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I want to build an interface for a series of terminal commands that our developers use to manage their development environments. I'd like to try to build it in Node.js.
Now, I'm thinking I can create it as an HTML5/CSS 3/JavaScript application using Express.js, etc... and then would like to package it as a native OS X application. Meaning, an application that I can just send them, they double click on and run, but that either launches a Chrome browser and navigates to the localhost:port server that hits the script or simply starts the server and instructs the user to go to the URL. Either way is fine.
I am doing this because I need access to the local system to be able to configure a number of things and interact with any number of running (headless VMs). So I can't simply serve this from a server and have them visit the site.
Any ideas?
973
asked Jun 12 '12 19:06
To write and run a NodeJS program on mac, first download and install the LTS version of NodeJS from its official website. After installation, create a new JavaScript(. js) file, write some code inside it, and run the “node fileName. js” command in the terminal.
In the Shortcuts app on your Mac, double-click a shortcut. In the shortcut editor, click at the top of the action list, begin typing “Run JavaScript…” in the search field, then double-click the Run JavaScript on Active Safari Tab action to add it to the shortcut editor.
Option 1: Electron (formerly atom-shell)
This is the shell that GitHub's Atom and Microsoft's Code editors use. It’s very similar to node-webkit, though it will run the script first, and you have to create a view/window for the user. There are some other minor differences, but it's worth looking at.
Option 2: NW.js formerly node-webkit
The gist is that it basically extends the JavaScript engine for you to write a web-based application supporting Node.js' extended object model, and modules... you then package your package.json start.html modules and JavaScript files into a ZIP file (with the .nw extension) and run it with nw(.exe) .. there are Windows, Mac and Linux builds available.
Option 3: Neutralinojs Github
Neutralinojs is a lightweight and portable desktop application development framework. It lets you develop lightweight cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. You can extend Neutralinojs with any programming language (via extensions IPC) and use Neutralinojs as a part of any source file (via child processes IPC).
Option 4: MacGapNode (OS X only)
MacGap with Node.js integration (it seems to be getting stale)
Option 5: Tauri Github
Tauri is a toolkit that helps developers make applications for the major desktop platforms - using virtually any frontend framework in existence. The core is built with Rust and the CLI leverages Node.js making Tauri a genuinely polyglot approach to creating and maintaining great apps.
Aside: Services...
I can't speak for OS X on this as a .App, but it could well be possible to create a background service install in Node.js and a link to a "local" site on the desktop. Most browsers have an option to not show all the features (I know Firefox in particular does).
I know your question is to OS X in particular, but in Windows you can use NSSM to run anything as a service, and I have used it for Node.js-based services in Windows. I think some of the other options above are better depending on your needs though.
Removed:
This answer is copied for multiple questions, and these references are mostly for updating convenience.
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Here's a screencast + writeup on the subject of an installer (.pkg):
How to create an OS X pkg for NodeJS apps
As for the .app, I'm not sure yet, but I'm hot on the trail.
Also:
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Check out AppJS - "Build Desktop Applications for Linux, Windows and Mac using HTML, CSS and JavaScript"
It sounds like a good match :)
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