The release of Electron platform 13.0.0 has been prepared, providing a standalone framework for developing cross-platform user applications based on components of Chromium, V8, and Node.js. The significant change in version number is related to the update to the Chromium 91 codebase, Node.js platform 14.16, and JavaScript engine V8 9.1.
Among the changes in the new release:
- The property process.contextIsolated has been added to determine whether the current rendering context is running in a separate isolated process.
- The session.storagePath has been added to define the disk path for storing session-related data.
- The WebContents API has deprecated support for the 'new-window' event, which should now be handled using a handler attached through the webContents.setWindowOpenHandler() method.
- The process.contextId parameter has been added, used in the @electron/remote module for interaction between the main process and the page rendering process.
- An API has been added to enable and disable a handler for spell checking.
Let’s remember that Electron enables the creation of any graphical applications using web technologies, the logic of which is defined in JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, while functionality can be extended through a plugin system. Developers have access to Node.js modules as well as an extended API for creating native dialogs, integrating applications, creating context menus, integrating with the notification output system, window manipulation, and interaction with Chromium subsystems.
Unlike web applications, Electron-based programs are delivered as self-contained executable files that are not browser-dependent. Additionally, developers do not need to worry about porting the application to different platforms; Electron provides the ability to build for all systems supported in Chromium. Electron also offers tools for automating the delivery and installation of updates (updates can be delivered either from a separate server, or directly from GitHub).
Among the applications built on the Electron platform are the Atom editor, the Mailspring email client, the Git tool GitKraken, the blogging system WordPress Desktop, the BitTorrent client WebTorrent Desktop, as well as official clients for services like Skype, Signal, Slack, Basecamp, Twitch, Ghost, Wire, Wrike, Visual Studio Code, and Discord. In total, the Electron applications catalog features 1016 programs. To simplify the development of new applications, a set of standard demonstration applications has been prepared, including code examples for various tasks.
Source: opennet.ru
