Develop Reference

electronJS how to get data across from preload to renderer

I am trying to send data from a main window to another window in electronJS.
How my app works is there is a main window with many selections. On clicking each selection, a new window will open, and the window will show data that is related to that selection. For now, what works is that clicking each selection will open a new window, but I am unable to pass data over to the new window.
I have read through the electron docs but most seem to be focused on data from renderer to main. The example which shows data passing from main to renderer didn't help me and I still struggle to implement what I want.
I tried looking for some help here
Trying to send data from one electron window to another via ipc
Electron: How to securely inject global variable into BrowserWindow / BrowserView?
Electron: How to pass the message/data from preload to renderer?
and tried to implement the suggestions but I still can't get it to work.
I have 2 html files (index.html and details.html), a main.js, a preload.js and a renderer.js for the details.html
Here are my codes:
main.js
// main.js
// Modules to control application life and create native browser window
const { app, BrowserWindow, ipcMain } = require('electron')
const path = require('path')
const createWindow = () => {
// Create the browser window.
const mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
width: 1000,
height: 1000,
webPreferences: {
preload: path.join(__dirname, 'preload.js')
}
})
// and load the index.html of the app.
mainWindow.loadFile('index.html')
// Open the DevTools.
mainWindow.webContents.openDevTools()
}
// This method will be called when Electron has finished
// initialization and is ready to create browser windows.
// Some APIs can only be used after this event occurs.
app.whenReady().then(() => {
createWindow()
ipcMain.on('open-selection-window', (event) => {
openNewWindow()
})
app.on('activate', () => {
// On macOS it's common to re-create a window in the app when the
// dock icon is clicked and there are no other windows open.
if (BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().length === 0) createWindow()
})
})
// Quit when all windows are closed, except on macOS. There, it's common
// for applications and their menu bar to stay active until the user quits
// explicitly with Cmd + Q.
app.on('window-all-closed', () => {
if (process.platform !== 'darwin') app.quit()
})
// In this file you can include the rest of your app's specific main process
// code. You can also put them in separate files and require them here.
const openNewWindow = () => {
const Window = new BrowserWindow({
width: 1000,
height: 1000,
title: ' details',
webPreferences: {
preload: path.join(__dirname, 'preload.js')
}
})
Window.loadFile('details.html')
}
preload.js (note the contextbridge portion)
// preload.js
const axios = require('axios');
const { contextBridge, ipcRenderer } = require('electron');
// All of the Node.js APIs are available in the preload process.
// It has the same sandbox as a Chrome extension.
// this function is called when the user clicks on a selection, it will get the details
const getselectionDetail = (argument) => {
axios.get(`http://apiurl/${argument}`)
.then(response => {
return response.data;
})
}
// this function is called when user press search button, it will search for the selections thru API call,
// and then display the results,
// set onclick function for each result,
const searchselections = (text) => {
//use axios to make a get request to the url
axios.get(`http://apiurl/${text}`)
.then(response => {
const selections = response.data;
// for each element in selections, append a div with the class of search-result and append the html
selections.forEach(selection => {
document.getElementById('results').innerHTML += `
<div class="search-result">
<p>${selection.name}</p>
</div>`;
});
// for each search result, need to set it such that on click, the contextbridge will send the selection details to the renderer
// and then the renderer will load the selection details
const searchResults = document.getElementsByClassName('search-result');
for (let i = 0; i < searchResults.length; i++) {
searchResults[i].onclick = () => {
contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld(
'selection',
// this is to get a new window to open and sends data to the main process
ipcRenderer.send('open-selection-window', getselectionDetail(selections[i].name))
);
// send data to the renderer -> this doesn't work?
contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld(
'details',
getselectionDetail(selections[i].name)
)
}
}
})
.catch(error => {
console.log(error);
}
)
}
renderer.js
const detail_name = document.getElementById('detail-name');
// load the data from window, need to append to html
console.log(window.details) <-- this doesn't work
index.html
<!--index.html-->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<!-- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CSP -->
<!-- <meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'"> -->
<!-- <meta http-equiv="X-Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'"> -->
<title>Search function</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Search function</h1>
<div class="root">
<!-- text input for the search -->
<input type="text" id="search-input" placeholder="Search">
<!-- search button -->
<button id="search-button" class="search-button" type="button">
Search
</button>
</div>
<!-- div to display the search results -->
<div id="results"></div>
</body>
</html>
details.html
<!--index.html-->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<!-- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CSP -->
<!-- <meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'"> -->
<!-- <meta http-equiv="X-Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'"> -->
<title>Details</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Details</h1>
<div class="result">
<!-- div for name -->
<div class="name">
<h5>Name:</h5>
<p id="detail-name"></p>
</div>
</div>
<!-- You can also require other files to run in this process -->
<script src="./renderer.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
I appreciate any tips/guidance!

You can use BroadcastChannel like below
const qr = new BroadcastChannel("test");
qr.postMessage(JSON.stringify({ var: "val" }));
and listen from another file like
const bc = new BroadcastChannel("test");
bc.onmessage = (event) => {
this.data = JSON.parse(event.data);
};
You can read more about this on mdn.broadcastchannel

The comments can't hold so much text so I'll post the code here to show what I've tried, but doesn't work.
I added the top code in the onclick assignment
preload.js
// for each search result, need to set it such that on click, the contextbridge will send the selection details to the renderer
// and then the renderer will load the selection details
const searchResults = document.getElementsByClassName('search-result');
for (let i = 0; i < searchResults.length; i++) {
searchResults[i].onclick = () => {
contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld(
'selection',
// this is to get a new window to open and sends data to the main process
ipcRenderer.send('open-selection-window', getselectionDetail(selections[i].name))
);
const qr = new BroadcastChannel("test");
qr.postMessage(JSON.stringify({ var: "val" }));
}
}
renderer.js
// set windows onload event
window.addEventListener('load', () => {
const bc = new BroadcastChannel("test");
bc.onmessage = (event) => {
this.data = JSON.parse(event.data);
console.log(JSON.parse(event.data));
};
});

I think you are trying to do too much in your preload.js script. Additionally, I don't think you can
use contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld more than once per window.
Place your Axios calls in your main process. This will dramatically simplify your preload.js script.
Additionally, just use your preload.js script to transfer data between processed. That way, it will simplify it even
further.
Use your html files only to display the UI, make it interactive and dynamically render content. The remainder can be
handled in the main process.
Note: I have mocked your Axios calls with simplified fake data for testing.
Apart from your main.js file doing the usual things, listen via IPC calls from:
index.html to initiate a search (via invoke) and return the results (via handle).
index.html to open details.html window and send "details" to new window.
If your Axios calls returns promises, see the bottom of the preload.js script for IPC promise use.
main.js (main process)
const electronApp = require('electron').app;
const electronBrowserWindow = require('electron').BrowserWindow;
const electronIpcMain = require('electron').ipcMain;
const nodePath = require('path');
// Prevent garbage collection
let searchWindow;
let detailsWindow;
function createSearchWindow() {
const searchWindow = new electronBrowserWindow({
x: 0,
y: 0,
width: 1000,
height: 1000,
show: false,
webPreferences: {
nodeIntegration: false,
contextIsolation: true,
preload: nodePath.join(__dirname, 'preload.js')
}
});
searchWindow.loadFile('index.html')
.then(() => { searchWindow.show(); });
return searchWindow;
}
function createDetailsWindow() {
const detailsWindow = new electronBrowserWindow({
x: 0,
y: 0,
width: 300,
height: 300,
show: false,
webPreferences: {
nodeIntegration: false,
contextIsolation: true,
preload: nodePath.join(__dirname, 'preload.js')
}
});
detailsWindow.loadFile('details.html')
.then(() => { detailsWindow.show(); });
return detailsWindow;
}
electronApp.on('ready', () => {
searchWindow = createSearchWindow();
});
electronApp.on('window-all-closed', () => {
if (process.platform !== 'darwin') {
electronApp.quit();
}
});
electronApp.on('activate', () => {
if (electronBrowserWindow.getAllWindows().length === 0) {
createSearchWindow();
}
});
// ---
electronIpcMain.handle('search', (event, data) => {
// Use "data" variable for Axios call.
return [
'Result 1',
'Result 2',
'Result 3',
'Result 4',
'Result 5'
]
})
electronIpcMain.on('openDetailsWindow', (event, data) => {
// Use "data" for Axios call.
let results = {
'Result 1': 'Details for Result 1',
'Result 2': 'Details for Result 2',
'Result 3': 'Details for Result 3',
'Result 4': 'Details for Result 4',
'Result 5': 'Details for Result 5'
}
detailsWindow = createDetailsWindow();
detailsWindow.webContents.send('pushDetails', results[data]);
})
I have used a white listed channel name configuration for your preload.js script. This simplifies things even further
and prevent your preload.js script from being used for more than just simple channel name calling and data transfer.
If you are after an alternative design for your preload.js script, just let me know.
preload.js (main process)
// Import the necessary Electron components.
const contextBridge = require('electron').contextBridge;
const ipcRenderer = require('electron').ipcRenderer;
// White-listed channels.
const ipc = {
'render': {
// From render to main.
'send': [
'openDetailsWindow'
],
// From main to render.
'receive': [
'pushDetails'
],
// From render to main and back again.
'sendReceive': [
'search'
]
}
};
// Exposed protected methods in the render process.
contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld(
// Allowed 'ipcRenderer' methods.
'ipcRender', {
// From render to main.
send: (channel, args) => {
let validChannels = ipc.render.send;
if (validChannels.includes(channel)) {
ipcRenderer.send(channel, args);
}
},
// From main to render.
receive: (channel, listener) => {
let validChannels = ipc.render.receive;
if (validChannels.includes(channel)) {
// Deliberately strip event as it includes `sender`.
ipcRenderer.on(channel, (event, ...args) => listener(...args));
}
},
// From render to main and back again.
invoke: (channel, args) => {
let validChannels = ipc.render.sendReceive;
if (validChannels.includes(channel)) {
return ipcRenderer.invoke(channel, args);
}
}
}
);
/**
* Render --> Main
* ---------------
* Render: window.ipcRender.send('channel', data); // Data is optional.
* Main: electronIpcMain.on('channel', (event, data) => { methodName(data); })
*
* Main --> Render
* ---------------
* Main: windowName.webContents.send('channel', data); // Data is optional.
* Render: window.ipcRender.receive('channel', (data) => { methodName(data); });
*
* Render --> Main (Value) --> Render
* ----------------------------------
* Render: window.ipcRender.invoke('channel', data).then((result) => { methodName(result); });
* Main: electronIpcMain.handle('channel', (event, data) => { return someMethod(data); });
*
* Render --> Main (Promise) --> Render
* ------------------------------------
* Render: window.ipcRender.invoke('channel', data).then((result) => { methodName(result); });
* Main: electronIpcMain.handle('channel', async (event, data) => {
* return await promiseName(data)
* .then(() => { return result; })
* });
*/
In your index.html (search) file, place an event listener on the "search" button (and the results div). Once clicked,
send an IPC message to the main thread to retrieve your Axios data call. Once retrieved, dynamically add the results to
the DOM.
On a click in your results div, use event delegation to find the result that was clicked and again, use IPC to
send a message to open up the "details" window.
Note: For simplicity, I have added your required renderer.js code in-between <script> tags.
index.html (render process)
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Search function</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';"/>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Search function</h1>
<div class="root">
<input type="text" id="search-input" placeholder="Search">
<input type="button" id="search-button" class="search-button" value="Search">
</div>
<div id="results"></div>
</body>
<script>
let results = document.getElementById('results');
document.getElementById('search-button').addEventListener('click', () => {
window.ipcRender.invoke('search', document.getElementById('search-input').value)
.then((data) => {
let output = '';
for (let item of data) {
output += `<div class="search-results">${item}</div>`;
}
results.innerHTML = output;
})
})
results.addEventListener('click', (event) => {
window.ipcRender.send('openDetailsWindow', event.target.innerText);
})
</script>
</html>
The details.html file fill automatically receive the detailed data from main process upon opening.
details.html (render process)
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Details</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';"/>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Details</h1>
<div class="result">
<div class="name">
<h5>Name:</h5>
<p id="detail-name"></p>
</div>
</div>
</body>
<script>
window.ipcRender.receive('pushDetails', (details) => {
document.getElementById('detail-name').innerText = details;
})
</script>
</html>

electron js - cannot get button to perform simple actions from click

Long story short I am working on a single page application that sends commands over a local network. Testing out Electron JS and I can't even seem to get a simple button to work. I feel like I am not linking the logic between main.js and index.js somehow but for the life of me I cannot figure out the correct way to do it. I have even put breakpoints in index.js and through main.js & index.html but none of the breakpoints are hit aside from the ones in main.js. I put a simple function in a preload.js file and that function is correctly called but the one I am trying to attach to a button located in index.html and index.js is never even being hit. A lot of the commented out code is things I want to remember or things I have noticed a different method of creating and just wanted to try and see if that worked. If anyone has any answers or guidance it would be greatly appreciated! :D
Below is my main.js
//#region ---for dev only | hot reload
try {
require('electron-reloader')(module)
} catch (_) {}
//#endregion
const electron = require('electron');
const {app, BrowserWindow, Menu} = require('electron');
const path = require('path');
const ipcMain = electron.ipcMain;
//#region globals
const SRC_DIR = '/src/'
const IMG_DIR = '/assets/images'
//#endregion
function createWindow () {
const win = new BrowserWindow({
width: 800,
height: 600,
//frame: false,
webPreferences: {
contextIsolation: true,
preload: path.join(__dirname, 'preload.js')
}
});
//Used to auto open dev tools for debugging
//win.openDevTools();
win.loadFile('src/index.html');
// win.loadURL(url.format({
// pathname: path.join(__dirname, 'index.html'),
// protocol: 'file',
// slashes: true
// }));
}
app.whenReady().then(() => {
//nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors = true;
createWindow();
})
//closes app processes when window is closed
app.on('window-all-closed', function () {
if (process.platform !== 'darwin') app.quit();
})
var menu = Menu.buildFromTemplate([
{
label: 'Menu',
submenu: [
{label: 'Edit'},
{type: 'separator'},
{
label: 'Exit',
click() {
app.quit();
}
}
]
}
])
Menu.setApplicationMenu(menu);
Here is index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'">
<meta http-equiv="X-Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'">
<title>Ecas Software</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<p id="myText">Let's get started :)</p>
<button id="myBtn">Change Text</button>
<script type="text/javascript" src="./index.js" ></script>
</body>
</html>
Lastly here is my index.js (aka my first and only renderer?)
const electron = require('electron');
const chgBtn = document.getElementById('myBtn');
function replaceText(selector, text){
const element = document.getElementById(selector);
if (element) element.innerText = text;
}
chgBtn.onclick = function() {
replaceText('myText', 'no boom...');
}
// chgBtn.addEventListener('click', function(){
// // if (document.getElementById('myText').innerText == 'boom'){
// // replaceText('myText','no boom...');
// // } else {
// // replaceText('myText','boom');
// // }
// document.alert("working function");
// });
//chgBtn.addEventListener('click', replaceText('myText','no boom...'));

Why you have this error
The problem here is that you didn't use your scripts files the way Electron was intended.
If you use the Devtools Console (by uncommenting win.openDevTools()), you should see this error in your console :
Uncaught ReferenceError: require is not defined (from index.js file)
This is because your index.js file is loaded as a "normal javascript file". If you want to use the Node syntaxe (aka the "require" syntaxe), you need to do it in your preload script. Only the preload script can use the require syntaxe, since it is the only script allowed by Electron to use Node.
You can also use other javascripts files, by import it in your HTML as you did for the index.js file, but you should remove the require call. As the "require" call (on the first line) will throw and error, all the following code will not run. This is why your button did not react on click.
The correct way to do it
If you need to use some methods from the Electron Renderer API (such as the ipcRenderer), you need to put it in your preload script.
If you want to use your own script, in a separate file, you can also do it, you will not be able to directly call Electron API. There is a solution if you want to call the Electron API in your own script, it is called the Context Bridge. This allows you to create an object in your preload script, that can use the Electron API. You can give this object a name, and then call it from your others script by using the window global object.
For example, if you want to use ipcRenderer.send(channel, payload) :
// Preload script
const { contextBridge, ipcRenderer } = require('electron')
contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld('theNameYouWant',
{
send: (channel, payload) => ipcRenderer.send(channel, payload)
}
)
// index.js file, imported in your HTML file
window.theNameYouWant.send("channel-name", { someData: "Hello" })
In your example
// Add this in your main.js file to see when a user click on the button from main process
ipcMain.on("button-clicked", (event, data) => console.log(data))
// Preload script
const { contextBridge, ipcRenderer } = require("electron")
contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld("electron", {
send: (channel, payload) => ipcRenderer.send(channel, payload),
})
// index.js
const chgBtn = document.getElementById("myBtn")
function replaceText(selector, text) {
const element = document.getElementById(selector)
if (element) element.innerText = text
}
chgBtn.onclick = function () {
replaceText("myText", "no boom...")
window.electron.send("button-clicked", { someData: "Hello" })
}

Electron, Creating Duplicate of Main Window On Button Click

I am making an electron app and the user to be able to open as many instances of the main window (the one that opens by default) as they would like.
I would like them to be able to do this by simply clicking a button within the index.html.
How would this be possible within the following default apps code ?
main.js
const { app, BrowserWindow } = require('electron')
function createWindow () {
// Create the browser window.
const win = new BrowserWindow({
width: 800,
height: 600,
webPreferences: {
nodeIntegration: true
}
})
// and load the index.html of the app.
win.loadFile('index.html')
// Open the DevTools.
win.webContents.openDevTools()
}
// This method will be called when Electron has finished
// initialization and is ready to create browser windows.
// Some APIs can only be used after this event occurs.
app.whenReady().then(createWindow)
// Quit when all windows are closed.
app.on('window-all-closed', () => {
// On macOS it is common for applications and their menu bar
// to stay active until the user quits explicitly with Cmd + Q
if (process.platform !== 'darwin') {
app.quit()
}
})
app.on('activate', () => {
// On macOS it's common to re-create a window in the app when the
// dock icon is clicked and there are no other windows open.
if (BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().length === 0) {
createWindow()
}
})
// In this file you can include the rest of your app's specific main process
// code. You can also put them in separate files and require them here.
index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Hello World!</title>
<!-- https://electronjs.org/docs/tutorial/security#csp-meta-tag -->
<meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';" />
</head>
<body>
<button onclick="openWindow()">click to open new window</button>
</body>
</html>

All you need to do is send a message to your main process when you click your button, then in main.js create a new window whenever we receive that message.
So first send a message to main.js from your openWindow() function like this:
var ipcRenderer = require('electron').ipcRenderer;
function openWindow () {
ipcRenderer.send('asynchronous-message', 'createNewWindow');
}
Then we listen for the message in main.js like this:
var ipcMain = require('electron').ipcMain;
ipcMain.on('asynchronous-message', function (evt, message) {
if (message == 'createNewWindow') {
// Message received.
// Create new window here.
}
});
Then all you need to do is create a new window when you receive the 'createNewWindow' message.
See docs for sending a message to the main process
See docs for receiving messages in the main process

You can achieve your goal in two ways.
You should change your index.html to like this as pre-requirements
At your index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Hello World!</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Hello World!</h1>
<body>
<button onclick="require('./renderer.js').openWindow()">click to open new window</button>
</body>
<!-- All of the Node.js APIs are available in this renderer process. -->
We are using Node.js <script>document.write(process.versions.node)</script>,
Chromium <script>document.write(process.versions.chrome)</script>,
and Electron <script>document.write(process.versions.electron)</script>.
<script>
// You can also require other files to run in this process
require('./renderer.js')
</script>
</body>
</html>
Using ipc Communiation.
At your main.js
const {app, BrowserWindow, ipcMain} = require('electron')
let browserWindows = [];
function createWindow () {
// Create the browser window.
let newWindow = new BrowserWindow({
width: 800,
height: 600,
webPreferences: {
nodeIntegration: true
}
})
newWindow.loadFile('index.html')
newWindow.on('closed', function () {
newWindow = null
})
browserWindows.push(newWindow)
}
app.on('ready', createWindow)
// Quit when all windows are closed.
app.on('window-all-closed', function () {
if (process.platform !== 'darwin') {
app.quit()
}
})
ipcMain.on('createNewWindow', (evnet, args) => {
createWindow();
})
At your renderer.js
const { ipcRenderer } = require('electron')
module.exports.openWindow = event => {
ipcRenderer.send('createNewWindow', {});
}
Not using ipc.
you can create directly. Create browserWindow directly at your renderer without ipc
Communitaion. Hence you enable the node api at your renderer. So that
At your renderer.js
const {BrowserWindow} = require('electron').remote
module.exports.openWindow = event => {
const newWindow = new BrowserWindow({
width: 800,
height: 600,
webPreferences: {
nodeIntegration: true
}
})
// and load the index.html of the app.
newWindow.loadFile('index.html')
}
In this way, you don't need to change your main.js

How to access jquery from the render process inside the preload script on Electron

I configured the Node integration to false in my window because, as described in the documentation, disabling is a good practice.
I want to access the jQuery of my render process in my preload script, but I don't know How I can do this.
Is it possible to activate a modal (for example) after some event occurs in the preload script?
Link to my example code in Github: https://github.com/JhonatanRSantos/Sample

As Janith said, you don't need to use a preload script. Here is a working sample based on your Github repo :
Index.html - in HEADER part, modify like this :
<script>window.$ = window.jQuery = require('jquery');</script>
<script src="./node_modules/popper.js/dist/umd/popper.min.js"></script>
<script src="./node_modules/bootstrap/dist/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
Note that you have to use the path ./node_modules/popper.js/dist/umd/popper.min.js or you will get an error in the console (see popper.js in bootstrap 4 gives SyntaxError Unexpected token export)
Index.html - FOOTER, add :
<script src="./index.js"></script>
Rename preload.js to index.js
index.js can be :
console.log('Preload.js');
setTimeout(() => {
console.log('Open Boostrap Modal');
$('#myModal').modal('show');
}, 5000);
and finally, main.js can be :
const { app, BrowserWindow } = require('electron');
const path = require('path')
const url = require('url')
let createWindow = () => {
let win = new BrowserWindow({
width: 800,
height: 500,
center: true,
resizable: false,
show: false
});
win.setMenu(null);
const mainUrl = url.format({ // https://electronjs.org/docs/api/browser-window#winloadurlurl-options
protocol: 'file',
slashes: true,
pathname: path.join(__dirname, 'index.html')
})
win.loadURL(mainUrl);
win.once('ready-to-show', () => {
win.show();
win.webContents.openDevTools();
});
win.on('closed', () => {
win = null;
});
};
app.on('ready', createWindow);
I made a pull request to your repo to get changes.

Open link in different browser using electron-shell and ipcMain

Hi :] due to some digital certification policies in my application so I depend on the user to register a form from through the browser. I am having to implement this solution because the electron does not support extensions from Mozilla Firefox and I needed it exactly because in order for the user to send the form he must authenticate some documents about the company's ownership digitally and for this, he must select his digital certificate by the extension I mentioned above.
I've tried to run some examples present in documentation of the electron-shell but without success
My main.js
const electron = require('electron');
const app = electron.app;
const BrowserWindow = electron.BrowserWindow;
var Menu = require('menu');
var fs = require('fs');
var shell = require('shell');
var mainWindow = null;
require("babel-register")();
app.on('window-all-closed', function() {
if (process.platform != 'darwin') {
app.quit();
}
});
app.on('ready', function() {
mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
autoHideMenuBar: false,
webPreferences: {
nodeIntegration: false
},
width: 1200,
height: 750
});
var template = [
require("./server").start()
.then((app) => {
mainWindow.loadURL('http://localhost:3000');
}).catch((err) => {
});
mainWindow.openDevTools();
mainWindow.on('closed', function() {
mainWindow = null;
});
});
ipcMain.on('loadGH', (event, arg) => {
shell.openExternal(arg);
});
My front-end plugins.
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/icon?family=Material+Icons">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/materialize/0.100.2/css/materialize.min.css">
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.2.1.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/materialize/0.100.2/js/materialize.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/limonte-sweetalert2/6.9.1/sweetalert2.min.js"></script>
My instantiate the ICP module in head html
<script>
const ipc = require('electron').ipcRenderer;
</script>
Is my button which should open the Mozilla Firefox
<a class="indigo white-text btn" onclick="ipc.send('loadGH','http://google.com');"><i class="material-icons left">undo</i>OPEN BROWSER</a>
Thanks a lot for the help!