Close all windows on Reload on an Electron Application - electron

I have an electron desktop application which opens 2 new windows when I load it, the code to open the new windows is this:
electron = require('electron')
win = electron.remote.getCurrentWindow();
BrowserWindow = electron.remote.BrowserWindow;
wind = new BrowserWindow({
width: 400,
height: 200,
x:3,
y:12,
frame: false,
// transparent: true,
alwaysOnTop: true, // Add this line
// skipTaskbar:true, // don't show icon on taskbar
opacity:0.9,
})
Now when I'm testing my application, I use the Reload command a lot (ctrl+R on windows). My problem is that when I do it, the windows remain open and it opens more windows on top of it.
How can I make Reload close all windows?

The onbeforeunload event is triggered (In the renderer) when a window is closed or reloaded. You can use this to close the individual window.
Otherwise you can inform electron via a IPC message to close all your windows for you.
Something like this should do the job.
// renderer/index.js
const {ipcRenderer} = require('electron')
ipcRenderer.send('my-closeallwindowsasap-channel') // can have arguments
// -------------------------------------------------------
// main/index.js
ipcMain.on('my-closeallwindowsasap-channel', (event, arg) => {
BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().forEach(window => {
window.close()
})
})

Related

Electron loadFile is not a function

I'm developing an app using Electron. Using win.loadFile('index.html') used to work, but from yesterday it throws an error saying: win.loadFile is not a function.
Could it be "Knex.js" which caused this error? Because I installed it recently and the problems began to appear after that. Also, I noticed that Electron icon changed from transparent to a light blue (green) circle.
In addition, Using loadURL works but it renders the html file incompletely.
This is my main.js (I removed knex.js code from main.js but didn't help):
const { app, BrowserWindow } = require('electron')
const url = require('url')
const path = require('path')
function createWindow () {
// Create the browser window.
let win = new BrowserWindow({
width: 800,
height: 600,
webPreferences: {
nodeIntegration: true
}
})
// and load the index.html of the app.
win.loadFile('index.html');
}
app.on('ready', createWindow)
Check your Electron version. The version of Electron you want to run, install it globally. Here's the issue on GitHub:
BrowserWindow .loadFile is not a function

How to restore default window size in an electron app?

Is there a way to restore main window in an electron app to a certain size? To explain what I am trying to accomplish, let me give you an example:
When I open Windows Explorer, it opens with a certain size and at a certain position. Then I maximize that window and close the explorer. Next time when I restart the explorer, it opens in the same state as when I closed it i.e. in maximized state. However when I click on the restore button, explorer restores to the width/height and position before it was maximized.
I would like to accomplish the same in my electron application as well. However that is not happening.
What I am doing is when my application closes, I capture the dimensions (width, height) and position (x, y coordinates) of the application window using (win.getBounds())and save those in a config file using electron-config. This is what my code looks like:
const Config = require('electron-config')
const config = new Config();
mainWindow.on('close', () => {
config.set('winBounds', mainWindow.getBounds())
});
Now when I start the application, I read the settings from the config file (actually electron-config does that for me) and use that to set the initial dimensions/position of the window. I am using code like below:
let opts = {
show: false,
icon: path.join(__dirname, 'app-window-icon.png')
};
Object.assign(opts, config.get('winBounds'));
mainWindow = new BrowserWindow(opts);
This is also working great. However the only option I get now is maximize the window. I'm not able to find any option to restore the window to a size before it was maximized.
For example, let's say the user launches the application with 1024x768 px dimensions. User then maximizes the application window and then closes it. When the user relaunches the application, it opens with the size it was closed and the only option I see is to maximize the window. What I am looking for is an option to restore the window size to 1024x768px.
I looked up the documentation here: https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/master/docs/api/browser-window.md but unfortunately couldn't find anything there.
I used the solution here which involves persisting your windows size and position in electron-settings and it works perfectly.
Include the windowStateKeeper function in your code and then adapt your createMainWindow function as follows:
function createMainWindow() {
const mainWindowStateKeeper = windowStateKeeper('main');
const win = new electron.BrowserWindow({
title: 'main',
x: mainWindowStateKeeper.x,
y: mainWindowStateKeeper.y,
width: mainWindowStateKeeper.width,
height: mainWindowStateKeeper.height
});
mainWindowStateKeeper.track(win);
win.loadURL(`file://${__dirname}/index.html`);
win.on('closed', onClosed);
return win;
}
Here is complete solution:
stateKeeper.ts:
import {screen} from 'electron';
import settings from 'electron-settings';
export const windowStateKeeper = async (windowName) => {
let window, windowState;
const setBounds = async () => {
// Restore from appConfig
if (await settings.has(`windowState.${windowName}`)) {
windowState = await settings.get(`windowState.${windowName}`);
return;
}
const size = screen.getPrimaryDisplay().workAreaSize;
// Default
windowState = {
x: undefined,
y: undefined,
width: size.width / 2,
height: size.height / 2,
};
};
const saveState = async () => {
// bug: lots of save state events are called. they should be debounced
if (!windowState.isMaximized) {
windowState = window.getBounds();
}
windowState.isMaximized = window.isMaximized();
await settings.set(`windowState.${windowName}`, windowState);
};
const track = async (win) => {
window = win;
['resize', 'move', 'close'].forEach((event) => {
win.on(event, saveState);
});
};
await setBounds();
return {
x: windowState.x,
y: windowState.y,
width: windowState.width,
height: windowState.height,
isMaximized: windowState.isMaximized,
track,
};
};
main.ts
import {windowStateKeeper} from './utils/windowStateKeeper';
const mainWindowStateKeeper = await windowStateKeeper('main');
// Create the browser window.
mainWin = new BrowserWindow({
title: 'Desktop',
x: mainWindowStateKeeper.x,
y: mainWindowStateKeeper.y,
width: mainWindowStateKeeper.width,
height: mainWindowStateKeeper.height,
webPreferences: {
nodeIntegration: true,
allowRunningInsecureContent: serve ? true : false,
contextIsolation: false, // false if you want to run e2e test with Spectron
enableRemoteModule: true, // true if you want to run e2e test with Spectron or use remote module in renderer context (ie. Angular)
},
});
// Track window state
mainWindowStateKeeper.track(mainWin);
I implemented this after a lot of testing this is the most accurate and simple solution to remember window properties.
i used electron-store to store values, you can use any storage methods you like.
main.js
let windowConfig = {
width: 1280,
height: 680,
}
function createWindow() {
Object.assign(windowConfig, CONFIG.get("winBounds"))
mainWindow = new BrowserWindow(windowConfig)
if (windowConfig.isMaximized) {
mainWindow.maximize()
}
mainWindow.on("close", () => {
Object.assign(windowConfig, {
isMaximized: mainWindow.isMaximized()
}, mainWindow.getNormalBounds())
CONFIG.set("winBounds", windowConfig) // saves window's properties using electron-store
})
}

Electron app across 2 displays?

Can an electron app run one window across 2 monitors? I'm not able to drag the edge across to the other monitor. is this possible?
I know I can do this to access the second screen.
const electron = require('electron')
const {app, BrowserWindow} = require('electron')
let win
app.on('ready', () => {
let displays = electron.screen.getAllDisplays()
let externalDisplay = displays.find((display) => {
return display.bounds.x !== 0 || display.bounds.y !== 0
})
if (externalDisplay) {
win = new BrowserWindow({
x: externalDisplay.bounds.x + 50,
y: externalDisplay.bounds.y + 50
})
win.loadURL('https://github.com')
}
})
however, I dont want 2 windows just one across 2 displays.
You can drag the electron window like any other window.
If you want to set the window size, you either do it when a BrowserWindow is created or via BrowserWindow.setSize() to modify the size see BrowserWindow docs
That was real problem, that it was impossible to set via BrowserWindow.setSize() values gather than height and width of first screen, to open window stretched on few screens
But finally I have found, the solution is
BrowserWindow.setMinimumSize(W, H);
that allows to set width, like 10`000px, for few monitors, and it will be applied unlike setSize

electron pdf window doesnt work after build

I'm trying to open pdf in electron app with electron-pdf-window. Its working fine before build but when i build app as installer .exe file for windows and install exe file on windows 8.1 , its not showing pdf window, i am using it through renderer process on click of anchor. Any ideas?
here is my code
function pdfWindow() {
const { BrowserWindow } = require('electron').remote
const PDFWindow = require('electron-pdf-window')
const win = new BrowserWindow({ width: 800, height: 800 })
PDFWindow.addSupport(win)
win.loadURL('http://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/web/compressed.tracemonkey-pldi-09.pdf')
}
and i am calling this function on click of anchor tag
If you're using the latest Electron 1.8 or newer, it has built in PDF support in BrowserWindow's and <webview> tags. You just have to ensure plugins are enabled:
BrowserWindow
const window = new BrowserWindow({
width: 1024,
height: 800,
webPreferences: {
plugins: true
}
});
window.loadURL('path/to/file.pdf');
<webview> Tag
<webview src="path/to/file.pdf" plugins></webview>

Why does my Electron app quit when closing a Renderer window?

I'm testing on Windows.
The app sets up a Tray menu on 'ready', with an 'About' label. When clicked, it shows a BrowserWindow:
var aboutBox = new BrowserWindow({
width: 460, height: 176, useContentSize: true,
icon: iconImg,
maximizable: false, fullscreenable: false, resizable: false, minimizable: false
});
and then, when the user clicks on OK, closing it with:
const remote = require('electron').remote;
remote.getCurrentWindow().close();
causes the app to exit.
Why?
In your main.js you could have this code:
// Quit when all windows are closed.
app.on('window-all-closed', function () {
// On OS X it is common for applications and their menu bar
// to stay active until the user quits explicitly with Cmd + Q
if (process.platform !== 'darwin') {
app.quit()
}
})
So because you close the unique windows this event it's emitted and app is closed.
EDIT
This behavior is also default in Electron, so to avoid closing app closing the main window add this line:
app.on('window-all-closed', e => e.preventDefault() )

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