Desktop app

[spartDev]

Status

• WIP
• Ready for review
• Needs testing

Release notes for users (delete if codebase-only change)

• Create a desktop app vesrion of spectrum

closes: #257

[mxstbr]

This is a great start already!

The main big change I (with no Electron experience) can see here is that we really want the frontend to be bundled into the Electron app, rather than loaded as a remote URL, right?

[spartDev]

Yes I think loaded as a remote URL it's a good idea, because the app is universal and we do not want to ship node server with the app imo

[mxstbr]

Yes I think loaded as a remote URL it's a good idea, because the app is universal and we do not want to ship node server with the app imo

We don't need to ship a Node server with the app if we bundle the frontend into Electron, since it'll just query api.spectrum.chat, right?

[spartDev]

Yes my bad you totally right

[spartDev]

We start having something !

For now I have created a packager script to ship only for mac
You can test it by running:

yarn electron:package-mac

then go to build-electron folder and launch Spectrum.app

I'm facing an issue right now (open the dev tools):

[spartDev]

problem solved, we need to disable Electron's Node integration.
electron/electron#1753

[spartDev]

I rebase my PR for more more clarity.
For now we have:

• A preload script to create a “bridge” between Electron and the remote spectrum web app.
• A badge count for notifications
• A splash screen

I still have to work on the autoupdater.

[mxstbr]

Amazing—I'll test this locally!

[mxstbr]

I still have to work on the autoupdater.

This will require us to host some sort of server, right? I heard some folks are using GitHub releases for that purpose, is that an option for us?

[spartDev]

We can use GitHub Releases, Amazon S3, DigitalOcean Spaces or generic HTTP(s) server). I think GitHub Releases is a good option for us. Maybe @nikgraf who seems to have a very good xp in electron can help us on this ?

[spartDev]

OK the real things begins !!

I rename the folder from electron to desktop for more consistency.
I use electron-builder who is a complete solution to package, build & publish electron app.

I had to move previous scripts from package.json to desktop/package.json because electron-builder have a small conflict with CRA, both use a buildfolder.

The only thing I do not like is that the package.json file in desktop folder need to have a name and version set (mandatory by electron-builder). It's redundant but I did not find better ...
If anyone has a better idea !!

You can test now.

[spartDev]

Oh the last thing to do is application code signing

[spartDev]

I have fix several bug on dev environment, fix the splash screen who did not appear and create an about dialog.

[spectrum-bot]

	Fails
🚫	These new files do not have Flow enabled: desktop/src/autoUpdate.js desktop/src/config.js desktop/src/main.js desktop/src/menu.js desktop/src/preload.js

	Warnings
⚠️	These modified files do not have Flow enabled: shared/notification-to-text.js

Generated by 🚫 dangerJS

[mxstbr]

I'm tackling push notifications, let's get this ready to be beta tested! ✌️

[mxstbr]

The latest commits implement push notifications in the desktop app! 🎉

TODO BEFORE MERGING

• Don't send push notifications if the user's looking at the app
• Fix Linux and Windows builds (they currently fail with some icon error)
• Figure out all configuration options necessary for the best experience
• Set min-width to 770px to avoid people going into the mobile view
• Set min-height to 600px (or maybe even smaller) for smaller screens
• Fix isElectron check to not trigger in Cypress
• Implement hasReply into push notifications Not possible as we dispatch push notifications from the renderer process, not the main process.

[mxstbr]

I think this is pretty much ready! @brianlovin mind giving this a last code review, then doing a prod push with the frontend changes of this branch?

As soon as those are live, anybody who has a build of the desktop app should start seeing push notifications (if the app is open) 🎉

[brianlovin]

Prod cut incoming!

[brianlovin]

Thanks so much @spartDev - this has been awesome to use so far