The release of the Electron 23.0.0 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 110 codebase, the Node.js 18.12.1 framework, and the V8 11 JavaScript engine.
Among the changes in the new release:
- Added support for the WebUSB API, which allows you to directly interact with specialized peripheral devices connected via a USB port. WebUSB makes it possible to organize work with USB devices without installing specialized drivers into the system, defining the logic of low-level interaction in the application.
- The "label" property has been added to the Display object with a text label that visually identifies the screen.
- The app.getPreferredSystemLanguages() API has been implemented to determine the languages selected in the system.
- The SerialPort.forget() method has been added to return a Promise to handle the closing of the serial port, and the serial-port-revoked event has been implemented, which is generated when access to the serial port is revoked after the connection to it is closed.
- Added win.setHiddenInMissionControl API, which allows you to hide the application window in the Mission Control interface on systems with macOS.
- The deprecated scroll-touch-begin, scroll-touch-end, and scroll-touch-edge events have been removed from the BrowserWindow object and should be replaced by the input-event on WebContents.
- OS support has been discontinued Windows 7, 8 and 8.1, and also Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2.
The Electron platform 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 a 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 executable files, not tied to a browser. The developer doesn't need to worry about porting the application to different platforms; Electron provides the ability to build for all systems supported by Chromium. Electron also provides the means to automatically deliver and install updates (updates can be delivered from a separate Server, as well as directly from GitHub).
Among the programs built on the Electron platform, we can note the Atom editor, the Mailspring email client, the GitKraken tool for working with Git, and the blogging system WordPress Desktop, the BitTorrent client WebTorrent Desktop, and official clients for services such as Skype, Signal, Slack, Basecamp, Twitch, Ghost, Wire, Wrike, Visual Studio Code, and Discord. The Electron app catalog contains 734 apps. To simplify the development of new apps, a set of sample demo apps has been prepared, including code samples for solving various problems.
Source: opennet.ru
