179 lines
8.5 KiB
Markdown
179 lines
8.5 KiB
Markdown
# Electron Installer
|
|
|
|
[](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/electron-bot/windows-installer/branch/master)
|
|
[](https://circleci.com/gh/electron/windows-installer)
|
|
|
|
NPM module that builds Windows installers for
|
|
[Electron](https://github.com/electron/electron) apps using
|
|
[Squirrel](https://github.com/Squirrel/Squirrel.Windows).
|
|
|
|
## Installing
|
|
|
|
```sh
|
|
npm install --save-dev electron-winstaller
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
## Usage
|
|
|
|
Require the package:
|
|
|
|
```javascript
|
|
const electronInstaller = require('electron-winstaller');
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
Then do a build like so..
|
|
|
|
```javascript
|
|
// NB: Use this syntax within an async function, Node does not have support for
|
|
// top-level await as of Node 12.
|
|
try {
|
|
await electronInstaller.createWindowsInstaller({
|
|
appDirectory: '/tmp/build/my-app-64',
|
|
outputDirectory: '/tmp/build/installer64',
|
|
authors: 'My App Inc.',
|
|
exe: 'myapp.exe'
|
|
});
|
|
console.log('It worked!');
|
|
} catch (e) {
|
|
console.log(`No dice: ${e.message}`);
|
|
}
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
After running you will have an `.nupkg`, a
|
|
`RELEASES` file, and a `.exe` installer file in the `outputDirectory` folder
|
|
for each multi task target given under the config entry.
|
|
|
|
There are several configuration settings supported:
|
|
|
|
| Config Name | Required | Description |
|
|
| --------------------- | -------- | ----------- |
|
|
| `appDirectory` | Yes | The folder path of your Electron app |
|
|
| `outputDirectory` | No | The folder path to create the `.exe` installer in. Defaults to the `installer` folder at the project root. |
|
|
| `loadingGif` | No | The local path to a `.gif` file to display during install. |
|
|
| `authors` | Yes | The authors value for the nuget package metadata. Defaults to the `author` field from your app's package.json file when unspecified. |
|
|
| `owners` | No | The owners value for the nuget package metadata. Defaults to the `authors` field when unspecified. |
|
|
| `exe` | No | The name of your app's main `.exe` file. This uses the `name` field in your app's package.json file with an added `.exe` extension when unspecified. |
|
|
| `description` | No | The description value for the nuget package metadata. Defaults to the `description` field from your app's package.json file when unspecified. |
|
|
| `version` | No | The version value for the nuget package metadata. Defaults to the `version` field from your app's package.json file when unspecified. |
|
|
| `title` | No | The title value for the nuget package metadata. Defaults to the `productName` field and then the `name` field from your app's package.json file when unspecified. |
|
|
| `name` | No | Windows Application Model ID (appId). Defaults to the `name` field in your app's package.json file. |
|
|
| `certificateFile` | No | The path to an Authenticode Code Signing Certificate |
|
|
| `certificatePassword` | No | The password to decrypt the certificate given in `certificateFile` |
|
|
| `signWithParams` | No | Params to pass to signtool. Overrides `certificateFile` and `certificatePassword`. |
|
|
| `iconUrl` | No | A URL to an ICO file to use as the application icon (displayed in Control Panel > Programs and Features). Defaults to the Atom icon. |
|
|
| `setupIcon` | No | The ICO file to use as the icon for the generated Setup.exe |
|
|
| `skipUpdateIcon` | No | Disables setting the icon of `Update.exe`. This can solve installation errors with the following message: "This application could not be started", when the setup is built on a non-Windows system. |
|
|
| `setupExe` | No | The name to use for the generated Setup.exe file |
|
|
| `setupMsi` | No | The name to use for the generated Setup.msi file |
|
|
| `noMsi` | No | Should Squirrel.Windows create an MSI installer? |
|
|
| `noDelta` | No | Should Squirrel.Windows delta packages? (disable only if necessary, they are a Good Thing) |
|
|
| `remoteReleases` | No | A URL to your existing updates. If given, these will be downloaded to create delta updates |
|
|
| `remoteToken` | No | Authentication token for remote updates |
|
|
| `frameworkVersion` | No | Set the required .NET framework version, e.g. `net461` |
|
|
|
|
## Sign your installer or else bad things will happen
|
|
|
|
For development / internal use, creating installers without a signature is okay, but for a production app you need to sign your application. Internet Explorer's SmartScreen filter will block your app from being downloaded, and many anti-virus vendors will consider your app as malware unless you obtain a valid cert.
|
|
|
|
Any certificate valid for "Authenticode Code Signing" will work here, but if you get the right kind of code certificate, you can also opt-in to [Windows Error Reporting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Error_Reporting). [This MSDN page](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/hh801887.aspx) has the latest links on where to get a WER-compatible certificate. The "Standard Code Signing" certificate is sufficient for this purpose.
|
|
|
|
## Handling Squirrel Events
|
|
|
|
Squirrel will spawn your app with command line flags on first run, updates,
|
|
and uninstalls. it is **very** important that your app handle these events as _early_
|
|
as possible, and quit **immediately** after handling them. Squirrel will give your
|
|
app a short amount of time (~15sec) to apply these operations and quit.
|
|
|
|
The [electron-squirrel-startup](https://github.com/mongodb-js/electron-squirrel-startup) module will handle
|
|
the most common events for you, such as managing desktop shortcuts. Add the following to the top
|
|
of your `main.js` and you're good to go:
|
|
|
|
```javascript
|
|
if (require('electron-squirrel-startup')) return;
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
You should handle these events in your app's `main` entry point with something
|
|
such as:
|
|
|
|
```javascript
|
|
const app = require('app');
|
|
|
|
// this should be placed at top of main.js to handle setup events quickly
|
|
if (handleSquirrelEvent()) {
|
|
// squirrel event handled and app will exit in 1000ms, so don't do anything else
|
|
return;
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
function handleSquirrelEvent() {
|
|
if (process.argv.length === 1) {
|
|
return false;
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
const ChildProcess = require('child_process');
|
|
const path = require('path');
|
|
|
|
const appFolder = path.resolve(process.execPath, '..');
|
|
const rootAtomFolder = path.resolve(appFolder, '..');
|
|
const updateDotExe = path.resolve(path.join(rootAtomFolder, 'Update.exe'));
|
|
const exeName = path.basename(process.execPath);
|
|
|
|
const spawn = function(command, args) {
|
|
let spawnedProcess, error;
|
|
|
|
try {
|
|
spawnedProcess = ChildProcess.spawn(command, args, {detached: true});
|
|
} catch (error) {}
|
|
|
|
return spawnedProcess;
|
|
};
|
|
|
|
const spawnUpdate = function(args) {
|
|
return spawn(updateDotExe, args);
|
|
};
|
|
|
|
const squirrelEvent = process.argv[1];
|
|
switch (squirrelEvent) {
|
|
case '--squirrel-install':
|
|
case '--squirrel-updated':
|
|
// Optionally do things such as:
|
|
// - Add your .exe to the PATH
|
|
// - Write to the registry for things like file associations and
|
|
// explorer context menus
|
|
|
|
// Install desktop and start menu shortcuts
|
|
spawnUpdate(['--createShortcut', exeName]);
|
|
|
|
setTimeout(app.quit, 1000);
|
|
return true;
|
|
|
|
case '--squirrel-uninstall':
|
|
// Undo anything you did in the --squirrel-install and
|
|
// --squirrel-updated handlers
|
|
|
|
// Remove desktop and start menu shortcuts
|
|
spawnUpdate(['--removeShortcut', exeName]);
|
|
|
|
setTimeout(app.quit, 1000);
|
|
return true;
|
|
|
|
case '--squirrel-obsolete':
|
|
// This is called on the outgoing version of your app before
|
|
// we update to the new version - it's the opposite of
|
|
// --squirrel-updated
|
|
|
|
app.quit();
|
|
return true;
|
|
}
|
|
};
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
Notice that the first time the installer launches your app, your app will see a `--squirrel-firstrun` flag. This allows you to do things like showing up a splash screen or presenting a settings UI. Another thing to be aware of is that, since the app is spawned by squirrel and squirrel acquires a file lock during installation, you won't be able to successfully check for app updates till a few seconds later when squirrel releases the lock.
|
|
|
|
## Debugging this package
|
|
|
|
You can get debug messages from this package by running with the environment variable `DEBUG=electron-windows-installer:main` e.g.
|
|
|
|
```shell
|
|
DEBUG=electron-windows-installer:main node tasks/electron-winstaller.js
|
|
```
|