Cross Platform Desktop Applications

Summary Cross-Platform Desktop Applications guides you step-by-step through creating Node.js desktop applications with NW.js and Electron from GitHub. Foreword by Cheng Zhao, creator of Electron. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Technology Desktop application development has traditionally required high-level programming languages and specialized frameworks. With Electron and NW.js, you can apply your existing web dev skills to create desktop applications using only HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. And those applications will work across Windows, Mac, and Linux, radically reducing development and training time. About the Book Cross-Platform Desktop Applications guides you step by step through the development of desktop applications using Electron and NW.js. This example-filled guide shows you how to create your own file explorer, and then steps through some of the APIs provided by the frameworks to work with the camera, access the clipboard, make a game with keyboard controls, and build a Twitter desktop notification tool. You'll then learn how to test your applications, and debug and package them as binaries for various OSs. What's Inside Create a selfie app with the desktop camera Learn how to test Electron apps with Devtron Learn how to use Node.js with your application About the Reader Written for developers familiar with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. About the Author Paul Jensen works at Starcount and lives in London, UK. Table of Contents PART 1 - WELCOME TO NODE.JS DESKTOP APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT Introducing Electron and NW.js Laying the foundation for your first desktop application Building your first desktop application Shipping your first desktop application PART 2 - DIVING DEEPER Using Node.js within NW.js and Electron Exploring NW.js and Electron's internals PART 3 - MASTERING NODE.JS DESKTOP APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT Controlling how your desktop app is displayed Creating tray applications Creating application and context menus Dragging and dropping files and crafting the UI Using a webcam in your application Storing app data Copying and pasting contents from the clipboard Binding on keyboard shortcuts Making desktop notifications PART 4 - GETTING READY TO RELEASE Testing desktop apps Improving app performance with debugging Packaging the application for the wider world

Build powerful cross-platform desktop applications with web technologies such as Node, NW.JS, Electron, and React About This Book Build different cross-platform HTML5 desktop applications right from planning, designing, and deployment to enhancement, testing, and delivery Forget the pain of cross-platform compatibility and build efficient apps that can be easily deployed on different platforms. Build simple to advanced HTML5 desktop apps, by integrating them with other popular frameworks and libraries such as Electron, Node.JS, Nw.js, React, Redux, and TypeScript Who This Book Is For This book has been written for developers interested in creating desktop applications with HTML5. The first part requires essential web-master skills (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript). The second demands minimal experience with React. And finally for the third it would be helpful to have a basic knowledge of React, Redux, and TypeScript. What You Will Learn Plan, design, and develop different cross-platform desktop apps Application architecture with React and local state Application architecture with React and Redux store Code design with TypeScript interfaces and specialized types CSS and component libraries such as Photonkit, Material UI, and React MDL HTML5 APIs such as desktop notifications, WebSockets, WebRTC, and others Desktop environment integration APIs of NW.js and Electron Package and distribute for NW.JS and Electron In Detail Building and maintaining cross-platform desktop applications with native languages isn't a trivial task. Since it's hard to simulate on a foreign platform, packaging and distribution can be quite platform-specific and testing cross-platform apps is pretty complicated.In such scenarios, web technologies such as HTML5 and JavaScript can be your lifesaver. HTML5 desktop applications can be distributed across different platforms (Window, MacOS, and Linux) without any modifications to the code. The book starts with a walk-through on building a simple file explorer from scratch powered by NW.JS. So you will practice the most exciting features of bleeding edge CSS and JavaScript. In addition you will learn to use the desktop environment integration API, source code protection, packaging, and auto-updating with NW.JS. As the second application you will build a chat-system example implemented with Electron and React. While developing the chat app, you will get Photonkit. Next, you will create a screen capturer with NW.JS, React, and Redux. Finally, you will examine an RSS-reader built with TypeScript, React, Redux, and Electron. Generic UI components will be reused from the React MDL library. By the end of the book, you will have built four desktop apps. You will have covered everything from planning, designing, and development to the enhancement, testing, and delivery of these apps. Style and approach Filled with real world examples, this book teaches you to build cross-platform desktop apps right from scratch using a step-by-step approach.

Discover how to take your existing web development skills and learn how to create desktop applications for macOS, Windows, and Linux, using GitHub's Electron. Learn how to combine the power of Node.js and Chromium to provide a powerful development platform for creating web applications that break free from the browser. Electron: From Beginner to Pro guides you through the capabilities that you have available to create desktop applications. Learn to use features like file system access, create native menus, OS-specific dialogs and more. The authors will show you how to package your application for distribution for multiple platforms and enable auto-updating. What You Will Learn Leverage your knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript Use current web applications for the desktop Create and use Electron’s main process and render process to create effective desktop applications Communicate between processes and between windows Build desktop applications that can be updated and distributed Who This Book Is For Web developers looking to leverage their HTML, CSS and JavaScript skills to create desktop widgets and applications. Developers wanting to leverage existing a Web application to extend functionality with a desktop application.

Learn how to develop cross-platform desktop app from scratch with Electron and NodeAbout This Book * Build a solid foundation with Electron for an easier development experience* Use modern JavaScript frameworks and tools along with Electron to take your desktop applications to the next level* Extend the functionality of Electron through modulesWho This Book Is ForIf you are a developer with prior experience of building front-end applications and you are keen on developing a cross-platform desktop application, then this book is for you. This book is also ideal for experienced JavaScript developers with a basic understanding of front-end development and Node.js development.What You Will Learn * Explore various tools and libraries to build and debug an Electron application* Use popular JavaScript frameworks such as Angular and Typescript along with Electron to enhance your app* Work with the desktop UI development for Electron using Photon* Find out how to use various Electron APIs like Clipboard, Process, Shell, Image, File, Session, and Cookie* Integrate your application into different desktop environments with Electron API* Cache your network resources using service worker* Test the Electron application using Mocha and Spectron* See how to package and distribute an Electron applicationIn Detail Though web applications are becoming increasingly popular, desktop apps are still important. The Electron framework lets you write cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, and this book will teach you how to create your first desktop application with Electron. It will guide you on how to build desktop applications that run on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.You will begin your journey with an overview of Electron, and then move on to explore the various stages of creating a simple social media application. Along the way, you will learn how to use advanced Electron APIs, debug an Electron application, and make performance improvements using the Chrome developer tools. You'll also find out how to package and distribute an application, and more.By the end of the book, you will be able to build a complete desktop application using Electron and web technologies. You will have a solid understanding of the common challenges that desktop app developers face, and you'll know how to solve them.Style and approachCovers everything you need to know about Electron with full examples and explanations to get you building desktop apps with Electron as quickly as possible.

A project-based guide to help you create, package, and deploy desktop applications on multiple platforms using modern JavaScript frameworks Key FeaturesUse your web development skills with JavaScript and Node.js to build desktop applications for macOS and WindowsDevelop desktop versions of popular mobile applications that are similar to Slack, Spotify, and moreDesign desktop apps with automatic updates and real-time analytics capabilitiesBook Description The Electron framework allows you to use modern web technologies to build applications that share the same code across all operating systems and platforms. This also helps designers to easily transition from the web to the desktop. Electron Projects guides you through building cross-platform Electron apps with modern web technologies and JavaScript frameworks such as Angular, React.js, and Vue.js. You’ll explore the process of configuring modern JavaScript frameworks and UI libraries, real-time analytics and automatic updates, and interactions with the operating system. You’ll get hands-on with building a basic Electron app, before moving on to implement a Markdown Editor. In addition to this, you’ll be able to experiment with major JavaScript frameworks such as Angular and Vue.js, discovering ways to integrate them with Electron apps for building cross-platform desktop apps. Later, you’ll learn to build a screenshot snipping tool, a mini-game, and a music player, while also gaining insights into analytics, bug tracking, and licensing. You’ll then get to grips with building a chat app, an eBook generator and finally a simple digital wallet app. By the end of this book, you’ll have experience in building a variety of projects and project templates that will help you to apply your knowledge when creating your own cross-platform applications. What you will learnInitialize Node.js, Node Package Manager (NPM), and JavaScript to set up your appIntegrate Phaser with Electron to build a simple 2D gameImprove app quality by adding an error tracking system and crash reportsImplement group chat features and event handling capabilities using FirebaseIntegrate a WordPress-like rich-text editor into your appBuild Electron applications using a single codebaseWho this book is for This book is for JavaScript developers who want to explore the Electron framework for building desktop apps. Working knowledge of modern frontend JavaScript frameworks and Node.js is assumed. No prior knowledge of desktop development is required.

Cross-Platform Development in C++ is the definitive guide to developing portable C/C++ application code that will run natively on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux/Unix platforms without compromising functionality, usability, or quality. Long-time Mozilla and Netscape developer Syd Logan systematically addresses all the technical and management challenges associated with software portability from planning and design through coding, testing, and deployment. Drawing on his extensive experience with cross-platform development, Logan thoroughly covers issues ranging from the use of native APIs to the latest strategies for portable GUI development. Along the way, he demonstrates how to achieve feature parity while avoiding the problems inherent to traditional cross-platform development approaches. This book will be an indispensable resource for every software professional and technical manager who is building new cross-platform software, porting existing C/C++ software, or planning software that may someday require cross-platform support. Build Cross-Platform Applications without Compromise Throughout the book, Logan illuminates his techniques with realistic scenarios and extensive, downloadable code examples, including a complete cross-platform GUI toolkit based on Mozilla’s XUL that you can download, modify, and learn from. Coverage includes Policies and procedures used by Netscape, enabling them to ship Web browsers to millions of users on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux Delivering functionality and interfaces that are consistent on all platforms Understanding key similarities and differences among leading platform-specific GUI APIs, including Win32/.NET, Cocoa, and Gtk+ Determining when and when not to use native IDEs and how to limit their impact on portability Leveraging standards-based APIs, including POSIX and STL Avoiding hidden portability pitfalls associated with floating point, char types, data serialization, and types in C++ Utilizing platform abstraction libraries such as the Netscape Portable Runtime (NSPR) Establishing an effective cross-platform bug reporting and tracking system Creating builds for multiple platforms and detecting build failures across platforms when they occur Understanding the native runtime environment and its impact on installation Utilizing wxWidgets to create multi-platform GUI applications from a single code base Thoroughly testing application portability Understanding cross-platform GUI toolkit design with Trixul

Learn the fundamentals of QT 5 framework to develop interactive cross-platform applications Key Features A practical guide on the fundamentals of application development with QT 5 Learn to write scalable, robust and adaptable C++ code with QT Deploy your application on different platforms such as Windows, Mac OS, and Linux Book Description Qt is a mature and powerful framework for delivering sophisticated applications across a multitude of platforms. It has a rich history in the Linux world, is widely used in embedded devices, and has made great strides in the Mobile arena over the past few years. However, in the Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X worlds, the dominance of C#/.NET and Objective-C/Cocoa means that Qt is often overlooked. This book demonstrates the power and flexibility of the Qt framework for desktop application development and shows how you can write your application once and deploy it to multiple operating systems. Build a complete real-world line of business (LOB) solution from scratch, with distinct C++ library, QML user interface, and QtTest-driven unit-test projects. This is a suite of essential techniques that cover the core requirements for most LOB applications and will empower you to progress from a blank page to shipped application. What you will learn · Install and configure the Qt Framework and Qt Creator IDE · Create a new multi-project solution from scratch and control every aspect of it with QMake · Implement a rich user interface with QML · Learn the fundamentals of QtTest and how to integrate unit testing · Build self-aware data entities that can serialize themselves to and from JSON · Manage data persistence with SQLite and CRUD operations · Reach out to the internet and consume an RSS feed · Produce application packages for distribution to other users Who this book is for This book is for application developers who want a powerful and flexible framework to create modern, responsive applications on Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Linux desktop platforms. You should be comfortable with C++ but no prior knowledge of Qt or QML is required.