Node.js is a platform for building fast and scalable server applications using JavaScript. Node.js is the runtime and npm is the Package Manager for Node.js modules.
Visual Studio Code has support for the JavaScript and TypeScript languages out-of-the-box as well as Node.js debugging. However, to run a Node.js application, you will need to install the Node.js runtime on your machine.
Filename and Path. On most Linux and some Mac OS X, the file system is case sensitive.That means test.js and Test.js are different files. Make sure the paths and filenames used in your app have the right case. Download this app from Microsoft Store for Windows 10 Mobile, Windows Phone 8.1, Windows Phone 8. See screenshots, read the latest customer reviews, and compare ratings for JavaScript. Liked this video? Subscribe for more: Today we're taking a look at macintosh.js. This standalone applications allows you to get a M.
To get started in this walkthrough, install Node.js for your platform. The Node Package Manager is included in the Node.js distribution. You'll need to open a new terminal (command prompt) for the
node
and npm
command-line tools to be on your PATH.Linux: There are specific Node.js packages available for the various flavors of Linux. See Installing Node.js via package manager to find the Node.js package and installation instructions tailored to your version of Linux.
Tip: To test that you've got Node.js correctly installed on your computer, open a new terminal and type
node --help
and you should see the usage documentation.Hello World
Let's get started by creating the simplest Node.js application, 'Hello World'.
Create an empty folder called 'hello', navigate into and open VS Code:
Tip: You can open files or folders directly from the command line. The period '.' refers to the current folder, therefore VS Code will start and open the
Hello
folder.From the File Explorer toolbar, press the New File button:
and name the file
app.js
:By using the
.js
file extension, VS Code interprets this file as JavaScript and will evaluate the contents with the JavaScript language service. Refer to the VS Code JavaScript language topic to learn more about JavaScript support.Create a simple string variable in
app.js
and send the contents of the string to the console:Note that when you typed
console.
IntelliSense on the console
object was automatically presented to you.Also notice that VS Code knows that
msg
is a string based on the initialization to 'Hello World'
. If you type msg.
you'll see IntelliSense showing all of the string functions available on msg
.After experimenting with IntelliSense, revert any extra changes from the source code example above and save the file (⌘S (Windows, Linux Ctrl+S)).
Running Hello World
It's simple to run
app.js
with Node.js. From a terminal, just type:![Run js in browser Run js in browser](/uploads/1/3/3/8/133819868/327770475.jpg)
You should see 'Hello World' output to the terminal and then Node.js returns.
Integrated Terminal
VS Code has an integrated terminal which you can use to run shell commands. You can run Node.js directly from there and avoid switching out of VS Code while running command-line tools.
View > Terminal (⌃` (Windows, Linux Ctrl+`) with the backtick character) will open the integrated terminal and you can run
node app.js
there:For this walkthrough, you can use either an external terminal or the VS Code integrated terminal for running the command-line tools.
Debugging Hello World
As mentioned in the introduction, VS Code ships with a debugger for Node.js applications. Let's try debugging our simple Hello World application.
Do you need to uninstall apps on mac. To set a breakpoint in
app.js
, put the editor cursor on the first line and press F9 or click in the editor left gutter next to the line numbers. A red circle will appear in the gutter.To start debugging, select the Run View in the Activity Bar:
You can now click Debug toolbar green arrow or press F5 to launch and debug 'Hello World'. Your breakpoint will be hit and you can view and step through the simple application. Notice that VS Code displays a different colored Status Bar to indicate it is in Debug mode and the DEBUG CONSOLE is displayed.
Now that you've seen VS Code in action with 'Hello World', the next section shows using VS Code with a full-stack Node.js web app.
Note: We're done with the 'Hello World' example so navigate out of that folder before you create an Express app. You can delete the 'Hello' folder if you wish as it is not required for the rest of the walkthrough.
An Express application
Express is a very popular application framework for building and running Node.js applications. You can scaffold (create) a new Express application using the Express Generator tool. The Express Generator is shipped as an npm module and installed by using the npm command-line tool
npm
.Tip: To test that you've got
npm
correctly installed on your computer, type npm --help
from a terminal and you should see the usage documentation.Install the Express Generator by running the following from a terminal:
The
-g
switch installs the Express Generator globally on your machine so you can run it from anywhere.We can now scaffold a new Express application called
myExpressApp
by running:This creates a new folder called
myExpressApp
with the contents of your application. The --view pug
parameters tell the generator to use the pug template engine.To install all of the application's dependencies (again shipped as npm modules), go to the new folder and execute
npm install
:At this point, we should test that our application runs. The generated Express application has a
package.json
file which includes a start
script to run node ./bin/www
. This will start the Node.js application running.From a terminal in the Express application folder, run:
The Node.js web server will start and you can browse to http://localhost:3000 to see the running application.
Great code editing
Close the browser and from a terminal in the
myExpressApp
folder, stop the Node.js server by pressing CTRL+C.Now launch VS Code:
Note: If you've been using the VS Code integrated terminal to install the Express generator and scaffold the app, you can open the
myExpressApp
folder from your running VS Code instance with the File > Open Folder command.The Node.js and Express documentation does a great job explaining how to build rich applications using the platform and framework. Polycom realpresence app mac. Visual Studio Code will make you more productive in developing these types of applications by providing great code editing and navigation experiences.
Open the file
app.js
and hover over the Node.js global object __dirname
. Notice how VS Code understands that __dirname
is a string. Even more interesting, you can get full IntelliSense against the Node.js framework. For example, you can require http
and get full IntelliSense against the http
class as you type in Visual Studio Code.VS Code uses TypeScript type declaration (typings) files (for example
node.d.ts
) to provide metadata to VS Code about the JavaScript based frameworks you are consuming in your application. Type declaration files are written in TypeScript so they can express the data types of parameters and functions, allowing VS Code to provide a rich IntelliSense experience. Thanks to a feature called Automatic Type Acquisition
, you do not have to worry about downloading these type declaration files, VS Code will install them automatically for you.You can also write code that references modules in other files. For example, in
app.js
we require the ./routes/index
module, which exports an Express.Router
class. If you bring up IntelliSense on index
, you can see the shape of the Router
class.Debug your Express app
You will need to create a debugger configuration file
launch.json
for your Express application. Click on the Run icon in the Activity Bar and then the Configure gear icon at the top of the Run view to create a default launch.json
file. Select the Node.js environment by ensuring that the type
property in configurations
is set to 'node'
. When the file is first created, VS Code will look in package.json
for a start
script and will use that value as the program
(which in this case is '${workspaceFolder}binwww
) for the Launch Program configuration.Save the new file and make sure Launch Program is selected in the configuration drop-down at the top of the Run view. Open
app.js
and set a breakpoint near the top of the file where the Express app object is created by clicking in the gutter to the left of the line number. Press F5 to start debugging the application. VS Code will start the server in a new terminal and hit the breakpoint we set. From there you can inspect variables, create watches, and step through your code.Deploy your application
If you'd like to learn how to deploy your web application, check out the Deploying Applications to Azure tutorials where we show how to run your website in Azure.
Next steps
There is much more to explore with Visual Studio Code, please try the following topics:
- Settings - Learn how to customize VS Code for how you like to work.
- Debugging - This is where VS Code really shines.
- Video: Getting started with Node.js debugging - Learn how to attach to a running Node.js process.
- Node.js debugging - Learn more about VS Code's built-in Node.js debugging.
- Debugging recipes - Examples for scenarios like client-side and container debugging.
- Tasks - Running tasks with Gulp, Grunt and Jake. Showing Errors and Warnings.
Not long ago it was impossible to build a desktop app with JavaScript. Happily, these times are gone, and now JS developers can use their knowledge and web development expertise to create desktop applications with a native feel.
As usual, it’s easier said than done. While doing our research, we noticed that there’s much confusion on how JavaScript desktop apps are really built and how they work. It’s also pretty challenging to find the right tools to use on a project.
But search no further, we’ve done that work for you.
In this article, we’re taking a closer look at 5best-known JavaScript frameworks for desktop apps.
Electron is an open-source framework initially built by GitHub for Atom editor in 2013. This library lets you create desktop GUI applications with web technologies like JavaScript, HTML and CSS.
An app built by Electron development companybehaves like a web app, but it can read and write data in the computer’s file system. There are many popular desktop apps built with Electron on the market, for example, Skype for Linux or an awesome productivity tool Serene, that we’ve helped to build. If you want to learn more about popular desktop apps built with Electron, check out the article on 7 famous desktop apps using electron.
Run Js App Mac Pro
The significant advantage of this solution is that there’s no need for a JavaScript web developer to learn new technology or language to build a desktop app. The Electron app usually reuses the business logic, design and general structure of a web app. It’s a great way to save time and money on the business and development side.
Mac Js Editor
If you’re a JavaScript developer, you’re going to need to learn a few relatively simple things on how Electron works and it’s API. You will most probably be able to set up your first Electron desktop application in just a few days.
Electron is a mature technology with a growing community and thus makes for a great production environment. Thanks to Chromium engine UI rendering, you get access to tools such as Developer Tools and Storage Access.
Run Js In Browser
The next on our list of the best JavaScript frameworks for desktop apps is NW.js, previously known as the node-webkit. It was built at Intel’s Open Source Technology Center by combining Node.js framework with a Chromium engine (previously known as Webkit).
Thanks to the Node.js and Chromium combination, you can build an app that not only loads a local website in an application window but also connects with the OS through JavaScript API. This solution lets you control parameters such as window dimensions, toolbar and menu items, and it provides access to the local computer files.
NW.js is unopinionated and gives you the freedom to choose frameworks and libraries that you want to use on a project. It makes it possible to call Node.js modules directly from the DOM, supports all features of the browser, provides a JavaScript source protection and is available on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows.
AppJS is a simple yet powerful tool that you can use to build cross-platform apps without the need to learn new languages. Similarly to the other libraries mentioned today, you’re fine as long as you’re familiar with HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Although it’s the oldest Node.js-Chromium framework in the AppJS, Electron and NW.js trio, it’s not nearly as mature as its competition. Because it has lost its momentum, it may not be the best choice for new projects.
In AppJS you get the following:
- JS, HTML5, CSS, SVG, WebGL provided by Chromium
- mature http/https servers and client APIs – Node
- filesystem, DNS, cryptography, subprocesses, OS APIs – Node
- sandboxed code execution environments virtual machines – Node
- tools for exposing native C++ bindings to JavaScript- Node
Meteor advertises itself as “the fastest way to build JavaScript apps”, an “open source platform for web, mobile, and desktop”. This cross-platform framework written in Node.js can be used for building web, mobile, and desktop applications.
Although it does not build desktop apps on its own, it can be used with Cordova or other similar tools to produce them. It uses MongoDB, Distributed Data Protocol, and a publish-subscribe pattern to auto-propagate the changes without developer interference. It has both front-end and back-end modules, including the API, build tools, Node.js packages.
Proton Native is a fresh release. It was made available on GitHub in the early months of 2018. What Proton Native does for desktop app development is similar to what React Native has done for mobile (read more about the difference between React.js, React Native and React VR).
What makes it one of the best JavaScript frameworks for desktop apps is that it lets you manage state and build UIs seamlessly while doing it cross-platform. It works quite differently to Electron, which runs a full Chromium browser to manage a small GUI. Proton Native, on the other hand, usesnative tools, takes less space and needs fewer resources.
![How How](/uploads/1/3/3/8/133819868/168822879.jpg)
This solution has a few other advantages – it uses the same syntax as React Native, works with React libraries including Redux and is compatible with Node.js.
To sum up, JavaScript frameworks for desktop apps can be divided into three categories:
- Frameworks that produce web browser hosted desktop apps, based on Node.js and Chromium (Electron, NW.js, AppJS).
- Frameworks that need to be used with Cordova-like tools (Meteor).
- Frameworks that use genuinely native components to build a desktop app (Proton Native).
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It’s up to you which you choose, and it primarily depends on the type of project that you develop.
Hope this short list and overview helped you take a quick look at each of this tools and make it easier for you to decide which solution will perform best for you.
If you liked this article, please share it with other developers so that they can also learn about these 5 JavaScript frameworks for desktop apps!