Electron Typescript-React-Starter Application 2024

A minimalistic (as possible) startingpoint, following the official guides, and avoiding some pitfalls.
It was important to me that all dependent packages are up to date.
I didn't test the app for all possible and impossible scenarios, only for my very specific requirements.
It ist my public playground, where i test out concepts and implementations for my apps.

Goals

Explore the Electron Inter-Process Communication (IPC), especialy the Message ports.
Execute CRUD-Operations via the IPC-Protocol.
Take the tour with Andt-Design.
Provide a sort of basic framework for real-life use cases.
Make the whole process easy as possible to understand and follow.

it bundles latest

If you also want to build an app with this setup, this could be a good starting point for you. Please note: I am travelling with Mac OS, but do my builds also an Windows (Linux is untested so far).

Framework Concepts

Introducing ViewTypes: list, view, form.
Introducing DocTypes, such as book,user, ipc, or whatever you need.
loading json Example-Data to couchdb to initialize a database.
- see assets/docs-json/, src/app/backend/Database_Pouchdb.ts and src/app/backend/DocumentCreator.ts.
Catalog-Module for local and remote pouchdb stores.
- local stores can be backuped to zip archives.
- switch between stores on the fly.
User-Management and Login
- Provide a Login-form
- Provide User-Management / Users and Roles (add, remove)
- Encrypt and decrypt data to store them localy via Elecron-Conf
- persist current user, for automatic login.
Notifications

React Pitfalls

Trigger Button-Actions from the global Header-Menue, and request actions from the underlying indipendent Components.

How it Looks

Login Screen. The session stays open if you wish, so you will logged in automatically on next startup.

Database. Settings and switch. This is an example for a List. The Name of the active catalog shows up in the Application-Title.

IPC Ping-Pong. Observe the behavior in the VS code terminal and in the browser-log of the developer-tools. Note that the header buttons can also be hidden/deactivated.

Example-Module User-List. This is a non-editable list of a bunch of entries of a specific docType.

Example-Module User-View. This is a non-editable view of a single entry from the list.

Example-Module User-Form. A Formular, to create, or update Data:

Use the Repo

Preparations

node, npm and yarn should be in place:

Setting up the Dev-Environment on Mac-OS

Setting up the Dev-Environment on Windows

follows

Recomended VisualStudioCode Plugins

I love to use these along with VS-Code:

Setting up the Dev-Environment on Linux / Ubuntu 24.04

# install VS-Code
sudo dpkg -i code_1.90.1-1718141439_amd64.deb
# install git
sudo apt-get install git
# install npm, node and yarn
npm install -g npm
npm install --global yarn
# check
node -v
npm -v
yarn -v

# https://github.com/nodesource/distributions?tab=readme-ov-file#debian-and-ubuntu-based-distributions
sudo apt-get install -y curl
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x -o nodesource_setup.sh
sudo -E bash nodesource_setup.sh
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
node -v

# install rpmbuild
sudo apt-get install rpm
# check dpkg
dpkg --version
# install fakeroot
sudo apt-get update -y
sudo apt-get install -y fakeroot

# An unhandled rejection has occurred inside Forge:
# Error: node-gyp failed to rebuild
# ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distutils'
# https://github.com/electron/rebuild/issues/1116

sudo apt install python3-pip
pip install setuptools

runs and makes

Clone the git repository

npm install
# backup the .gitignore (rename it)
# then remove the existing git
rm -rf .git*
# and init your own
git init
# restore the backuped .gitignore

run the commands

#start the app
npm start
# builds a zip in /out/make/zip/darwin/arm64
# you have to extract the zip an lauch the executable file
npm run make
# publish on github (has to be setup)
# npm run publish

npm run make builds a zipped App in the out/make/ Folder.

Should run without errors.
Inspect the code for further reference.
Have fun and success with your project.

Login

Login with username = f_mueller and password f_mueller.
Example Users with different roles have username quals password.
See assets/docs-json/users.json

Update outdated packages

Important

be careful when updating.

Tip

I do a quick local backup before updating, for an easy rollback if an update fails.

Check for outdated packages:

# check 
npm outdated
# or better use: npx npm-check-updates
ncu
# install ncu if absent
npm i npm-check-updates
# Guide: https://github.com/raineorshine/npm-check-updates

Use Cursor-Keys up and down to navigate, space to deselect, and enter to execute:

ncu -i --format group

Warning

In this case, updating all the eslint stuff leads to severe problems in Webpack which causes the build to fail. I have to wait until all installed dependent packages are updated. Dont update:

Patch   Backwards-compatible bug fixes
❯ ◉ @vercel/webpack-asset-relocator-loader    1.7.3  →    1.7.4
Minor   Backwards-compatible features
  ◯ @typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin        ^7.10.0  →  ^7.12.0
❯ ◯ @typescript-eslint/parser               ^7.10.0  →  ^7.12.0
Major   Potentially breaking API changes
❯ ◯ eslint  ^8.0.1  →  ^9.2.0

make a release

# first build
npm run build
# then commit all changes to git, and then...
# create a version: major,minor,patch 
# patch: 1.0.0 -> 1.0.1
npm version major
npm version minor
npm version patch

Customize to your needs in six steps

Customize src/app/common/app-info.ts
Add your type mydoctype to src/app/common/types/DocType.ts
Create a DocMydoctype.ts in src/app/common/types/
Create a new module folder in /src/app/modules/mydoctype, following the structure oft the example modules.
Add your routes to src/app/frontend/types/RouteType.ts
Add your routes to src/app/frontend/App_Routes.tsx
Add your module to the sidebar src/app/frontend/Side_NavigationBar.tsx

Dont forget to customize your list, view and form.

History

How i set this up...

Create Project and Install

Guide: www.electronforge.io

# in parent folder
npm init electron-app@latest basic-electron-typescript-react-starter -- --template=webpack-typescript
# in folder app-folder
npm install

npm warn deprecated [email protected]: Package no longer supported. Contact Support at https://www.npmjs.com/support for more info.
npm warn deprecated @npmcli/[email protected]: This functionality has been moved to @npmcli/fs
npm warn deprecated [email protected]: This package is now deprecated. Move to @xterm/addon-search instead.
npm warn deprecated [email protected]: This package is now deprecated. Move to @xterm/addon-fit instead.
npm warn deprecated [email protected]: Please use @electron/asar moving forward.  There is no API change, just a package name change
npm warn deprecated [email protected]: This package is now deprecated. Move to @xterm/xterm instead.

npm install --save-dev @electron-forge/publisher-github

ignoring these (for now), and continue with:

# start the app - works
npm start
# make the app - works
npm run make
# publish on github (has to be setup)
npm run publish

make warnings:

(node:10577) [DEP0174] DeprecationWarning: Calling promisify on a function that returns a Promise is likely a mistake.
(Use `node --trace-deprecation ...` to show where the warning was created)

publish has to be setup.

Add Debugging in VSCode

Guide: https://www.electronjs.org/docs/latest/tutorial/debugging-vscode

Add a file .vscode/launch.json with the following configuration:

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "Debug Main Process",
      "type": "node",
      "request": "launch",
      "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
      "runtimeExecutable": "${workspaceFolder}/node_modules/.bin/electron",
      "windows": {
        "runtimeExecutable": "${workspaceFolder}/node_modules/.bin/electron.cmd"
      },
      "args" : ["."],
      "outputCapture": "std"
    }
  ]
}

Set some breakpoints in main.js.
Start debugging in the Debug View.

works

Add React

Guide: electronforge.io/guides/framework-integration/react-with-typescript

npm install --save react react-dom
npm install --save-dev @types/react @types/react-dom

works

Adding IPC Support

Guide: electronjs.org/de/docs/latest/tutorial/ipc

works

App-Icon Support

Problems:

Windows
- App Icon on is blurred.
- Installer has the Electron Default-Icon

Antd-Design

Guide: https://ant.design/docs/react/introduce

npm install antd --save

React Router

npm i react-router
npm i react-router-dom

PouchDB

Guide: https://pouchdb.com/guides/

npm install pouchdb
npm install pouchdb-find
npm install pouchdb @types/pouchdb
npm i uuid
npm i --save-dev @types/uuid

tsconfig.json

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true
  }
}

Creates a local pouchdb-test Database in the users home folder ~/my-electron-app/catalogs/, on the first startup with npm start.

Electron Conf

Guide: https://github.com/alex8088/electron-conf

npm install electron-conf

Creates a local settings.json file in the users home folder ~/my-electron-app/, on the first startup with npm start.

Logger

npm install electron-log

Logs in a logfile at the users home folder ~/my-electron-app/logs/

works

Internationalize localize

npm install --save i18next i18next-node-fs-backend

pending

Research:

Database backup

npm install zip-a-folder
npm install dayjs

User Management and Login

Encrypt and decrypt data to store them localy via Elecron-Conf
Users and Roles

SVG Support

Display an SVG Image in this environment - used on the Login Page.

npm install @svgr/webpack --save-dev
add to webpack.rules.ts
create custom.d.ts
add to tsconfig.json

Sign the App

pending

Electron DevTools

Two new tabs in your Chrome DevTools: "⚛️ Components" and "⚛️ Profiler".

npm install electron-devtools-installer --save-dev

https://nodejs.org/docs/latest-v16.x/api/cli.html#--enable-source-maps

--enable-source-maps

Notifications

https://www.electronjs.org/de/docs/latest/tutorial/notifications

Online / Offline detection

https://www.electronjs.org/de/docs/latest/tutorial/online-offline-events
im frontend: navigator.onLine ? 'online' : 'offline'

Issues (so far)

Multiple warnings during npm run make under Mac OS of this type:

(node:43477) [DEP0174] DeprecationWarning: Calling promisify on a function that returns a Promise is likely a mistake.

This needs to be investigated in more detail.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 169 Commits
.vscode		.vscode
assets		assets
readme-images		readme-images
src		src
.eslintrc.json		.eslintrc.json
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
README.md		README.md
TODO.md		TODO.md
custom.d.ts		custom.d.ts
forge.config.ts		forge.config.ts
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json
webpack.main.config.ts		webpack.main.config.ts
webpack.plugins.ts		webpack.plugins.ts
webpack.renderer.config.ts		webpack.renderer.config.ts
webpack.rules.ts		webpack.rules.ts
yarn.lock		yarn.lock

cnichte/basic-electron-typescript-react-starter

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Electron Typescript-React-Starter Application 2024

Framework Concepts

React Pitfalls

How it Looks

Use the Repo

Preparations

Setting up the Dev-Environment on Mac-OS

Setting up the Dev-Environment on Windows

Recomended VisualStudioCode Plugins

Setting up the Dev-Environment on Linux / Ubuntu 24.04

Clone the git repository

run the commands

Login

Update outdated packages

make a release

Customize to your needs in six steps

History

Create Project and Install

Add Debugging in VSCode

Add React

Adding IPC Support

App-Icon Support

Antd-Design

React Router

PouchDB

Electron Conf

Logger

Internationalize localize

Database backup

User Management and Login

SVG Support

Sign the App

Electron DevTools

Notifications

Online / Offline detection

Issues (so far)

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