2020-11-02 07:18:29 +00:00
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# Dark Mode
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## Overview
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### Automatically update the native interfaces
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"Native interfaces" include the file picker, window border, dialogs, context
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menus, and more - anything where the UI comes from your operating system and
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not from your app. The default behavior is to opt into this automatic theming
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from the OS.
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### Automatically update your own interfaces
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If your app has its own dark mode, you should toggle it on and off in sync with
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the system's dark mode setting. You can do this by using the
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[prefer-color-scheme] CSS media query.
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### Manually update your own interfaces
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If you want to manually switch between light/dark modes, you can do this by
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setting the desired mode in the
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2020-11-24 02:02:16 +00:00
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[themeSource](../api/native-theme.md#nativethemethemesource)
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2020-11-02 07:18:29 +00:00
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property of the `nativeTheme` module. This property's value will be propagated
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to your Renderer process. Any CSS rules related to `prefers-color-scheme` will
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be updated accordingly.
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## macOS settings
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In macOS 10.14 Mojave, Apple introduced a new [system-wide dark mode][system-wide-dark-mode]
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for all macOS computers. If your Electron app has a dark mode, you can make it
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follow the system-wide dark mode setting using
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[the `nativeTheme` api](../api/native-theme.md).
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In macOS 10.15 Catalina, Apple introduced a new "automatic" dark mode option
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for all macOS computers. In order for the `nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors` and
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`Tray` APIs to work correctly in this mode on Catalina, you need to use Electron
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`>=7.0.0`, or set `NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance` to `false` in your
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`Info.plist` file for older versions. Both [Electron Packager][electron-packager]
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and [Electron Forge][electron-forge] have a
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[`darwinDarkModeSupport` option][packager-darwindarkmode-api]
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to automate the `Info.plist` changes during app build time.
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If you wish to opt-out while using Electron > 8.0.0, you must
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set the `NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance` key in the `Info.plist` file to
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`true`. Please note that Electron 8.0.0 and above will not let you opt-out
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of this theming, due to the use of the macOS 10.14 SDK.
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## Example
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We'll start with a working application from the
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[Quick Start Guide](quick-start.md) and add functionality gradually.
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First, let's edit our interface so users can toggle between light and dark
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modes. This basic UI contains buttons to change the `nativeTheme.themeSource`
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setting and a text element indicating which `themeSource` value is selected.
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By default, Electron follows the system's dark mode preference, so we
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will hardcode the theme source as "System".
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Add the following lines to the `index.html` file:
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```html
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<!DOCTYPE html>
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<html>
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<head>
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<meta charset="UTF-8">
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<title>Hello World!</title>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';" />
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="./styles.css">
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>Hello World!</h1>
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<p>Current theme source: <strong id="theme-source">System</strong></p>
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<button id="toggle-dark-mode">Toggle Dark Mode</button>
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<button id="reset-to-system">Reset to System Theme</button>
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<script src="renderer.js"></script>
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</body>
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</body>
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</html>
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```
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Next, add [event listeners](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventTarget/addEventListener)
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that listen for `click` events on the toggle buttons. Because the `nativeTheme`
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module only exposed in the Main process, you need to set up each listener's
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callback to use IPC to send messages to and handle responses from the Main
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process:
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* when the "Toggle Dark Mode" button is clicked, we send the
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`dark-mode:toggle` message (event) to tell the Main process to trigger a theme
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change, and update the "Current Theme Source" label in the UI based on the
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response from the Main process.
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* when the "Reset to System Theme" button is clicked, we send the
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`dark-mode:system` message (event) to tell the Main process to use the system
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color scheme, and update the "Current Theme Source" label to `System`.
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To add listeners and handlers, add the following lines to the `renderer.js` file:
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```js
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const { ipcRenderer } = require('electron')
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document.getElementById('toggle-dark-mode').addEventListener('click', async () => {
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const isDarkMode = await ipcRenderer.invoke('dark-mode:toggle')
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document.getElementById('theme-source').innerHTML = isDarkMode ? 'Dark' : 'Light'
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})
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document.getElementById('reset-to-system').addEventListener('click', async () => {
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await ipcRenderer.invoke('dark-mode:system')
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document.getElementById('theme-source').innerHTML = 'System'
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})
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```
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If you run your code at this point, you'll see that your buttons don't do
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anything just yet, and your Main process will output an error like this when
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you click on your buttons:
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`Error occurred in handler for 'dark-mode:toggle': No handler registered for 'dark-mode:toggle'`
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This is expected — we haven't actually touched any `nativeTheme` code yet.
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Now that we're done wiring the IPC from the Renderer's side, the next step
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is to update the `main.js` file to handle events from the Renderer process.
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Depending on the received event, we update the
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[`nativeTheme.themeSource`](../api/native-theme.md#nativethemethemesource)
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property to apply the desired theme on the system's native UI elements
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(e.g. context menus) and propagate the preferred color scheme to the Renderer
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process:
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2020-11-05 22:12:43 +00:00
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2020-11-02 07:18:29 +00:00
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* Upon receiving `dark-mode:toggle`, we check if the dark theme is currently
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active using the `nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors` property, and set the
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`themeSource` to the opposite theme.
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* Upon receiving `dark-mode:system`, we reset the `themeSource` to `system`.
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```js
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const { app, BrowserWindow, ipcMain, nativeTheme } = require('electron')
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function createWindow () {
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const win = new BrowserWindow({
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width: 800,
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height: 600,
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webPreferences: {
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nodeIntegration: true
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}
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})
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win.loadFile('index.html')
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ipcMain.handle('dark-mode:toggle', () => {
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if (nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors) {
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nativeTheme.themeSource = 'light'
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} else {
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nativeTheme.themeSource = 'dark'
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}
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return nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors
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})
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ipcMain.handle('dark-mode:system', () => {
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nativeTheme.themeSouce = 'system'
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})
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}
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app.whenReady().then(createWindow)
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app.on('window-all-closed', () => {
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if (process.platform !== 'darwin') {
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app.quit()
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}
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})
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app.on('activate', () => {
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if (BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().length === 0) {
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createWindow()
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}
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})
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```
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The final step is to add a bit of styling to enable dark mode for the web parts
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of the UI by leveraging the [`prefers-color-scheme`][prefer-color-scheme] CSS
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attribute. The value of `prefers-color-scheme` will follow your
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`nativeTheme.themeSource` setting.
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Create a `styles.css` file and add the following lines:
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```css
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@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
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body { background: #333; color: white; }
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}
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@media (prefers-color-scheme: light) {
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body { background: #ddd; color: black; }
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}
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```
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After launching the Electron application, you can change modes or reset the
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theme to system default by clicking corresponding buttons:
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[system-wide-dark-mode]: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/macos/visual-design/dark-mode/
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[electron-forge]: https://www.electronforge.io/
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[electron-packager]: https://github.com/electron/electron-packager
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[packager-darwindarkmode-api]: https://electron.github.io/electron-packager/master/interfaces/electronpackager.options.html#darwindarkmodesupport
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[prefer-color-scheme]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/@media/prefers-color-scheme
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