electron-reload
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Simplest way to reload an electron app on file changes!
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# electron reload
This is (*hopefully*) the simplest way to load contents of all active [`BrowserWindow`s](https://github.com/atom/electron/blob/master/docs/api/browser-window.md) within electron when the source files are changed.
[](https://travis-ci.org/yan-foto/electron-reload)
[](https://github.com/yan-foto/neutron)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/electron-reload)
[](https://codeclimate.com/github/yan-foto/electron-reload)
[](https://snyk.io/test/github/yan-foto/electron-reload)
# Installation
```
npm install electron-reload
```
# Usage
Just initialize this module with desired glob or file path to watch and let it refresh electron browser windows as targets are changed:
```js
'use strict';
const {app, BrowserWindow} = require('electron');
const electronReload = require('electron-reload')
// Standard stuff
app.on('ready', () => {
let mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({width: 800, height: 600});
mainWindow.loadUrl(`file://${__dirname}/index.html`);
// the rest...
});
```
Note that the above code only refreshes `WebContent`s of all `BrowserWindow`s. So if you want to have a hard reset (starting a new electron process) you can just pass the path to the electron executable in the `options` object:
```js
const path = require('path')
require('electron-reload')(__dirname, {
electron: path.join(__dirname, 'node_modules', '.bin', 'electron')
});
```
If your app overrides some of the default `quit` or `close` actions (e.g. closing the last app window hides the window instead of quitting the app) then the default `electron-reload` hard restart could leave you with multiple instances of your app running. In these cases you can change the default hard restart action from `app.quit()` to `app.exit()` by specifying the hard reset method in the electron-reload options:
```js
const path = require('path')
require('electron-reload')(__dirname, {
electron: path.join(__dirname, 'node_modules', '.bin', 'electron'),
hardResetMethod: 'exit'
});
```
# API
`electron_reload(paths, options)`
* `paths`: a file, directory or glob pattern to watch
* `options` (optional) containing:
- [`chokidar`](https://github.com/paulmillr/chokidar) options
- `electron` property pointing to electron executables.
- `electronArgv` string array with command line options passed to the Electron executable. Only used when hard resetting.
- `appArgv`: string array with command line options passed to the Electron app. Only used when hard resetting.
- `forceHardReset`: enables hard reset for **every** file change and not only the main file
`options` will default to `{ignored: /node_modules|[\/\\]\./, argv: []}`.
# Why this module?
Simply put, I was tired and confused by all other available modules which are so complicated\* for such an uncomplicated task!
\* *e.g. start a local HTTP server, publish change events through a WebSocket, etc.!*
# Even more!
If you want to have least effort when developing electron packages, take a look at [neutron](https://github.com/yan-foto/neutron)!
# Changelog
- **2.0.0-alpha.1**:
- Update outdated dependencies.
- Fix #35: throw error instead of logging to console.
- Fix #65: add TypeScript definitions.
- Fix #78: minor README fixes.
- Fix #87: enable passing arguments to the app itself.
- **1.5.0**:
- Upgrade `chokidar` from v2 to v3 (lighter/faster installation)
- Add friendly linting in dev mode (`node run lint`) and fix CI linting issues (see [#62](https://github.com/yan-foto/electron-reload/pull/62))
- **1.4.1**: Fix two minor bugs
- Wrong globbing when doing hard reset ([`#58`](https://github.com/yan-foto/electron-reload/issues/58))
- Issues with locating main file in specific project structures ([`#57`](https://github.com/yan-foto/electron-reload/issues/57))
- **1.4.0**: Enable hard reset for all changes (and not only the main file)
- **1.3.0**: Allow passing arguments to electron executable upon hard resets
- **1.2.5**: Upgrade dependencies (fix vulnerabilities)
- **1.2.4**: Use `index.js` as fallback if `main` is not defined in `package.json`
- **1.2.3**: Fix multiple instances on restart
- **1.2.2**: Fix `browserWindows[]` indexing
- **1.2.1**: Remove logging from production code (d'oh)
- **1.2.0**: Allow hard reset in multiple browser windows
- **1.1.0**: Add `app.exit()` in addition to `app.quit()` for hard resets
- **1.0.3**: Fix hard reset bug
- **1.0.2**: Detach child so that killing parent doesn't kill it (on windows)
- **1.0.1**: Replace `extend` with `Object.assign`
- **1.0.0**: Adapt to Electron 1.0 new API
- **0.3.0**: Use new method of accessing `app` (e.g. `require(electron).app`)
- **0.2.0**: Use new electrons (> v0.32.3) `browser-window-created` event