Native C++ Add-on on Windows Platform

[bleib1dj]

System Information

Platform: Windows 7 64-bit
Electron Version: 0.34.1
npm Version: 2.14.7
node Version: 4.2.1

Issue

I'm working on utilizing a native add-on in electron. I've followed the examples provided in the docs and have been able to get them to load up in electron on OS X 10.11.1 without an issue. However, on Windows node-gyp completes its build and the add-on executes from the command line using node ./, but when I launch the same code into electron I receive the following:

Uncaught Error: The system cannot find message text for message number 0x%1 in the message file
%2. C:\...\hello.node
ATOM_SHELL_ASAR.js: 137

After reading around a bit I also tried compiling it to a 32-bit arch which also built successfully but then resulted in electron throwing:

Uncaught Error: %1 is not a valid Win32 application C:\..\hello.node
ATOM_SHELL_ASAR.js: 137

Additional Information

StackOverflow: Calling Node Native Addons C++ in Electron

[anaisbetts]

Uncaught Error: %1 is not a valid Win32 application

This is code for "You tried to load a 32-bit DLL in a 64-bit EXE" or vice versa. electron-rebuild just handles architectures for you

[bleib1dj]

Thanks @paulcbettsl. Even when built to the 64-bit architecture which is what my machine is, I'm receiving:

Uncaught Error: The system cannot find message text for message number 0x%1 in the message file
%2. C:\...\hello.node
ATOM_SHELL_ASAR.js: 137

I installed electron-rebuild, ran it, and opened electron after it completed but still received the same error.

[bleib1dj]

@paulcbetts I got it to work by adding the --dist-url flag as called out in the docs. Thanks for the help and sorry to waste your time.

[ruipimentel]

Sorry to bring this topic up again, but... Where exactly did you add the --dist-url flag, and with which argument (if anyone at all)?
I'm having this exact same problem with both node-hid and serialport modules.
Thank you in advance!

[bleib1dj]

http://electron.atom.io/docs/v0.36.7/tutorial/using-native-node-modules/#the-node-gyp-way

$ cd /path-to-module/
$ electron-gyp node-gyp rebuild --target=0.29.1 --arch=x64 --dist-url=https://atom.io/download/atom-shell

@ruipimentel are you trying the what is above and still seeing the issue?

[ruipimentel]

Hi, @bleib1dj , thanks for your fast answer!
Since then, I've been trying to get this to work, but no success so far, so I guess I'll have to make a little more questions... :s

Quick question #1

$ electron-gyp node-gyp rebuild --target=0.29.1 --arch=x64 --dist-url=https://atom.io/download/atom-shell

You meant this instead, right?

$ set HOME=C:\Users\MyUserName.electron-gyp
$ node-gyp rebuild --target=0.29.1 --arch=x64 --dist-url=https://atom.io/download/atom-shell

Quick question #2

There would be no problem changing --target to 0.36.7, which is the version I intend to use... right?

Quick question #3

What are these "development headers"? I'm assuming we're talking about C/C++ headers, but from what (Node, Electron, or the module itself)?

Quick question #4

While trying to run node-gyp rebuild using the above parameters, I get an error:
gyp: Undefined variable module_name in binding.gyp while trying to load binding.gyp
What does it mean?

---

I'm sorry for bothering you again, but unfortunately I couldn't get it to work alone, even though I'm trying really hard to understand things... :/
Unfortunately I have no experience developing modules, I'm actually quite new to NodeJS, Electron and stuff, and just trying to get node-hid and serialportto work.

And, again, thank you for your help!!

[bleib1dj]

Question 1: Yup
Question 2: There shouldn't be an issue with updating the target, but I'm not 100% on that one
Question 3: Again I'm not 100% on this one but I believe you are correct on the C/C++ headers and I also believe they are the headers from Electron/Atom. Drawing this from the documentation at the top of the article:

The native Node modules are supported by Electron, but since Electron is using a different V8 version
from official Node, you have to manually specify the location of Electron's headers when building 
native modules

Question 4: Without seeing your setup it's hard to know what the root cause of that error is. Might wanna try looking at the description here https://github.com/nwjs/nw.js/wiki/build-native-modules-with-nw-gyp

For some packages you may need to use node-pre-gyp (e.g. when you get the error "Undefined 
variable module_name in binding.gyp while trying to load binding.gyp"), which supports
building for both node.js and node-webkit by using either node-gyp or nw-gyp.

And not a problem, just as a note though for questions about usage of electron you'll probably want to use stack overflow or the discussion forum https://discuss.atom.io/c/electron rather than the issue log. Hope it helps :).