gulpfile using gulp-useref.

BrowserProcess

'use strict';

var app = require('app');
var BrowserWindow = require('browser-window');
var client = require('electron-connect').client;

app.on('ready', function () {
  var mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
    width: 400,
    height: 300
  });
  mainWindow.loadUrl('file://' + __dirname + '/index.html');

  // Connect to server process
  client.create(mainWindow);
});

If you want details, see example/simple.

API References

server.create([options])

option Object
electron Object. An electron-prebuilt module. Set it If you want to use your forked Electron.
useGlobalElectron Boolean. If set, electron-connect use electron-prebuilt installed globally(default: false).
path String. A path to your package.json file(default: process.cwd()).
port Number. WebSocket server port(default: 30080).
spawnOpt Object. Options for spawn.
verbose Boolean. If set, show all electron-connect log in your prompt(default: false).

Returns a new ProcessManager object.

If neither electron nor useGlobalElectron are set, electron-connect searches electron-prebuilt modules automatically.

First, electron-connect searches electron-prebuilt installed locally.
If not hit, electron-connect uses electron-prebuilt installed globally.

Class: ProcessManager

start([args], [callback])

args String or Array. Additional arguments used when create a process.
callback Function

Starts a server and Electron application process.

restart([args], [callback])

args String or Array. Additional arguments used when create a process.
callback Function

Kills Electron process if it exsists, and starts new one.

This method is useful for callback of your browserProcess sourcecodes' change event.

reload([ids])

ids String or Array. A list of id of target client.

Emit reload event to target clients. Broadcasts reload event to all connected Client object if ids not set. This method does not kill any Electron processes.

This method is useful for callback of your rendererProcess sourcecodes' change event.

stop([callback])

callback Function

Kills Electron process and stops server.

on(eventName, callback)

eventName String
callback Function

Registers an eventhandler. It can be emitted by Client.sendMessage.

broadcast(eventName, [data])

eventName String. A message type.
data Object. A message data.

Broadcasts a event to all clients.

client.create([browserWindow], [options], [callback])

browserWindow Object
options Object
port Number
sendBounds Boolean
verbose Boolean
callback Function

Creates a new Client object with browserWindow and connects to ProcessManager. The browserWindow should be an Electron browser-window instance. Once a client is created and connects the server, the client can receive events(e.g. reload). You can omit browserWindow in only rendererProcess.

If sendBounds is set(default true), the client sends a bounds object when browserWindow moves or resizes. And when ProcessManager.restart() is called, the client recover the bounds stored at server.

class: Client

id

An identifier of this client. It is a same value browserWindow.id.

on(eventName, callback)

eventName String
callback Function

Registers an eventhandler. It can be emitted by ProcessManager.broadcast.

sendMessage(eventName, [data])

eventName String. A message type.
data Object. A message data.

Emits an event to ProcessManager.

License

MIT

akashnimare / electron-connect Goto Github PK