Renderer process without contextBridge

[jsheffers]

Is it possible to use this template without contextBridge and with contextIsolation: false? I know this is not recommended, however, the software I build is for internal purposes only, and the machines they are being installed on are highly regulated (only inside the building and locked down from a domain controller).

[cawa-93]

Context isolation means that window in renderer is not same window in preload. I think this is not what you want. Maybe you should check @electron/remote

[cawa-93]

May you show code?

[jsheffers]

If I take your default template and make two changes I can replicate this. Alter main/src/index.ts to turn nodeIntegration: true and contextIsolation: false for the mainWindow:

  mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
    show: false, // Use 'ready-to-show' event to show window
    webPreferences: {
      contextIsolation: false, // Added by me
      nodeIntegration: true, // Added by me
      nativeWindowOpen: true,
      preload: join(__dirname, '../../preload/dist/index.cjs'),
    },
  });

Then replace About.vue with:

<template>
  <h2 id="versions">
    Lib versions
  </h2>
</template>

<script lang="ts">
import {defineComponent} from 'vue';
import {ipcRenderer} from 'electron';
export default defineComponent({
  name: 'App',
  setup() {
    ipcRenderer.on('something', () => {
      console.log('something');
    });
  },
});
</script>

Run yarn watch, click the about link, then check the devtools console.

[cawa-93]

The reason you can directly import other packages is because Vite bundle all dependencies into your code. That's why actually you don't have any imports in runtime. And technically (if nodeIntegration is disabled) and you can't import anything.

However, the electron package is exception. It cannot be bundled.

So Yes, to take access to electron package in renderer module you need enable nodeIntegration. You can access to electron package in preload module without nodeIntegration.

[jsheffers]

So Yes, to take access to electron package in renderer module you need to enable nodeIntegration.

My point was that I have nodeIntegration set to true and I still can't access it in the renderer (see my example). I can however access it through the preload. Am I missing something?

[ssj17vegeta]

Don't know if that can help you @jsheffers , but one thing I overlooked at the beginning though it was mentioned in the docs is you cannot use the "import" syntax, you have to use the "require" syntax to be able to use path, electron, fs packages in the renderer.

So instead of
import { something } from 'electron'
it would be
const something = require('electron').something