The release of the Electron 13.0.0 platform has been prepared, which provides a self-sufficient framework for developing multi-platform user applications based on Chromium, V8 and Node.js components. The significant version number change is due to updates to the Chromium 91 codebase, the Node.js 14.16 framework, and the V8 9.1 JavaScript engine.
Among the changes in the new release:
- Added the process.contextIsolated property to determine if the current rendering context is running in a separate isolated process.
- Added session.storagePath to define the disk path to store session related data.
- The WebContents API has deprecated support for the "new-window" event, instead using a handler attached via the webContents.setWindowOpenHandler() method.
- Added a process.contextId parameter to be used in the @electron/remote module when communicating between the main process and the page rendering process.
- Added an API to enable and disable the handler for spell checking.
Recall that Electron allows you to create any graphical applications using browser technologies, the logic of which is defined in JavaScript, HTML and CSS, and the functionality can be extended through the system of add-ons. 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 display system, manipulating windows, and interacting with Chromium subsystems.
Unlike web applications, Electron-based programs are delivered as self-contained executables that are not tied to a browser. At the same time, the developer does not need to worry about porting the application for various platforms, Electron will provide the ability to build for all systems supported in Chromium. Electron also provides tools to organize automatic delivery and installation of updates (updates can be delivered either from a separate server or directly from GitHub).
Of the programs built on the basis of the Electron platform, one can note the Atom editor, the Mailspring email client, the GitKraken toolkit for working with Git, the WordPress Desktop blogging system, the WebTorrent Desktop BitTorrent client, as well as official clients for such services as Skype, Signal, Slack , Basecamp, Twitch, Ghost, Wire, Wrike, Visual Studio Code and Discord. In total, 1016 applications are presented in the Electron software catalog. To simplify the development of new applications, a set of sample demo applications has been prepared, including code examples for solving various problems.
Source: opennet.ru