knectron v0.1.16

Knectron

Utility to connect Electron to remote source such as Create React App.

At first you may think this is overkill but we wrote this as it just connects/fires up in a little cleaner manner. Once you get the hang of it, you'll likely find it useful.

Quick Start

$ npm install knectron

Using API

const knectron = require('../dist/knectron');

knectron({
  args: ['./dist'] // first arg is path to electron app
});

Knectron Options

interface IConnectOptions {
  port?: number;                  // port to listen on (default: 3000)
  host?: string;                  // host to listen on (default: 127.0.0.1)
  spawnOptions?: SpawnOptions;    // child_process options (default: { stdio: pipe })
  args?: any[];                   // args passed to Electron (default: './dist')
  maxTries?: number;              // max reconnect tries (default: 5)
  retryDelay?: number;            // delay between retries (default: 1200)

  // API ONLY - NO CLI
  onConnected?: (url?: string) => void;
  onFailed?: (tries?: number) => void;
  onRetry?: (tries?: number) => void;
  onExit?: (err: Error) => void;
}

Using CLI

Knectron comes with a simple CLI. You can either install globally:

Using Globally

Install Knectron globally.

$ npm install knectron -g

One in your path you can do the following where args after "--" are passed directly to electron as shown here below.

$ knectron ./main.js -- --enable-logging

Using NPM Script

Or you can use npm scripts to execute:

{
  "scripts": {
    "knectron": "knectron ./main.js"
  }
}

Then simply run the script as you would any npm script:

$ npm run knectron

CLI Help

To display help from your terminal run:

$ knectron --help

You will see the below help:

`Usage: knectron <path> [options]

Options:
  --port            the port to connect to
  --host            the host to connect to
  --silent          hides retries
  --max-tries       maximum connection retries
  --retry-delay     delay until retry
  --spawn-options   Node child_process spawn options
  --help, -h        display help
  --examples        show examples

Args provided after "--" directly passed to Electron`

CLI Examples

From your terminal type:

$ knectron --examples

The following will be shown:

`Examples:
  knectron ./main.js --host=127.0.0.1 --port=5000
  knectron ./main.js -- --enable-logging --v=5
  knectron ./main.js --spawn-options.stdio=inherit
  knectron ./main.js --spawn-options.stdio='[0,1,2]'`