README.md

vite-react-electron

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Overview

This is a Vite-integrated Electron template built with simplification in mind.

The repo contains only the most basic files, dependencies and functionalities to ensure flexibility for various scenarios.

You need a basic understanding of Electron and Vite to get started. But that's not mandatory - you can learn almost all the details by reading through the source code. Trust me, this repo is not that complex. 😋

Quick start

npm create electron-vite

Debug

Directory structure

Once dev or build npm-script is executed, the dist folder will be generated. It has the same structure as the packages folder, the purpose of this design is to ensure the correct path calculation.

├── build                     Resources for the production build
|   ├── icon.icns             Icon for the application on macOS
|   ├── icon.ico              Icon for the application
|   ├── installerIcon.ico     Icon for the application installer
|   └── uninstallerIcon.ico   Icon for the application uninstaller
|
├── dist                      Generated after build according to the "packages" directory
|   ├── main
|   ├── preload
|   └── renderer
|
├── release                   Generated after production build, contains executables
|   └──{version}
|       ├── win-unpacked      Contains unpacked application executable
|       └── Setup.exe         Installer for the application
|
├── scripts
|   ├── build.mjs             Develop script -> npm run build
|   └── watch.mjs             Develop script -> npm run dev
|
├── packages
|   ├── main                  Main-process source code
|   |   └── vite.config.ts
|   ├── preload               Preload-script source code
|   |   └── vite.config.ts
|   └── renderer              Renderer-process source code
|       └── vite.config.ts

Use Electron and NodeJS API

🚧 By default, Electron doesn't support the use of API related to Electron and NodeJS in the Renderer process, but someone might need to use it. If so, you can see the template 👉 electron-vite-boilerplate

Invoke Electron and NodeJS API in Preload-script

• packages/preload/index.ts

  import fs from "fs"
  import { contextBridge, ipcRenderer } from "electron"
  
  // --------- Expose some API to Renderer-process. ---------
  contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld("fs", fs)
  contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld("ipcRenderer", ipcRenderer)

• packages/renderer/src/global.d.ts

  // Defined in the window
  interface Window {
    fs: typeof import("fs")
    ipcRenderer: import("electron").IpcRenderer
  }

• packages/renderer/src/main.ts

  // Use Electron and NodeJS API in the Renderer-process
  console.log("fs", window.fs)
  console.log("ipcRenderer", window.ipcRenderer)

Use SerialPort, SQLite3, or other node-native addons in the Main-process

• First, you need to make sure that the dependencies in the package.json are NOT in the "devDependencies". Because the project will need them after packaged.

• Main-process, Preload-script are also built with Vite, and they're built as build.lib.
  So they just need to configure Rollup.

Click to see more 👉 packages/main/vite.config.ts

export default {
  build: {
    // built lib for Main-process, Preload-script
    lib: {
      entry: "index.ts",
      formats: ["cjs"],
      fileName: () => "[name].js",
    },
    rollupOptions: {
      // configuration here
      external: ["serialport", "sqlite3"],
    },
  },
}

dependencies vs devDependencies

• First, you need to know if your dependencies are needed after the application is packaged.

• Like serialport, sqlite3 they are node-native modules and should be placed in dependencies. In addition, Vite will not build them, but treat them as external modules.

• Dependencies like Vue and React, which are pure javascript modules that can be built with Vite, can be placed in devDependencies. This reduces the size of the application.