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

About the Reader

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

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

Steven Kinney is the Director of the Front-End Engineering program at the Turing School of Software and Design and a front-end developer. Previously, he was Director of Educational Technology at the Council for Economic Education and a New York City teacher for seven years.