Electron in Action

Summary

Electron in Action guides you, step-by-step, as you learn to build cross-platform desktop applications that run on Windows, OSX, and Linux. By the end of the book, you'll be ready to build simple, snappy applications using JavaScript, Node, and the Electron framework.

About the Technology

Wouldn't it be great to build desktop applications using just your web dev skills? Electron is a framework designed for exactly that! Fully cross-platform, Electron lets you use JavaScript and Node to create simple, snappy desktop apps. Spinning up tools, games, and utilities with Electron is fast, practical, and fun!

About the Book

Electron in Action teaches you to build cross-platform applications using JavaScript, Node, and the Electron framework. You'll learn how to think like a desktop developer as you build a text tool that reads and renders Markdown. You'll add OS-specific features like the file system, menus, and clipboards, and use Chromium's tools to distribute the finished product. You'll even round off your learning with data storage, performance optimization, and testing.

What's inside

• Building for macOS, Windows, and Linux
• Native operating system APIs
• Using third-party frameworks like React
• Deploying to the Mac App Store

Requires intermediate JavaScript and Node skills. No experience building desktop apps required.

About the Author

Steven Kinney is a principal engineer at SendGrid, an instructor with Frontend Masters, and the organizer of the DinosaurJS conference in Denver, Colorado.

Table of Contents

1. PART 1 - GETTING STARTED WITH ELECTRON
2. Introducing Electron
3. Your first Electron application
4. PART 2 - BUILDING CROSS-PLATFORM APPLICATIONS WITH ELECTRON
5. Building a notes application
6. Using native file dialog boxes and facilitating interprocess communication
7. Working with multiple windows
8. Working with files
9. Building application and context menus
10. Further operating system integration and dynamically enabling menu items
11. Introducing the tray module
12. Building applications with the menubar library
13. Using transpilers and frameworks
14. Persisting use data and using native Node.js modules
15. Testing applications with Spectron
16. PART 3 - DEPLOYING ELECTRON APPLICATIONS
17. Building applications for deployment
18. Releasing and updating applications
19. Distributing your application through the Mac App Store