how to use node-webkit with express server?
I am working on learning this myself. Here are the basics for converting an express app to a node webkit app.
I will assume that you have a node.js app with two modules installed. The first being express.js and the second some template engine. I am using handlebars so I will use it for this example.
I will also assume the app you want to convert is the simplest one possible, in short I will assume you are using express to do two things - run a server and respond to a single route that renders a view file
Step 1.
Download node webkit: http://nwjs.io/
Step 2.
Unzip it
Step 3.
Open up the console and cd into the newly created folder (I will call this directory app-parent from here on out). Once you are there - run this command:
npm install expressWhen this is done run:
npm install express-handlebarsStep 4:
In app-parent create two additional folders. One named resources and the other named views. Also in app-parent create a file called package.json.
Copy the following code into package.json
{ "name": "app", "main": "resources/index.html"}Step 5:
Go to the resources folder and create a file named index.html. Inside of this copy the following code:
<!DOCTYPE html><html><head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title></title></head><!--______________________________________________________BEGIN APP--><body> <script> </script> <script> var express = require('express'); var app = express(); var expressHbs = require('express-handlebars'); app.engine('hbs', expressHbs({ extname: 'hbs' })); app.set('view engine', 'hbs'); app.get("/", function(req, res) { res.render("index", { item: "weeeeeeeee" }) }) app.listen("3000", function(err) { if (err) { console.log("server is not working"); } else { console.log("Server is working on 3000"); } }) window.location.href = 'http://localhost:3000'; </script></body><!--______________________________________________________END APP--></html>Step 7.
Go to the views folder in app-parent and create a new file called index.hbs. Inside this file copy the following code.
<!DOCTYPE html><html> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title></title> </head> <!--______________________________________________________BEGIN APP--> <body> <p>Oink</p> {{item}} </body> <!--______________________________________________________END APP--></html>Final step.
Inside app-parent click the file named nw.exe. Your app should launch.
DONE
Node-Webkit(means nodeJS+chromium framework) so you can run your server code(Express.js,etc) directly to your app(just install expressJS and then call directly client side code) that's it