I am struggling with incorporating ipcRenderer into the 'frontend' code of my electron app. Although I found examples in the documentation that use require, this method is not accessible on the frontend side where I am utilizing Angular.
In the electron docs - https://www.electronjs.org/docs/tutorial/process-model#preload-scripts - there is an example demonstrating how to connect variables from the main process to the renderer process window. However, when attempting to utilize these attached variables, they return as undefined.
main.js
function createWindow() {
win = new BrowserWindow({
width: 800,
height: 600,
backgroundColor: "#ffffff",
preload: './preload.js'
});
win.loadFile('dist/foobar/index.html') // I get index.html after building angular code
win.on("closed", () => {
win = null;
});
}
app.on("ready", createWindow);
preload.js
const { contextBridge, ipcRenderer } = require("electron");
contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld("ipcRenderer", {ipcRenderer}); //exposing ipcRenderer to the window in renderer process
electron service (angular code)
import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
@Injectable({
providedIn: 'root'
})
export class ElectronService {
constructor() { }
getIpcRenderer(){
return (<any>window).ipcRenderer;
}
}
angular component
export class FoobarComponent {
constructor(private es: ElectronService) {}
test(){
console.log(this.es.getIpcRenderer()); // this logs as undefined
}
}
The Issue at Hand
In the provided code snippet, the test() function outputs undefined. Why does window.ipcRenderer remain undefined? Even after running console.log(window), IPC renderer cannot be located within the list of properties.
Is there a more effective manner to expose ipcRenderer to my Angular code? As mentioned in the linked document,
This feature is incredibly useful for two main purposes:
- By exposing ipcRenderer helpers to the renderer, you can use inter-process communication (IPC)
to trigger main process tasks from the renderer (and vice-versa).- [...]
I believe that contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld is the optimal approach based on the documentation, but please advise if this is outdated or if there exists a better alternative.
My Electron App Execution Process
- I compile Angular code using
ng build --prod - I launch the electron app by executing
electron .(main.js serves as the entry point)