vazco/Universe Desktop App
Easily package your Meteor apps with Electron. Using this package you can build one project which can be both regular meteor app and a offline application for desktop
cd /your/meteor/app
meteor npm install --save universe-desktop-appNow, You should add to your package.json on the end of section scripts following line:
"desktop": "desktop-app"
So, everything should look like this example:
...
"scripts": {
"start": "meteor --settings=settings.json"
"desktop": "desktop-app --settings=settings.json"
},
...Works on all Meteor's supported platforms.
$ meteor npm run desktop -- --help
Usage: desktop-app [command] [options]
Commands:
run (default) start meteor app within desktop context
bundle bundle meteor app at `.desktop` dir
package bundle and package app to `--output` dir
Options:
-h, --help output usage information
-V, --version output the version number
-i, --input <path> meteor app dir | default = .
-o, --output <path> output dir | default = .desktop/.dist
-s, --settings <path> meteor settings file | default = null (optional)
Examples:
# cd into meteor dir first
cd /your/meteor/app
desktop-app
desktop-app run
desktop-app package
desktop-app package -o /dist/dir
desktop-app package -o /dist/dir -s file.json
desktop-app package -i /app/dir -o /dist/dir -s dev.json
desktop-app package -- <electron-packager-options>
# more info about electron packager options:
# ~> https://www.npmjs.com/package/electron-packagercd /your/meteor/app
meteor npm run desktopYou should add to your package.json on the end of section scripts following line:
"build-desktop": "desktop-app package"
So, everything should look like this example:
...
"scripts": {
"start": "meteor --settings=settings.json",
"desktop": "desktop-app --settings=settings.json",
"build-desktop": "desktop-app package --settings=settings.json"
},
...cd /your/meteor/app
npm run build-desktopThe packaging process is done under the hood using electron-packager
npm package. The following variables are automatically set:
--out-- comes from cli option [-o, --out]--arch-- comes from system [current arch]--platform-- comes from system [current platform]--version-- comes from .desktop/package.json [current app version]
You can overwrite these default values and also set others by passing custom
arguments directly to electron-packager after --, i.e:
cd /your/meteor/app
desktop-app package -- --icon=/folder/x/img/icon.png --version=x.y.zAll the available options for electron-packager can be found here:
https://www.npmjs.com/package/electron-packager
The output app will match your current operational system and arch type.
- To get an OSX app, run it from a Osx machine.
- To get an Linux 32bit app, run it from a 32bit Linux machine.
- To get an Linux 64bit app, run it from a 64bit Linux machine.
- To get an Windows 32bit app, run it from a 32bit Windows machine.
- To get an Windows 64bit app, run it from a 64bit Windows machine.
Due to NodeJS native bindings of such libraries such as Fibers -- which are mandatory for Meteor, you'll need to have your Meteor app fully working on the desired platform before installing this plugin and packaging your app.
So, at this time, you cannot package your app in a cross-platform fashion from one single OS.
Perhaps you can live with it? :)
DO NOT use options to output for multiple arch/platforms at once, such as
--arch=all. It won't work, Desktop can bundle Meteor apps only for the platform you're running on.
-i, --input- Meteor app folder, default is current directory (process.cwd()).-o, --output- Sets output folder for your packaged app, default is/your/meteor/app/.dist-s, --settingsSets path for Meteor settings file, this will be available inside your Meteor code both in development and after being packaged.
You'll notice a new folder called .desktop in your meteor app dir, its
structure will be like this:
/your/meteor/app
├── .desktop
│ ├── .gitignore
│ ├── desktop.json
│ ├── index.js
│ └── package.json
├── .meteor
└── ...
This is a pure Electron project, so you can use the whole Electron API from JS
files in this folder. Also, you can install electron dependencies and store them
in the package.json file. Note that the desktop package is itself a
dependency.
See this folder as the desktop layer for your Meteor app. Remember to check
out the index.js file, it constains the desktop start/stop usage.
The desktop.json file will hold specific preferences for Desktop, such as
plugins and so on. It's still a WIP, but you can get around it.
For now there's only one option here: preserve_db.
Set it to true to preserve database between installs. It works by saving the mongo data dir inside user's data folder, instead of being self contained within the app folder (which gets deleted when new version is installed).
Let's see how one would be able to do a simple SplashScreen:
var app = require('app');
var browser = require('browser-window');
var desktop = require('universe-desktop-app')(__dirname);
var window = null;
var splash = null; // splash variable
app.on('ready', function() {
splash = new browser({ // starts splash window
// >>> your configs here
});
splash.loadUrl('./splash.html'); // create the ".desktop/splash.html" file
// then move along and start desktop
desktop.start(function(meteor_root_url) {
// before opening a new window with your app, destroy the splash window
splash.close(); // >>> or .destroy(), check what works for you
// from here on, well, nothing changes..
window = new browser({
width: 1200, height: 900,
'node-integration': false // node integration must to be off
});
window.loadUrl(meteor_root_url);
});
});
// ....When upgrading to newer versions, it's important to know that:
Once these files exists on disk, they will not be overwritten.
.desktop/index.js.desktop/package.json.desktop/desktop.json.desktop/.gitignore.json
This package is forked from desktop package by Anderson Arboleya (provided under MIT).
Like every package maintained by Vazco, Universe Desktop App is MIT licensed.