Unlock the Power of Cross-Platform Desktop Apps with Electron and Vue
JavaScript is a versatile programming language that excels not only in frontend development but also in creating cross-platform mobile applications, APIs, and desktop applications. Among various libraries and frameworks, Electron stands out for developing desktop apps with JavaScript. In this article, we’ll explore how to combine Vue with Electron to build our first cross-platform desktop application.
Prerequisites
Before we dive in, make sure you have:
- Basic understanding of JavaScript
- Familiarity with Vue
- Node.js and npm installed
- Prior experience with Electron is a plus, but not required
What is Electron?
Electron is an open-source JavaScript framework for building native cross-platform desktop applications using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This means you can use the same codebase to develop desktop applications for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Electron combines the Chromium engine with Node.js runtime to read and run your codebase as a standalone desktop program.
Pros of Using Electron
Electron offers several advantages, including:
- Single codebase: Create desktop applications for different operating systems with a single codebase
- Leverage web skills: Easily get started with Electron if you have prior experience working with basic web stacks (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript)
- Big community: The Electron community is large and active, with top companies supporting and using the framework
Cons of Using Electron
While Electron is a powerful tool, it also has some downsides, including:
- Higher resource consumption: Desktop applications written in Electron consume more CPU and RAM compared to apps written in other environments
- Larger app size: Electron applications bundle the Chromium engine during the build process, resulting in a larger app size even for simple applications
Building a Movie App with Vue and Electron
Let’s create a sample application that returns a list of trending movies from the TMDB API using Vue and Electron. We’ll use the Electron Builder plugin to get started.
Getting Started
First, install the Vue CLI by running the command npm install -g @vue/cli. Then, create a new Vue application named vue-desktop by running vue create vue-desktop. Finally, add the Vue Electron Builder plugin by running vue add electron-builder.
File Structure
When you open the project folder, you’ll see a familiar file structure with the addition of a new background.js file. This file is responsible for running your Vue application as a standalone desktop application.
Building Our Movie App
Next, we’ll create a MovieCard.vue component and update src/App.vue to fetch trending movies from the TMDB API. We’ll also define a method to load movies from the API and loop through the results in our MovieCard component.
Updating App Icon
You can update the app icon by adding a new icon entry in the newBrowserWindow() method present in background.js.
Building the App
To compile our application as a standalone executable file, run the command electron-builder build. You can also define which platform (or platforms) you want to generate executables for, including Mac, Win, and Linux.
By following these steps, you’ve successfully created a cross-platform desktop application using Vue and Electron. The complete code for this application can be found on GitHub.