Electron 4.0.2 remote.getCurrentWindow() returns null inside webview preload script

[dannyseo517]

• Operating System (Platform and Version):
  Ubuntu 16.04

Expected Behavior
require('electron').remote.getCurrentWindow() returns BrowserWindow object

Actual behavior
require('electron').remote.getCurrentWindow() returns null

To Reproduce
https://github.com/kaniseo/electron-getCurrentWindow-bug
Instructions on reproduction in the readme file.

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[kenzaal]

Hello !
can I work on this issue ?

[kenzaal]

Hello !

The code of the file webview-preload.js:

const { remote } = require('electron');
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
    console.log(remote.getCurrentWindow());
    document.getElementById('container').innerHTML = remote.getCurrentWindow()
});

has been changed like below:

const { remote } = require('electron');
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
    console.log(remote);
    document.getElementById('container').innerHTML = remote
});

And this gives the expected result.

I would like to know if this resolves the issue asked previously?

[dannyseo517]

Hey Kenzaal.
Unfortunately, it does not. The problem is not the remote returning null, but the getCurrentWindow() is what's returning null.

[VladimirPal]

I've faced the same issue!

[YasmineBOU]

Hi!

We're students of the University of Paris 8 in France.
In one of our subjects, we have to contribute in an open source project.
We're actually working with kenzaal on this bug.
We have encountered difficulties while executing electron from the source code. Indeed after executing these commands (especially the last one):
npm install
npm start

the output given is like below:

> electron@4.0.2 start /home/user/codeSource/version-4.0.2/electron-4.0.2
> node ./script/start.js

events.js:173
      throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
      ^

Error: spawn /home/user/codeSource/version-4.0.2/out/Debug/electron ENOENT
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:246:19)
    at onErrorNT (internal/child_process.js:421:16)
    at processTicksAndRejections (internal/process/next_tick.js:76:17)
    at process.runNextTicks [as _tickCallback] (internal/process/next_tick.js:51:3)
    at Function.Module.runMain (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:804:11)
    at executeUserCode (internal/bootstrap/node.js:526:15)
    at startMainThreadExecution (internal/bootstrap/node.js:439:3)
Emitted 'error' event at:
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:252:12)
    at onErrorNT (internal/child_process.js:421:16)
    [... lines matching original stack trace ...]
    at startMainThreadExecution (internal/bootstrap/node.js:439:3)
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! electron@4.0.2 start: `node ./script/start.js`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Failed at the electron@4.0.2 start script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /home/user/.npm/_logs/2019-02-15T15_04_26_147Z-debug.log

We have tried some of the solutions found from certain Github pages that deal with that kind of problems, unfortunately, it doesn't work for us.

We would like some help in order to start to deal with this bug as it should be.

Thank you in advance.

[kenzaal]

Hi,
We just wanted to inform you that we are no longer working on this bug.

[harryi3t]

Any update on this? This is a major blocker to upgrade electron for us.

PS: happening for mac as well on the latest version of electron 4.1.4

[grozdanovgg]

I have the same issue - remote.getCurrentWindow() always return null, after update to Electron 1.8.x to 4.x.x. Have not found a solution yet.

[harryi3t]

@grozdanovgg We have found a workaround.

1. Some how make sure each browser window knows its ID. For this we are passing the ID in the query params while opening the window itself.
2. Instead of using remote.getCurrentWindow() use remote.BrowserWindow.fromId(currentWindowId)

[grozdanovgg]

@harryi3t, thanks for the suggested workaround. I actually used another one -
In our app we only have single BrowserWindow, so I can reach it like this:
Instead of using remote.getCurrentWindow(), use remote.BrowserWindow.getAllWindows()[0].

Still, this approach works in that specific case, it is not general solution.

The bug with remote.getCurrentWindow() still remains...

[miniak]

I cannot reproduce it with Electron 4.2.12.

[ipavlyk]

@grozdanovgg We have found a workaround.

1. Some how make sure each browser window knows its ID. For this we are passing the ID in the query params while opening the window itself.
2. Instead of using remote.getCurrentWindow() use remote.BrowserWindow.fromId(currentWindowId)

remote.BrowserWindow.fromId(currentWindowId) returns null:

Steps to reproduce:

• inherit BrowserWindow class with some child class
• create an instance using that child
• try remote.BrowserWindow.fromId(currentWindowId)

[nana-yaw]

I am facing this issue on Electron 8.3.4 and none of the suggested workaround solved this issue. I need help please.

[linonetwo]

This is still an issue in "electron": "9.1.0",

Maybe reopen this?

[NeurAlch]

In case it helps anyone, I needed to do this: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37884130/electron-remote-is-undefined/63612780#63612780

const w = new BrowserWindow({ webPreferences: { enableRemoteModule: true } });