2014-05-06 07:16:54 +00:00
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# Technical differences to node-webkit
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Like node-webkit, atom-shell provides a platform to write desktop applications
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with JavaScript and HTML, and has node integration to grant access to low level
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system in web pages.
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But there are also fundamental differences between the two projects that making
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2014-05-06 16:46:29 +00:00
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atom-shell a completely separate product from node-webkit:
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2014-05-06 07:16:54 +00:00
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2014-05-06 07:22:29 +00:00
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**1. Entry of application**
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2014-05-06 07:16:54 +00:00
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In node-webkit, the main entry of an application is a web page, you specify a
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main page in the `package.json` and it would be opened in a browser window as
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the application's main window.
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While in atom-shell, the entry point is a JavaScript script, instead of
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providing a URL directly, you need to manually create a browser window and load
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html file in it with corresponding API. You also need to listen to window events
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to decide when to quit the application.
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So atom-shell works more like the node.js runtime, and APIs are more low level,
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you can also use atom-shell for web testing purpose like
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[phantomjs](http://phantomjs.org/),
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2014-05-06 07:22:29 +00:00
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**2. Build system**
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2014-05-06 07:16:54 +00:00
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In order to avoid the complexity of building the whole Chromium, atom-shell uses
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[libchromiumcontent](https://github.com/brightray/libchromiumcontent) to access
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Chromium's Content API, libchromiumcontent is a single, shared library that
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includes the Chromium Content module and all its dependencies. So users don't
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need a powerful machine to build atom-shell.
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2014-05-06 07:22:29 +00:00
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**3. Node integration**
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2014-05-06 07:16:54 +00:00
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In node-webkit, the node integration in web pages requires patching Chromium to
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work, while in atom-shell we chose a different way to integrate libuv loop to
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each platform's message loop to avoid hacking Chromium, see the
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[`node_bindings`](../../atom/common/) code for how that was done.
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2014-05-06 07:22:29 +00:00
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**4. Multi-context**
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2014-05-06 07:16:54 +00:00
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If you are an experienced node-webkit user, you should be familiar with the
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concept of node context and web context, these concepts were invented because
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of how the node-webkit was implemented.
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By using the [multi-context](http://strongloop.com/strongblog/whats-new-node-js-v0-12-multiple-context-execution/)
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feature of node, atom-shell doesn't introduce a new JavaScript context in web
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pages.
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