Fix white screen bug / Remove window flicker when starting hidden / A…

…dd "start automatically" setting (#95) * - Fix white screen bug. - Remove window flicker when starting hidden. - Add "start automatically" setting. * Remove unused "event" parameters * Apply suggestions from code review Applying node count check instead of string check Co-authored-by: Jerrod Lankford <jllankfo@ncsu.edu> Co-authored-by: Jerrod Lankford <jllankfo@ncsu.edu>
jerrod-lankford · Jan 10, 2022 · 1656cbd · 1656cbd
1 parent eb56a21
commit 1656cbd
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Showing 4 changed files with 70 additions and 11 deletions.
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
  "author": "jllankfo@ncsu.edu",
  "license": "ISC",
  "dependencies": {
+  "auto-launch": "^5.0.5",
   "electron-context-menu": "^3.1.1",
   "electron-store": "^8.0.0",
   "sass": "^1.32.8"

diff --git a/src/main.js b/src/main.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // Requires
 const { app, nativeImage, BrowserWindow, Tray, Menu, ipcMain, BrowserView, shell, powerMonitor } = require('electron');
 const constants = require('./constants');
+const AutoLaunch = require('auto-launch')
 const contextMenu = require('electron-context-menu');
 const BadgeGenerator = require('./badge_generator');
 const path = require('path');
@@ -11,7 +12,7 @@ const Url = require('url');
 // Constants
 const store = new Store();
 const appPath = app.getAppPath();
-const REFRESH_RATE = 1000; // 1 seconds
+const REFRESH_RATE = 3000; // 3 seconds
 const icon = path.join(appPath, 'images', constants.APPLICATION_ICON_MEDIUM);
 const iconTray = path.join(appPath, 'images', constants.APPLICATION_ICON_SMALL);
 const iconTrayDirty = path.join(appPath, 'images', constants.APPLICATION_ICON_SMALL_WITH_INDICATOR);
@@ -79,12 +80,14 @@ app.whenReady().then(createWindow);
 
 // Creates and returns this application's main BrowserWindow, navigated to Google Voice.
 function createWindow() {
-    // Create the window.  If we have it on record, re-apply the window size last set by the user.
+    // Create the window, making it hidden initially.  If we have
+    // it on record, re-apply the window size last set by the user.
     const prefs = store.get('prefs') || {};
     win = new BrowserWindow({
         width: prefs.windowWidth || DEFAULT_WIDTH,
         height: prefs.windowHeight || DEFAULT_HEIGHT,
         icon,
+        show: false,
         webPreferences: {
             spellcheck: true,
             preload: path.join(__dirname, 'preload.js'),
@@ -216,9 +219,10 @@ function createWindow() {
 
     win.on('resize', saveWindowSize);
 
-    // Hide if startMinimized is true in prefs
-    if (prefs.startMinimized) {
-        win.hide();
+    // Now that we've finished creating and initializing the window, show
+    // it (unless the user has enabled the "start minimized" setting).
+    if (!prefs.startMinimized) {
+        win.show();
     }
 
     return win;
@@ -241,6 +245,7 @@ function loadGoogleVoice(loadExternal=false) {
 
 // Invoked every "REFRESH_RATE" seconds.  Parses the current notification count from Google
 // Voice's markup and then has this application display it to the user in an appropriate way.
+// Also implements a workaround for Electron's "blank white screen" bug that many users encounter.
 function updateNotifications(app) {
     if (!win || BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().length === 0) {
         return;
@@ -261,6 +266,24 @@ function updateNotifications(app) {
 
         processNotificationCount(app, sum);
     });
+
+    // The following is a workaround for the Electron bug where after an indeterminate
+    // period of inactivity, the main application window turns into a blank white screen.
+    // When this happens, inspection shows that the loaded page consists of the following
+    // empty HTML markup:
+    //
+    //     <html><head></head><body></body></html>
+    //
+    // As such, we perform a simple check as to whether the <body/> of our loaded page
+    // has become empty.  If it has, then we automatically reload Google Voice for the
+    // user.  This seems to eliminate the problem entirely, without any adverse effects,
+    // as once we detect an empty body, the application is already in a non-working state.
+    win.webContents.executeJavaScript("document.querySelector('body').childNodes.length").then(
+        (result) => {
+            if (result === 0){
+                loadGoogleVoice();
+            }
+        })
 }
 
 // Displays a specified notification count to the user (if it isn't already
@@ -422,12 +445,18 @@ ipcMain.handle('get-platform', () => {
 });
 
 // Returns an object representing the user's current settings store.
-ipcMain.handle('get-user-prefs', (event) => {
+ipcMain.handle('get-user-prefs', () => {
     return store.get('prefs') || {};
 });
 
+// Returns a bool indicating whether this application is registered to start automatically at logon.
+ipcMain.handle('get-start-automatically', async () => {
+    let autoLaunch = new AutoLaunch({name: constants.APPLICATION_NAME, path: app.getPath('exe')})
+    return await autoLaunch.isEnabled();
+});
+
 // Returns the current zoom level of this this application's main window.
-ipcMain.handle('get-zoom-level', (event) => {
+ipcMain.handle('get-zoom-level', () => {
     return win.webContents.getZoomLevel();
 });
 
@@ -467,6 +496,20 @@ ipcMain.on('pref-change-show-menubar', (e, showMenuBar) => {
     store.set('prefs', prefs);
 });
 
+// Called when the "start automatically" checkbox has been checked/unchecked.
+ipcMain.on('pref-change-start-automatically', (e, startAutomatically) => {
+    console.log(`"Start Automatically" changed to: ${startAutomatically}`);
+
+    // Register/unregister this application to be automatically started at logon.
+    let autoLaunch = new AutoLaunch({name: constants.APPLICATION_NAME, path: app.getPath('exe')})
+    if (startAutomatically) {
+        autoLaunch.enable();
+    }
+    else {
+        autoLaunch.disable();
+    }
+});
+
 // Called when the "start minimized" checkbox has been checked/unchecked.
 ipcMain.on('pref-change-start-minimized', (e, startMinimized) => {
     console.log(`"Start Minimized" changed to: ${startMinimized}`);

diff --git a/src/pages/customize.html b/src/pages/customize.html
@@ -36,27 +36,33 @@
                 <!--Options-->
                 <div class="form-group">
                     <label class="font-weight-bold">Options</label>
-                    
+
                     <!--"Show menu bar" checkbox (Windows/Linux only, will get hidden for Mac)-->
                     <div class="form-check" id="show-menubar-div">
                         <input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" id="show-menubar">
                         <label class="form-check-label" for="show-menubar">Show menu bar</label>
                     </div>
 
+                    <!--"Start automatically" checkbox-->
+                    <div class="form-check">
+                        <input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" id="start-automatically">
+                        <label class="form-check-label" for="start-automatically">Start application automatically at logon</label>
+                    </div>
+
                     <!--"Start minimized" checkbox-->
                     <div class="form-check">
                         <input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" id="start-minimized">
-                        <label class="form-check-label" for="start-minimized">Start minimized to tray</label>
+                        <label class="form-check-label" for="start-minimized">Start application minimized to tray</label>
                     </div>
-                    
+
                     <!--"Exit on close" checkbox-->
                     <div class="form-check">
                         <input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" id="exit-on-close">
                         <label class="form-check-label" for="exit-on-close">Exit application when main window is closed</label>
                     </div>
                 </div>
             </div>
-            
+
             <!--Place window buttons in this div.-->
             <div id="second-row">
                 <!--"Close" button-->

diff --git a/src/pages/customize.js b/src/pages/customize.js
@@ -55,6 +55,15 @@
         });
     }
 
+    // Set the "start automatically" checkbox based on the user's currently selected
+    // preference.  Notify the main process whenever the preference changes.
+    const startAutomatically = document.getElementById('start-automatically');
+    startAutomatically.checked = await ipcRenderer.invoke('get-start-automatically');
+    startAutomatically.addEventListener('change', (e) => {
+        const checked = e.target.checked;
+        ipcRenderer.send('pref-change-start-automatically', checked);
+    });
+
     // Set the "start minimized" checkbox based on the user's currently selected
     // startup mode.  Notify the main process whenever the user changes the mode.
     const minimizedSetting = document.getElementById('start-minimized');