• Install and run on Windows
• Documentation
  • electron_sample application
  • native_module module

Install NodeJS.

From an elevated PowerShell or CMD.exe (run as Administrator), run

$ npm install --global --production windows-build-tools

to install Python and Visual C++ Build Environment.

After that, enter in the project folder and launch

$ cd native_module && npm install && npm run build
$ cd .. && cd electron_sample && npm install && npm run build
$ npm run start

After the start task, the native string world will appear inside the DOM of an Electron window.

The application is split in two parts:

• electron_sample: a sample application running in Electron using a Typescript renderer.
• native_module: a sample Typescript module that integrates a native feature.

In order to display the sample string generated by the module in the Electron application, we need to inject it into the application itself.

The application main treat is to generate an Electron application and to include the native_module.

The assets file are already moved in the dist folder and webpack is configured to build the bundle inside that folder.

The application package.json just includes the local path in his dependencies.

"dependencies": {
    "native_module": "file:../native_module"
}

devDependencies are included to compile and run correctly the application.

In our scripts we have:

• start task, to launch the application.
• postinstall task, to rebuild Electron including the native module.
• build task, to compile and pack Typescript and Javascript files.

First of all, let's consider the tsconfig.json file. Using:

"declaration": true,
"outDir": "dist"

the Typescript compiler will use dist as the build directory and will generate declarations.

In the package.json

"main": "dist/index.js",
"types": "dist/index.d.ts"

indicates the correct path for the main file and typings.

The scripts used in this module are

"build": "npm run build-native && npm run tsc",
"tsc": "tsc",
"build-native": "node-gyp rebuild"

• tsc: compiles the Typescript source code.
• build-native: compiles the C++ code.
• build: executes both.

In order to develop using a native library, we need nan and node-gyp. @types/node and typescript are useful to compile Typescript.

"dependencies": {
    "nan": "^2.14.0"
},
"devDependencies": {
    "@types/node": "^12.0.0",
    "node-gyp": "^4.0.0",
    "typescript": "^3.4.5"
}

In binding.gyp we include nan binaries

"include_dirs": [
    "<!(node -e \"require('nan')\")"
]

In Typescript index.ts is wrapped the exported hello function used in the Electron application.