Use node-pre-gyp.

[octalmage]

Installing and compiling RobotJS requires Python and Visual Studio on Windows and this takes a while to get setup. Instead we can provide pre-built binaries that can be installed using npm. This will greatly improve the end-user experience.

[octalmage]

#57 is related. This will cut down on the dependencies.

[DennisBecker]

Would like to see that, I also want to use robotjs in an electron app for better use with other functionality where AHK won't fit.

[xxxalz]

даешь robotjs for nodejs 4

[brendanadnerb]

I'm also trying to use it in an Electron app; it works perfectly on Mac but I'm having a lot of trouble getting it to work on Windows, because of these dependencies (not sure if Python and VS are not installed quite right or what). We are also eventually moving to Linux. Shipping with everything self-contained and verified working cross-platform would be awesome.

[janosgy]

+1

[tukutela]

+1 great idea!

[sops21]

+1

[tamkeen-tms]

+1

[lukasvy]

+1

[blak3r2]

+1

[vshymanskyy]

+1, really need this. I would like to include it into one of Blynk App turorials!

[octalmage]

I'll look into it soon! When I looked into it previously I decided to wait until RobotJS was more stable. It's going to take a bunch of work, but it might be worth it at this point.

[vweevers]

@octalmage have you considered prebuild instead of pre-gyp? I recommend it, if you're cool with hosting binaries on Github. Setup is almost effortless.

[octalmage]

@vweevers I've never heard of it! It looks pretty easy to setup, just wonder how support and adoption is. node-pre-gyp is supported by Mapbox, and used by many huge projects. I'm not sure about prebuild. I'll look into it though!

[octalmage]

Prebuilt looks really legit, and levelDOWN uses it. That's good enough for me. I'll work on this today.

Thanks @vweevers!

[octalmage]

I've got most of the builds up, and RobotJS v0.4.2 is using Prebuild! Windows 64bit is missing and I'm working on those builds now.

[octalmage]

Windows 64bit is up, the majority of users won't have to compile!

[octalmage]

I reopened this, prebuild doesn't natively support Electron and that's an issue for me. I also want the builds to be built and published automatically, so node-pre-gyp is still something we're going to need. Prebuild works good enough for now though.

[DennisBecker]

So it is still not possible to use RobotJS with Electron?

[octalmage]

It's very possible! I do it all of the time. See:

http://robotjs.io/docs/electron

[octalmage]

You just have to build RobotJS for Electron.