82 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
82 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
# electron-prebuilt
|
|
|
|
[](http://travis-ci.org/mafintosh/electron-prebuilt)
|
|
[](http://dat-data.com/)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Install [electron](https://github.com/atom/electron) prebuilt binaries for command-line use using npm. This module helps you easily install the `electron` command for use on the command line without having to compile anything.
|
|
|
|
Electron is a JavaScript runtime that bundles Node.js and Chromium. You use it similar to the `node` command on the command line for executing JavaScript programs. For more info you can read [this intro blog post](http://maxogden.com/electron-fundamentals.html) or dive into the [Electron documentation](https://github.com/atom/electron/tree/master/docs)
|
|
|
|
## Installation
|
|
|
|
Download and install the latest build of electron for your OS and add it to your projects `package.json` as a `devDependency`:
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
npm install electron-prebuilt --save-dev
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
This is the preferred way to use electron, as it doesn't require users to install electron globally.
|
|
|
|
You can also use the `-g` flag (global) to symlink it into your PATH:
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
npm install -g electron-prebuilt
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
If that command fails with an `EACCESS` error you may have to run it again with `sudo`:
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
sudo npm install -g electron-prebuilt
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
Now you can just run `electron` to run electron:
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
electron
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
If you need to use an HTTP proxy you can [set these environment variables](https://github.com/request/request/tree/f0c4ec061141051988d1216c24936ad2e7d5c45d#controlling-proxy-behaviour-using-environment-variables)
|
|
|
|
## About
|
|
|
|
Works on Mac, Windows and Linux OSes that Electron supports (e.g. Electron [does not support Windows XP](https://github.com/atom/electron/issues/691)).
|
|
|
|
The version numbers of this module match the version number of the [offical Electron releases](https://github.com/atom/electron/releases), which do not follow [semantic versioning](http://semver.org/).
|
|
|
|
This module is automatically released whenever a new version of Electron is released thanks to [electron-prebuilt-updater](https://github.com/johnmuhl/electron-prebuilt-updater) written by [John Muhl](https://github.com/johnmuhl/).
|
|
|
|
## Usage
|
|
|
|
First you have to [write an electron application](https://github.com/atom/electron/blob/master/docs/tutorial/quick-start.md)
|
|
|
|
Then you can run your app using:
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
electron your-app/
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
## Related modules
|
|
|
|
- [electron-packager](https://github.com/maxogden/electron-packager) - package and distribute your electron app in OS executables (.app, .exe etc)
|
|
- [electron-builder](https://github.com/loopline-systems/electron-builder) - create installers for Windows and OS X. It's built to work together with electron-packager
|
|
- [menubar](https://github.com/maxogden/menubar) - high level way to create menubar desktop applications with electron
|
|
|
|
Find more at the [awesome-electron](https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome-electron) list
|
|
|
|
## Programmatic usage
|
|
|
|
Most people use this from the command line, but if you require `electron-prebuilt` inside your node app it will return the file path to the binary.
|
|
Use this to spawn electron from node scripts.
|
|
|
|
``` js
|
|
var electron = require('electron-prebuilt')
|
|
var proc = require('child_process')
|
|
|
|
// will something similar to print /Users/maf/.../Electron
|
|
console.log(electron)
|
|
|
|
// spawn electron
|
|
var child = proc.spawn(electron)
|
|
```
|