electron auto-update on click - electron

Question

I'm trying to make my electron app auto-updatable, and after searching on google I found nice guide that works. The only problem is that I want to create a button for when update is downloaded so that the user can decide when he wants to update and restart the app. So far I was able to put this code together
renderer.js
const electron = require('electron')
const ipcRenderer = electron.ipcRenderer
let lastMsgId = 0
window.quitAndInstall = function () {
electron.remote.autoUpdater.quitAndInstall()
}
ipcRenderer.on('console', (event, consoleMsg) => {
console.log(consoleMsg)
})
ipcRenderer.on('message', (event, data) => {
showMessage(data.msg, data.hide, data.replaceAll)
})
function showMessage(message, hide = true, replaceAll = false) {
const messagesContainer = document.querySelector('.messages-container')
const msgId = lastMsgId++ + 1
const msgTemplate = `<div id="${msgId}" class="alert alert-info alert-info-message animated fadeIn">${message}</div>`
if (replaceAll) {
messagesContainer.innerHTML = msgTemplate
} else {
messagesContainer.insertAdjacentHTML('afterbegin', msgTemplate)
}
if (hide) {
setTimeout(() => {
const msgEl = document.getElementById(msgId)
msgEl.classList.remove('fadeIn')
msgEl.classList.add('fadeOut')
}, 4000)
}
}
and this is my index.js where messages are storred
const electron = require('electron');
const {autoUpdater} = require('electron-updater');
const log = require('electron-log');
const appVersion = require('./package.json').version
// configure logging
autoUpdater.logger = log;
autoUpdater.logger.transports.file.level = 'info';
log.info('App starting...');
const app = electron.app;
const BrowserWindow = electron.BrowserWindow;
let mainWindow;
function createWindow() {
mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
width: 1020,
height: 800,
});
mainWindow.loadURL('file://' +__dirname + '/public/index.html');
// Open the DevTools.
//mainWindow.webContents.openDevTools();
mainWindow.on('closed', function() {
mainWindow = null;
});
}
app.on('ready', createWindow);
// Quit when all windows are closed.
app.on('window-all-closed', function() {
app.quit();
});
app.on('activate', function() {
// On OS X it's common to re-create a window in the app when the
// dock icon is clicked and there are no other windows open.
if (mainWindow === null) {
createWindow();
}
});
//-------------------------------------------------------------------
// Auto updates
//-------------------------------------------------------------------
const sendStatusToWindow = (text) => {
log.info(text);
if (mainWindow) {
mainWindow.webContents.send('console', `App version: ${appVersion}`)
mainWindow.webContents.send('message', { msg: `App version: ${appVersion}` })
}
};
autoUpdater.on('error', (ev, err) => {
mainWindow.webContents.send('message', { msg: `Error: ${err}` })
})
autoUpdater.once('checking-for-update', (ev, err) => {
mainWindow.webContents.send('message', { msg: 'Checking for updates' })
})
autoUpdater.once('update-available', (ev, err) => {
mainWindow.webContents.send('message', { msg: 'Update available. Downloading ⌛️', hide: false })
})
autoUpdater.once('update-not-available', (ev, err) => {
mainWindow.webContents.send('message', { msg: 'Update not available' })
})
autoUpdater.once('update-downloaded', (ev, err) => {
const msg = 'Update downloaded - <button onclick="quitAndInstall()">Restart</button>'
mainWindow.webContents.send('message', { msg, hide: false, replaceAll: true })
})
autoUpdater.checkForUpdates()
As you can see I added a button to call for function but it doesnt work. When I press the button nothing happens. If I remove button and just say auto.updater.quitAndInstall() it works. It auto close window and install new version. What am I missing?

Answer 1

I think it's that electron.remote.autoUpdater.quitAndInstall() doesn't work when run in the renderer.
In the docs it doesn't say anything against running it in the renderer process but I think sending a message back to the main process to run the quitAndInstall function would work.
Inside of the quitAndInstall function put this instead:
ipcRenderer.send('asynchronous-message', 'quitAndInstall');
Then in the main process put:
electron.ipcMain.on('asynchronous-message', function (evt, message) {
if (message == 'quitAndInstall') {
autoUpdater.quitAndInstall();
}
});