DEV Community

Cover image for How to build Electron apps with React.
Wachira
Wachira

Posted on • Originally published at hn.werick.codes

How to build Electron apps with React.

#electron #react #npm

Introduction

I have always had a deep interest in writing Desktop applications. What was holding me off throughout the years was, I wasn't interested in learning C++ or Java to make them. I wanted to build Desktop apps with Javascript, so I landed on Electron, a Javascript Desktop application framework, developed and maintained by Github.

Electron is such a big deal that it will allow you to create Desktop apps for all the major OS with a single codebase. That impressed me but not so much as you can write Desktop applications with React, Angular, Vue or any javascript framework out there. They sold me on that.

In this tutorial, I will outline the initial setup to get you started.

Prerequisites

To understand the syntax and concept of this tutorial you should have:

  • Basic concepts of Javascript and React
  • Written Javascript in ES5 and ES6 standard
  • Used Node Package Manager(npm)
  • Installed Nodejs and npm/yarn

Get started

Let's create the folder to house the electron app and change the directory to it.

$ mkdir electron_react_app && cd $_
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Use CRA(create-react-app) cli to generate a react codebase for us

$ npx create-react-app .
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Since we working with electron then we will add relevant dependencies throughout the tutorial.

$ yarn add electron electron-builder wait-on concurrently -D
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  • electron - allows us to use the electron framework.
  • electron-builder - allows us to build the electron app to executable.
  • wait-on - lets u wait on react to compile during development so as to render it with electron.
  • concurrently - allows us to run both react and electron concurrently. 
$ yarn add electron-is-dev
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  • electron-is-dev - tells electron the current environment we are working to decide either serve the build or render the react app running on dev environment.

Create an electron.js file in the public folder to house our electron logic.

// public/electron.js
const electron = require("electron");
const app = electron.app;
const BrowserWindow = electron.BrowserWindow;

const path = require("path");
const isDev = require("electron-is-dev");

let mainWindow;

function createWindow() {
  // Define the applications dimension
  mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({ width: 900, height: 680 });
  // Determine what to render based on environment
  mainWindow.loadURL(
    isDev
      ? "http://localhost:3000"
      : `file://${path.join(__dirname, "../build/index.html")}`
  );

  // Show chrome developer tools when in dev environment
  if (isDev) {
    mainWindow.webContents.openDevTools();
  }
  // Create event to close window on close
  mainWindow.on("closed", () => (mainWindow = null));
}

// On launch create app window
app.on("ready", createWindow);
app.on("window-all-closed", () => {
    // Based on which operating system you are using
  if (process.platform !== "linux") {
      // If os not linux, close the app
      // you can add darwin(mac os), win64 and so many more
    app.quit();
  }
});

app.on("activate", () => {
  if (mainWindow !== null) {
    createWindow();
  }
});
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Next, we will add a command to the package.json script tag to run both react and electron concurrently.

"electron-dev": "concurrently \"BROWSER=none yarn start\" \"wait-on http://localhost:3000 && electron .\""
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

The script will wait until CRA compiles the react app then starts the electron app.

Also for you to start the electron app you will have to point where the electron logic code lies. We will do so inside the package.json by adding the main value.

"main": "public/electron.js"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Let's run our app.

$ yarn electron-dev
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

You should see this.

Screenshot at 2019-12-28 10-04-16.png

For a person who has used react before, you should be wondering why a new tab on your browser wasn't opened, this is because of the environment we defined while running electron-dev, BROWSER=none.

Now, if you need to access the fs module as I did, you'll quickly hit the Module not found error. More info here.

Fortunately, it can be solved with the use of electron-renderer as the Webpack target. You will not have to change anything else in your React code rather we will use a third-party library called Rescripts

Let's install the library

$ yarn add @rescripts/cli  @rescripts/rescript-env -D
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

We will also have to change the script tags in the package.json file

From

"start": "react-scripts start",
"build": "react-scripts build",
"test": "react-scripts test",
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

To

"start": "rescripts start",
"build": "rescripts build",
"test": "rescripts test",
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Next, add the .rescriptsrc.js file in your root folder, and add the line below

module.exports = [require.resolve('./.webpack.config.js')]
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

We definitely need to create the .webpack.config.js file to avoid import errors.

module.exports = config => {
  config.target = 'electron-renderer';
  return config;
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Now your fs worries are over.

Packaging the app

To package our app, we will need a couple of dependencies.

yarn add electron-builder typescript -D
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  • electron-builder - to package the app with all of its dependencies.
  • typescript - electron-builder is dependent on typescript > Note: You will not write any typescript, and I won't pressure you to use it.

We need to define the homepage route because when react builds it uses absolute paths, and electron doesn't do absolute path. You can change this inside the package.json file by adding a homepage property.

"homepage": "./",
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Next, add an electron-pack command, which will package our builds.

Add the following to your scripts tag in package.json

"postinstall": "electron-builder",
"preelectron-pack": "yarn build",
"electron-pack": "build -mw"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  • postinstall - will ensure that your dependencies always match the electron version
  • preelectron-pack - will build the react app
  • electron-pack - package the app for your operating system of choice.

Before we can do run anything we will have to configure Electron builder.

Add the following to your package.json file.

"author": {
  "name": "Your Name",
  "email": "your.email@domain.com",
  "url": "https://your-website.com"
},
"build": {
  "appId": "com.my-website.my-app",
  "productName": "MyApp",
  "copyright": "Copyright © 2019 ${author}",
  "mac": {
    "category": "public.app-category.utilities"
  },
  "files": [
    "build/**/*",
    "node_modules/**/*"
  ],
  "directories": {
    "buildResources": "assets"
  }
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Your package.json file should look like this.

{
  "name": "my-app",
  "description": "Electron + Create React App + Electron Builder",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "private": true,
  "author": {
    "name": "Your Name",
    "email": "your.email@domain.com",
    "url": "https://your-website.com"
  },
  "build": {
    "appId": "com.my-website.my-app",
    "productName": "MyApp",
    "copyright": "Copyright © 2019 ${author}",
    "mac": {
      "category": "public.app-category.utilities"
    },
    "files": [
      "build/**/*",
      "node_modules/**/*"
    ],
    "directories": {
      "buildResources": "assets"
    }
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "electron-is-dev": "^1.0.1",
    "react": "^16.8.3",
    "react-dom": "^16.8.3",
    "react-scripts": "2.1.5"
  },
  "homepage": "./",
  "main": "public/electron.js",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "rescripts start",
    "build": "rescripts build",
    "test": "rescripts test",
    "eject": "react-scripts eject",
    "electron-dev": "concurrently \"BROWSER=none yarn start\" \"wait-on http://localhost:3000 && electron .\"",
    "postinstall": "electron-builder",
    "preelectron-pack": "yarn build",
    "electron-pack": "build -mw"
  },
  "eslintConfig": {
    "extends": "react-app"
  },
  "browserslist": [
    ">0.2%",
    "not dead",
    "not ie <= 11",
    "not op_mini all"
  ],
  "devDependencies": {
    "@rescripts/cli": "^0.0.10",
    "@rescripts/rescript-env": "^0.0.5",
    "concurrently": "^4.1.0",
    "electron": "^4.0.6",
    "electron-builder": "^20.38.5",
    "typescript": "^3.3.3333",
    "wait-on": "^3.2.0"
  }
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

You will also want to create a directory called assets where you will add your app icons. Check here to see the formats for these icons.

Now you can package your app

$ yarn electron-pack
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Background context

If you happen to encounter an error like this on linux.

[2720:0425/142001.775056:FATAL:setuid_sandbox_host.cc(157)] The SUID sandbox helper binary was found, but is not configured correctly. Rather than run without sandboxing I'm aborting now. You need to make sure that /home/<name>/src/ssbc/patchwork/node_modules/electron/dist/chrome-sandbox is owned by root and has mode 4755.
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

You can fix that like that by adding with this command.

Ensure you are in the project directory

$ sudo chown root node_modules/electron/dist/chrome-sandbox
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Then

$ sudo chmod 4755 node_modules/electron/dist/chrome-sandbox
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Your Linux package app won't work automatically because it has the .Appimage extension by default. You will have to make it executable.

Ensure you are in the dist folder

You can do so by:

$ chmod a+x '<You app>.AppImage'
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Then run it

$ ./<You app>.AppImage
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

If experience the 4755 error again then use this command:

$ sudo chown root '<Your appname>.AppImage'
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Then

$ sudo chmod 4755 '<Your appname>.AppImage'
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Then try running it again.

You can also build a Linux app to your preferred type e.g. Debian.

Follow up

Top comments (11)

Collapse
 
yougotwill profile image
Will G •

Just started building a react-electron boilerplate for myself this morning. This post answers all my questions. Thank you 🙏🙏

Collapse
 
wchr profile image
Wachira •

Glad to know it helped 😉.

Collapse
 
yougotwill profile image
Will G •

This might be a noob question but what does the flag combination "-mw" do in "electron-pack": "build -mw" inside the package.json? Did some googling but couldn't find an explanation.

Thread Thread
 
romanpod profile image
Roman Br. •

That's for creating Mac and Win executables.

Thread Thread
 
yougotwill profile image
Will G •

Awesome that makes sense. Thank you 🙏

Collapse
 
martinduo profile image
Bruce Martin •

I just fixed the problem below by changing script line to this:

"electron-dev": "concurrently \"SET BROWSER=none&&npm run start\" \"wait-on localhost:3000 && electron .\""

This answer was found on stackoverflow.com/questions/587363...

Collapse
 
martinduo profile image
Bruce Martin •

I began your instructions and when I got to "Let's run our app" with yarn electron-dev, what I got was this:

$ concurrently 'BROWSER=none yarn start' 'wait-on localhost:3000 && electron .'
[0] ''BROWSER' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
[0] operable program or batch file.
[0] 'BROWSER=none exited with code 1
[2] 'start'' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
[2] operable program or batch file.
[2] start' exited with code 1
[3] ''wait-on' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
[3] operable program or batch file.
[3] 'wait-on exited with code 1
[4] 'http:' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
[4] operable program or batch file.
[4] localhost:3000 exited with code 1
[1/4] Resolving packages...
success Already up-to-date.
[1] yarn exited with code 0
error Command failed with exit code 1.

I'm assuming that because I'm on Windows, this tutorial won't work for me.

Collapse
 
idiranis profile image
idiranis •

how can can i call express roots from react components

Collapse
 
wchr profile image
Wachira •

I don't think it's possible but let me look into it

Collapse
 
wchr profile image
Wachira •

Will get back to you

Collapse
 
guboongit profile image
GUBOonGIT •

its weird, after follow all, the electron app pop and react is load but if i change the App.js that change nothing can I have help ?

View full discussion (11 comments)

Read next

abhay_yt_52a8e72b213be229 profile image

Mastering Redux Basics: A Complete Guide to State Management in React

Abhay Singh Kathayat -

martygo profile image

👀 How Check Memory Leaks in React?⚠️🚨🚨

Martins Gouveia -

yogeshgalav7 profile image

How to optimize Vite app?

Yogesh Galav -

pentest_testing_corp profile image

Preventing SQL Injection (SQLi) in React.js Apps

Pentest Testing Corp -