Nobj-build-nw NPM

nobj-build-nw

A tool to build applications for the NW platform. Features:

Installable as devDependencies with just one line
Joins + Obfuscates closures for NodeJS context
Joins + Obfuscates code, css, assets for Local Webapps
Compiles 100% of NodeJS context to bytecode using ByteNode (arch dependent)
Compiles 100% of local webapps to bytecode using NWJC (arch / plaf dependent)
Builds distribution packages for OSX and Windows

Installing

1 - Install the tool

Declare the dependency in `devDependencies

npm install nobj-build-nw@53.1.37 --save-dev

You will get the package inserted into devDependencies

  "devDependencies": {
    "nobj-build-nw": "^53.1.37"
  }

NW.JS version are the first two numbers: 53.1 means NWJS 0.53.1
Minor is the tool revision for the NWJS Version
Your package.json has to match this version number or compiled binaries will not work.

2 - Add scripts to `package.json`

You can declare the following scripts in the parent project for ease of use:

"scripts": {
    "build": "nobj-nw-build",
    "build:osx-x64": "nobj-nw-build-plaf osx x64",
    "build:win-x64": "nobj-nw-build-plaf win x64",
    "dist:osx-x64": "nobj-nw-dist osx x64",
    "dist:win-x64": "nobj-nw-dist win x64",
    "sign:osx": "nobj-nw-sign-osx dist/$npm_package_name-$npm_package_version-mac-x64/Holopoke.app",
    "proto:osx": "nobj-nw-proto-osx dist/$npm_package_name-$npm_package_version-mac-x64/Holopoke.app"
  }

3 - Setup deployment in package.json

The tool uses nw-builder-phoenix internally, so check out the documentation to configure the deployment. Use this as an example:

  "build": {
    "appId": "my.cool.application",
    "nwVersion": "0.53.1",
    "nwFlavor": "normal",
    "output": "./dist/",
    "packed": false,
    "targets": [
      "nsis"
    ],
    "files": [
      "bin/**",
      "app/**"
    ],
    "ffmpegIntegration": false,
    "mac": {
      "name": "MyApp",
      "displayName": "MyApp",
      "copyright": "Copyright (C) Disaster Might Happen",
      "icon": "dist.src/osx/icon-1024.icns"
    },
    "win": {
      "productName": "MyApp",
      "companyName": "NDisaster Might Happen",
      "copyright": "Copyright (C) Disaster Might Happen",
      "icon": "dist.src/win/icon.ico"
    },
    "nsis": {
      "icon": "dist.src/win/icon.ico",
      "solid": true
    }
  }

4. Create the manifest

Manifest is in .template file. This file is parsed by nobj-build-tools, that are used internally to buld the different modules.

export TEMPLATE=default

# Closure Compiler Mode
export CCMODE="--language_out=ECMASCRIPT_2018 --language_in=ECMASCRIPT_2018"

# Apple Certificate
export APPLECF_NAME="xxxxxxx"
export APPLECF_ID="xxxxxxxx"

# NW Version
export NW_VERSION=0.53.1

# Local Apps to build
export BUILD_APPS="\
git@bitbucket.org:user/repo-app-1 app-1
git@bitbucket.org:user/repo-app-2 app-2
git@bitbucket.org:user/repo-lib-1 lib-1
.
.
"

Each entry in BUILD_APPS will download that application, and build it using nobj-build-tools.
Later steps compile each application into bytecode.

Invoking the scripts

After the .template file is created, you can run the scripts.

npm run build

Builds the non-arch-dependent part of the applications

npm run build:osx-x64 / npm run build:win-x64

Builds the arch-dependent part of the applications

Compiles the source code into Bytecode.
Run after npm run build
CROSS-COMPILING IS NOT SUPPORTED, due to the fact that NWJC does not support cross-compilation: You can only generate bytecode for the current platform.

npm run dist:osx-x64 / npm run dist:win-x64

Creates the distribution packages under dist/
Will also prepare and sign the application

npm run sign:osx

Signs the OSX application with credentials supplied in .template
Called automatically by dist

npm run proto:osx

Adds functionality to the application manifest such as Custom Protocol Mappings
Called automatically by dist

Dependencies

To sign OSX applications, you need XCODE pre-installed, as it uses codesign.
To run under windows, you need CygWin pre-installed. Also suggested is to use a decent terminal other than the one included with Windows.

Work in progress

This is a work in progress and several features still don´t work, but will do soon:

Code Signing for Windows.
Code Signing for mac works barebones. Probably there are more files to sign, or refine the codesign parameters.
Add the Custom Protocol for Windows.
Windows NSIS target does not boot. Seems a packaging issue as the uncompressed target does work)