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Cross Platform Desktop Application Development: Electron, Node, NW.js and React
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.
300 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 27, 2017
8 people want to read
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August 1, 2017
Disclosure: I’m the author of the book.
I always fancied to write a book that would combine most of my programming experience gathered over two decades. Packtpub gave a chance that I embraced gratefully. And here we are, half a year of efforts paid off and my book is live.
I split the book in four tutorials, starting with basics and advancing progressively though more and more complex aspects. So the first part guides on creating a file-explorer application built with pure JavaScript and NW.js/Node.js. It's structured to let the reader to achieve the first desktop app with minimum efforts. Nonetheless it introduces the reader to many essential concepts such as maintainable CSS, CSS properties aka variables, ES2015 fundamentals, desktop environment integration API. Every presented aspect and code extract is described deep in details. The second part is about creating a chat application with Electron, React and PhotonKit. I see it as a decent beginner's guide on React library. Besides it acknowledges the reader with WebSockets technology. The third part is about screen capturer application made with NW.js, React/Redux and Material UI. Since at the point the reader is expected to have initial experience with React it take them to the new level - React application with predictable and highly-manageable global state. Among other things it explains how one can leverage technologies of WebRTC set and beyond to to make screenshots and record screencasts. The last part guides on creating RSS aggregator application with Electron, React, Redux and TypeScript. At that stage I assume the reader has enough knowledge to follow on truly comprehensive architecture. The reader learns to declare and guard the intended code design with interfaces and advanced types. They learn to deal with asynchronous actions, combined reducers and store middleware. I believe it brings the best practices required to build a truly highly-maintainable applications.
I always fancied to write a book that would combine most of my programming experience gathered over two decades. Packtpub gave a chance that I embraced gratefully. And here we are, half a year of efforts paid off and my book is live.
I split the book in four tutorials, starting with basics and advancing progressively though more and more complex aspects. So the first part guides on creating a file-explorer application built with pure JavaScript and NW.js/Node.js. It's structured to let the reader to achieve the first desktop app with minimum efforts. Nonetheless it introduces the reader to many essential concepts such as maintainable CSS, CSS properties aka variables, ES2015 fundamentals, desktop environment integration API. Every presented aspect and code extract is described deep in details. The second part is about creating a chat application with Electron, React and PhotonKit. I see it as a decent beginner's guide on React library. Besides it acknowledges the reader with WebSockets technology. The third part is about screen capturer application made with NW.js, React/Redux and Material UI. Since at the point the reader is expected to have initial experience with React it take them to the new level - React application with predictable and highly-manageable global state. Among other things it explains how one can leverage technologies of WebRTC set and beyond to to make screenshots and record screencasts. The last part guides on creating RSS aggregator application with Electron, React, Redux and TypeScript. At that stage I assume the reader has enough knowledge to follow on truly comprehensive architecture. The reader learns to declare and guard the intended code design with interfaces and advanced types. They learn to deal with asynchronous actions, combined reducers and store middleware. I believe it brings the best practices required to build a truly highly-maintainable applications.
Displaying 1 of 1 review