How to use zx as a library/dependency in Electron ?

[linonetwo]

I hope I can integrate zx into TiddlyWIki (via calling zx in TiddlyGit ) and use child_process.fork to execute zx in a worker_thread.

But seems I can only access zx via shell, and only accept filepath as input. Can I just import zx from 'zx' in a worker_thread, and pass markdown script file to it and get that file executed?

[linonetwo]

I have made a simple prototype that prove zx can be fork to execute .mjs file in a tmp folder: https://github.com/tiddly-gittly/TiddlyGit-Desktop/blob/0c6b26c0c1113e0c66d6f49f022c5733d4fa85e8/src/services/native/zxWorker.ts

First you will need https://github.com/sindresorhus/fix-path to use shell in a GUI app. And for electron, use sindresorhus/fix-path#15 (comment)

The core concept is:

import { mkdtemp, writeFile } from 'fs-extra';
import { fork } from 'child_process';
import path from 'path';
import { tmpdir } from 'os';

const zxPath = '/Users/TiddlyGit-Desktop/node_modules/zx/zx.mjs';
const fileName = 'aaa.md';

const fileContent = `

# aaa

\`\`\`sh
pwd
ls
\`\`\`

\`\`\`js

const result = await fetch(encodeURI('https://suggest.taobao.com/sug?code=utf-8&q=字节')).then(res => res.json()).then(res => res.result);
console.log(\`!! \${result[0][0]}\`);
console.log(\`\${result[0][1]}\`);
\`\`\`

`;

(async function () {
  const temporaryDirectory = await mkdtemp(`${tmpdir()}${path.sep}`);
  const temporaryScriptFile = path.join(temporaryDirectory, fileName);
  await writeFile(temporaryScriptFile, fileContent);
  // DEBUG: console
  console.log(`temporaryScriptFile`, temporaryScriptFile);
  const execution = fork(zxPath, [temporaryScriptFile], { silent: true });

  execution.on('close', function (code) {
    console.log({ type: 'control', actions: 'ended', message: `child process exited with code ${String(code)}` });
  });
  execution.stdout?.on('data', (stdout: Buffer) => {
    console.log({ type: 'stdout', message: String(stdout) });
  });
  execution.stderr?.on('data', (stdout: Buffer) => {
    console.log({ type: 'stderr', message: String(stdout) });
  });
})();

This works in dev mode, but may need some tweaks to work in a bundled electron app.

---

For bundled app , use #229

Example: https://github.com/tiddly-gittly/TiddlyGit-Desktop/releases/tag/v0.4.5

2021-09-17.03.15.06.mov