audiobookshelf-windows

Installs and manages the audiobookshelf server on Windows.

It installs the latest released version of the server itself (pre-packaged as a Windows executable), and a tray app for managing it. The tray app runs in the background, and can be accessed by clicking the Audiobookshelf tray icon () in the system tray (bottom right corner of the screen).

The tray app lets you:

Open the server in your default browser
Start/Stop the server
Set the server to start on login
View the server logs
Change the server port and data folder
Check for updates, download and install them

Audiobookshelf-windows releases are automatically kept up to date with the latest audiobookshelf server releases.

System Requirements

Windows 10 64-bit or later

You do not need to install .NET Framework, as it is included in any Windows 10 installation.

You do not need to install Node.js, as the server executable is pre-packaged with it.

Installation

Download the latest installer release from the release page and run it.

Caveats

The server currently uses tone to embed metadata and covers in audio files. tone is slated to be replaced soon, so it is not included in the Windows installer release
It's not currently possible to migrate the server data from a previous Windows Docker installation to this one (see this issue)

Development

All development was done on a Windows 10 64-bit desktop.

The tray app was developed in C# using .NET Framework 4.6.1 and Winforms. It was based on the audiobookshelf-win codebase by advplyr.

The installer was developed using Inno Setup.

1. Building the Audiobookshelf server executable

Install Node.js 16 (Must be version 16)
- Optional: install nvm-windows to manage multiple Node.js versions
Install Visual Studio Code
Clone the audiobookshelf Github repository
Open the audiobookshelf folder in Visual Studio Code
Open the terminal (Ctrl+Shift+`)
Run npm ci to install the dependencies
Run npm i pkg -g to install the pkg (Node.js to executable) package
Run npm run build-win to build the audiobookshelf server executable (it will be placed in the dist\win folder)

2. Building the Audiobookshelf tray app

The tray can be built using either Visual Studio 2022 or Visual Studio Code.

If you need to make design changes to the UI, it's recommended to use Visual Studio 2022, as it has a visual designer for Winforms.
It's convenient to use Visual Studio 2022 since it has a built-in debug console, in which you can see Debeug.WriteLine() messages.
If you only need to make code changes, you can use Visual Studio Code.

On Visual Studio 2022

Install Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition
Install the .NET Desktop Development workload
Clone this repository
Open the Audiobookshelf.sln solution file in Visual Studio
Build the solution (F6) (you will find the executable in the bin\x64\Release\net461 or bin\x64\Debug\net461 folder, depending on the build configuration)

On Visual Studio Code

Install Visual Studio Code
Install the C# Dev Kit
Install the latest .NET SDK
Clone this repository
Open the terminal (Ctrl+Shift+`)
Run dotnet build -c Release or dotnet build or to build the solution (you will find the executable in the bin\x64\Release\net461 or bin\x64\Debug\net461 folder, depending on the build configuration)

Running the tray app

You can run or debug the tray app directly from Visual Studio 2022 or Visual Studio Code.

Copy the audiobookshelf server executable to the bin\x64\Release\net461 or bin\x64\Debug\net461 folder, depending on the build configuration
The app tries to read the AppVersion and DataDir values from the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Audiobookshelf, and if they are not found, it will use the default values
Run or debug the app (F5). By default, the app will:
- try to get the server data folder from the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Audiobookshelf\DataDir
  - if not found, the default value %LocalAppData%\Audiobookshelf will be used
- try to get the app version from the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Audiobookshelf\AppVersion
- run the server on port 13378 by default

3. Building the installer

Install Visual Studio Code
Install Inno Setup
Install the Inno Setup extension for Visual Studio Code
Clone this repository
Open Setup\installer.iss in Visual Studio Code
Change #define MyAppBinDir to the folder where the Audiobookshelf tray app executable and dlls are located
Change #define ServerBinDir to the folder where the Audiobookshelf server executable is located
Run the Build Installer task (Ctrl+Shift+B) to build the installer (you will find it in the Setup\Output folder)

mikiher / audiobookshelf-windows