74769da9a7
* Fix URLs and Paths in docs/ * Avoiding link break to /docs/development/updgrading-chrome.md * Fix URLs and Paths in docs/ #2 * Removed double spaces in docs
100 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
100 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
# Updating Applications
|
||
|
||
There are several ways to update an Electron application. The easiest and
|
||
officially supported one is taking advantage of the built-in
|
||
[Squirrel](https://github.com/Squirrel) framework and
|
||
Electron's [autoUpdater](../api/auto-updater.md) module.
|
||
|
||
## Deploying an update server
|
||
|
||
To get started, you first need to deploy a server that the
|
||
[autoUpdater](../api/auto-updater.md) module will download new updates from.
|
||
|
||
Depending on your needs, you can choose from one of these:
|
||
|
||
- [Hazel](https://github.com/zeit/hazel) – Update server for private or open-source apps. Can be deployed for free on [Now](https://zeit.co/now) (using a single command), pulls from [GitHub Releases](https://help.github.com/articles/creating-releases/) and leverages the power of GitHub's CDN.
|
||
- [Nuts](https://github.com/GitbookIO/nuts) – Also uses
|
||
[GitHub Releases](https://help.github.com/articles/creating-releases/),
|
||
but caches app updates on disk and supports private repositories.
|
||
- [electron-release-server](https://github.com/ArekSredzki/electron-release-server) – Provides a dashboard for handling releases
|
||
- [Nucleus](https://github.com/atlassian/nucleus) – A complete update server for Electron apps maintained by Atlassian. Supports multiple applications and channels; uses a static file store to minify server cost.
|
||
|
||
If your app is packaged with [electron-builder][electron-builder-lib] you can use the
|
||
[electron-updater] module, which does not require a server and allows for updates
|
||
from S3, GitHub or any other static file host.
|
||
|
||
## Implementing updates in your app
|
||
|
||
Once you've deployed your update server, continue with importing the required
|
||
modules in your code. The following code might vary for different server
|
||
software, but it works like described when using
|
||
[Hazel](https://github.com/zeit/hazel).
|
||
|
||
**Important:** Please ensure that the code below will only be executed in
|
||
your packaged app, and not in development. You can use
|
||
[electron-is-dev](https://github.com/sindresorhus/electron-is-dev) to check for
|
||
the environment.
|
||
|
||
```js
|
||
const {app, autoUpdater, dialog} = require('electron')
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Next, construct the URL of the update server and tell
|
||
[autoUpdater](../api/auto-updater.md) about it:
|
||
|
||
```js
|
||
const server = 'https://your-deployment-url.com'
|
||
const feed = `${server}/update/${process.platform}/${app.getVersion()}`
|
||
|
||
autoUpdater.setFeedURL(feed)
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
As the final step, check for updates. The example below will check every minute:
|
||
|
||
```js
|
||
setInterval(() => {
|
||
autoUpdater.checkForUpdates()
|
||
}, 60000)
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Once your application is [packaged](../tutorial/application-distribution.md),
|
||
it will receive an update for each new
|
||
[GitHub Release](https://help.github.com/articles/creating-releases/) that you
|
||
publish.
|
||
|
||
## Applying updates
|
||
|
||
Now that you've configured the basic update mechanism for your application, you
|
||
need to ensure that the user will get notified when there's an update. This
|
||
can be achieved using the autoUpdater API
|
||
[events](../api/auto-updater.md#events):
|
||
|
||
```js
|
||
autoUpdater.on('update-downloaded', (event, releaseNotes, releaseName) => {
|
||
const dialogOpts = {
|
||
type: 'info',
|
||
buttons: ['Restart', 'Later'],
|
||
title: 'Application Update',
|
||
message: process.platform === 'win32' ? releaseNotes : releaseName,
|
||
detail: 'A new version has been downloaded. Restart the application to apply the updates.'
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
dialog.showMessageBox(dialogOpts, (response) => {
|
||
if (response === 0) autoUpdater.quitAndInstall()
|
||
})
|
||
})
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Also make sure that errors are
|
||
[being handled](../api/auto-updater.md#event-error). Here's an example
|
||
for logging them to `stderr`:
|
||
|
||
```js
|
||
autoUpdater.on('error', message => {
|
||
console.error('There was a problem updating the application')
|
||
console.error(message)
|
||
})
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
[electron-builder-lib]: https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder
|
||
[electron-updater]: https://www.electron.build/auto-update
|