iloseall / electron-bytenode-example

A basic Hello World boilerplate using Webpack to convert Electron Javascript code to binary using Bytenode and the Bytenode Webpack Plugin

electron-bytenode-example

NOTE: Bytenote Webpack Plugin is not yet compatible with Webpack 5. See below for how to help.

Example code using Bytenode + Bytenode Webpack Plugin to compile both the render and main processes in an Electron app.

At the command line:

git clone https://github.com/spaceagetv/electron-bytenode-example.git
cd electron-bytenode-example
npm install
npm start

This example uses Herbert Treis Neto's Bytenode Webpack Plugin along with Webpack 4 and Electron Forge Beta.54 or lower to bundle and package the application.

Electron gets pointed at small "loader" files which bundle Bytenode in order to load the binary .jsc files containing the original application code.

NOTES!

1. You must enable nodeIntegration in your BrowserWindow webPreferences for Bytenode to work in the rendering process. Alternately, you could put your renderer's Javascript code into a preload script, where Node will be available automatically. This is more secure and generally better practice. (Hint: Use window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', init) to wait for the DOM to be available to your preload script.)
2. Bytenode Webpack Plugin is NOT YET COMPATIBLE with Webpack 5. The latest versions of Electron Forge use Webpack 5, so you must use the beta.54 version of @electron-forge/plugin-webpack (which uses Webpack 4). Reach out to Herbert if you would like to sponsor (or develop) Webpack 5 compatibility for Bytenode Webpack Plugin. That would be a super awesome thing to do!

Links & Related

• Bytenode
• Bytenode Webpack Plugin
• Creating Javascript Binaries For Electron
• Electron React Bytenode Quickstart