Building a Desktop App using Svelte and Electron

I watched a talk the other day by Felix Riesberg who talked about using JavaScript and Electron to build desktop apps and it inspired me to see how easy using Svelte would be. Turns out it is super easy, and just works out of the box!

If you just want a starter template to make your app without reading the blogpost, I created a template here.

This blogpost will walk you through creating a basic markdown editor for the desktop using Svelte and Electron. We will be able to edit markdown files and see a side-by-side preview as well as Open Files, Create New Files and Save Files using the Electron API and NodeJS.

You can see a gif of the finished product on my blog: https://joshuaj.co.uk/building-desktop-app-svelte-electron

Let's get started!

Getting Setup 🐣

1. Clone the Svelte template: npx degit sveltejs/template svelte-markdown-editor

2. CD into the new directory and run npm install to install Svelte dependencies.

3. Run npm install electron marked which will install Electron and then the marked library which we will use to convert our markdown into HTML.

4. In the root of the project, create a main.js file, this will be our Electron entry point.

5. Inside of the package.json, change the start script from "sirv public" to "npm run build && electron main.js" which will build the Svelte app and then tell Electron to run it.

6. Edit the public/index.html file so that all paths have a . infront of them. EG: /build/bundle.css becomes ./build/bundle.css. Electron won't be able to find these files otherwise.

7. Finally, add the following meta tag to the head of the index.html file: <meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';" />. This won't cause us any issues for this small application, but we will get a warning in our console if not.
   Read more about this here

Connecting Svelte with Electron 🖇️

Now we have the boilerplate setup, let's connect our Svelte app with Electron by returning to the main.js file we previously created.

A basic Electron app consists of an app and a BrowserWindow so let's import these:

const { app, BrowserWindow } = require("electron");

The app is what we use to handle the lifecycle of the application and the BrowserWindow is the actual window that will render our Svelte app.

Start by creating a new BrowserWindow once the application is ready and quitting the app once all windows are closed:

app.whenReady().then(() => {
  const mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
    width: 800,
    height: 600,
    webPreferences: {
      nodeIntegration: true
    }
  });
});

app.on("window-all-closed", () => {
  app.quit();
});

Note we set nodeIntegration to true, this allows us to use NodeJS code within our Svelte files.

and then, underneath where you created your BrowserWindow, tell it to open the index.html file that Svelte outputs when built:

mainWindow.loadFile("./public/index.html");

Now, if you run npm start, a window should open showing the basic Hello World Svelte app.

Creating a Basic Markdown Editor 📝

Before we implement the ability to open, save and create new files using the Electron API, let's remove the Svelte boilerplate and implement a basic Markdown editor.

In the src/main.js file, remove the props argument:

const app = new App({
  target: document.body
});

Next, create a component called Editor.svelte:

<script>
export let markdown = "";
</script>

<style>
    section {
        width: 100%;
        min-height: 95vh;
        border: 0.1rem solid #333;
        flex: 1.5;
    }

    textarea {
        width: 100%;
        height: 100%;
        min-height: 95vh;
        resize: none;
        margin: 0;
        border: none;
    }
</style>

<section>
    <!-- svelte-ignore a11y-autofocus -->
    <textarea bind:value={markdown} autofocus/>
</section>

This component takes a prop called markdown and binds it to a text area so that the markdown variable automatically updates when our text area is updated. We also autofocus the text area and remove the accessiblity warning as our application only has one input and it is the main focus of the application.

and then create a component called Preview.svelte:

<script>
    import marked from "marked";
    export let markdown = "";
</script>

<style>
    section {
        width: 100%;
        min-height: 95vh;
        margin-left: 0.5rem;
        padding: 0.2rem;
        flex: 2;
        background-color: #f5f5f5;
    }

    section :global(*) {
        word-break: break-word;
        white-space: pre-wrap;
    }
</style>

<section>
    {@html marked(markdown)}
</section>

This component takes some markdown text, and then uses the marked library to convert it to html. We then directly output this onto the page using the Svelte {@html} tag.

There's nothing fancy with any of the styling, you'll note we use :global(*) to target everything under our section. This is because we want to target all of the HTML under the section but Svelte thinks that no HTML exists (because it is dynamically generated) so we would get the css-unused-selector warning if we just used *.

In the App.svelte file replace everything with:

<script>
  import Editor from "./Editor.svelte";
  import Preview from "./Preview.svelte";

  let markdown = "# You can enter markdown here\n\n**This text is bold**\n\n_This text is italic_";

  let activeFilePath;
</script>

<style>
main {
    display: flex;
    flex-direction: column;
}

.file-path {
    font-weight: bold;
}

.editor-and-preview {
    display: flex;
    flex-direction: row;
}
</style>

<main>
    <p class="file-path">
        {activeFilePath ? activeFilePath : "Press 'Save' or hit 'CTRL + S' to save"}
    </p>

    <div class="editor-and-preview">
      <Editor bind:markdown />
      <Preview {markdown} />
    </div>
</main>

Here we store a markdown variable and tell Svelte to bind it to whatever the value of markdown is inside of the Editor component which we know is bound to the text area input. So whatever we type is stored inside markdown which we then pass into the Preview component to be rendered as HTML.

We also store an activeFilePath variable, which we will use later on to show which file is open in the editor, for now, whilst no file path exists, just show the user a message telling them how to save.

Now if you run npm start you should have a usable markdown editor with a live updating preview.

Saving Files with Electron 💾

Now we can write our markdown, let's give the user the ability to save what they've written.

In the App.svelte file, import the ipcRenderer which will allow us to both listen for messages from Electron as well as send messages to Electron:

const { ipcRenderer } = require("electron");

Inside the same script tag, let's use the ipcRenderer to listen for a "savefile" message (the message name can be anything you want), we will eventually send this message from Electron when the user clicks a menu item or uses CTRL + S.

ipcRenderer.on("savefile", () => {

});

Inside of this function, we want to first check if there is an activeFilePath and if there is, we want to send a message to Electron telling it to save the content inside of the markdown variable to the file at the activeFilePath and if there isn't, we want to send a message telling Electron to ask the user where the file should be saved.

This looks like the following:

ipcRenderer.on("savefile", () => {
    if (activeFilePath) {
      ipcRenderer.send("saveexistingfile", {
        path: activeFilePath,
        content: markdown
      });
    } else {
      ipcRenderer.send("savenewfile", markdown);
    }
  });

This won't do anything yet, as we haven't implemented the corresponding message listeners and functionality in our main process (main process is what I have been calling "Electron"). Let's do that next, starting with saving a new file.

In the main.js file, import Menu, MenuItem, ipcMain and dialog from electron and fs from the nodejs standard library:

const {
  app,
  BrowserWindow,
  Menu,
  MenuItem,
  ipcMain,
  dialog
} = require("electron");

const fs = require("fs");

next, create a function called createNewFile inside of the app.whenReady().then callback that takes a string, this function should open a dialog box to ask the user to name a file and select a location to which it should be saved and then save the file at that location, with that name containing the string provided.

*Documentation for dialog can be found at https://www.electronjs.org/docs/api/dialog

Inside of the app.whenReady().then callback:

const createNewFile = content => {
    dialog.showSaveDialog(mainWindow, {
        title: "Create New File",
        properties: ["showOverwriteConfirmation"],
        filters: [
          {
            name: "Markdown Files",
            extensions: ["md"]
          }
        ]
      })
      .then(({ canceled, filePath }) => {
        if (canceled) return;

        fs.writeFile(filePath, content, err => {
          if (err) return;
        });
      });
  };

In the code above, we use Electron.dialog to open a save dialog that will only save (and show) markdown files and then, if the user didn't close the dialog, we use the fs module to write the file to the file path they selected.

Now we have the function, let's setup the code to call it when we receive a "savenewfile" message.

In the same place, write the following code:

ipcMain.on("savenewfile", (e, content) => {
    createNewFile(content);
  });

There's one last step before we can save a new file, if you remember, the message listener above only triggers when our Svelte app sends a "savenewfile" message, which can only be sent when our Svelte app receives a "savefile" message. So we must send a "savefile" message from Electron when the user selects save from the menu or hits CTRL + S.

You do this by creating a new Menu inside of the app.whenReady().then callback and then adding MenuItem objects to it like so:

const menu = new Menu();

menu.append(
    new MenuItem({
      label: "Save",
      accelerator: "CmdOrCtrl+S",
      click: () => mainWindow.webContents.send("savefile")
    })
  );

Here we are saying, when CTRL + S is pressed, or our menu item with the label "Save" is clicked, send a message to the BrowserWindow (our Svelte app) with the name "savefile".

One last thing, we must set our Menu as the ApplicationMenu like so:

Menu.setApplicationMenu(menu);

Now if you run npm start, type some markdown, and then hit CTRL + S (or the menu item). You should see a save dialog and when you enter a name and click save, your file should now have saved to the directory you chose.

The next part is adding the message listener for when we want to save an existing file. In the same place as the previous one, add the following:

ipcMain.on("saveexistingfile", (e, { path, content }) => {
    fs.writeFile(path, content, err => {
      if (err) return;
    });
});

This just uses the fs module to create a new file at an existing path which will overwrite the existing file with the new contents.

If this is confusing, here's a diagram showing how messages flow between the Renderer process (our Svelte App) and the Main process (Electron):

(Open in new tab for fullscreen view)

You can also read more about the Renderer and Main processes here

Next we will add the ability to open/save an existing file, or to create a new one using the menu.

Opening/Saving Existing Files 📂 💾

This works in much the same way, I would say even easier!

Start by, in the App.svelte file, creating a new message listener that listens for a "fileopened" message that contains a file path and the content inside of the file. When we get this message, update the variables so that Svelte will update our HTML:

ipcRenderer.on("fileopened", (e, { path, content }) => {
    activeFilePath = path;
    markdown = content;
});

and then in the main.js file, in the same place as the createNewFile function, create a openFile function that will present the user with similar dialog but for choosing an existing file:

const openFile = () => {
    const file = dialog.showOpenDialogSync(mainWindow, {
      properties: ["openFile"],
      filters: [{ name: "Markdown Files", extensions: ["md"] }]
    });

    if (file) {
      fs.readFile(file[0], "utf8", (err, data) => {
        if (err) return;

        mainWindow.webContents.send("fileopened", {
          path: file[0],
          content: data
        });
      });
    }
};

We get the user's selection, read the file and file path and then send a "fileopened" message to our Svelte app. Whilst we're at it, let's also send a "fileopened" message in the createNewFile function so that when we save the new file, it updates the activeFilePath:

...})
      .then(({ canceled, filePath }) => {
        if (canceled) return;

        fs.writeFile(filePath, content, err => {
          if (err) return;

          mainWindow.webContents.send("fileopened", {
            path: filePath,
            content
          });
        });
      });

Next, let's add a menu item and keyboard shortcut for opening files:

menu.append(
    new MenuItem({
      label: "Open",
      accelerator: "CmdOrCtrl+O",
      click: openFile
    })
);

Now if you run npm start, you should be able to click the "open" button in the menu or hit CTRL + O and be presented with a file browser dialog. If you select an existing markdown file, it should open in the editor. We're pretty much there!

Finally, add a new menu item that will create a new markdown file with some template content:

menu.append(
    new MenuItem({
      label: "Create New File",
      accelerator: "CmdOrCtrl+N",
      click: () =>
        createNewFile(
          "# You can enter markdown here\n\n**This text is bold**\n\n_This text is italic_"
        )
    })
);

🎉 You should now have a working markdown editor!

Building for your current platform 🏗️

To package the app, we can use a CLI tool called electron-packager

1. First start by installing the package locally: npm install electron-packager --save-dev

2. Then remove the sirv-cli package from the package.json file (we don't need this for an electron app).

3. Move the electron package into the devDependencies

4. Add a "main" property to the package json that points to the entry file: "main": "./main.js"

5. Add a "productName" property to the package json: "productName": "markdown-editor"

6. Add a "package" script to the scripts: "package": "npm install && npm run build && electron-packager ."

7. Run npm run package to build your electron app for your current platform

This will create a folder with your executable in (on windows) and the relevant files if on mac os. You can check out the electron-packager docs here for more information.

Conclusion

With very little code we've managed to build a very basic markdown editor using Svelte and Electron. This blogpost was really just a whistle-stop tour of how to get started, if you want to properly make something, please use the official Electron docs or more indepth tutorials.

Some Extra Notes

• We used the Electron and Node APIs by sending messages between the Renderer process (Svelte) and the Main process (Electron). An alternative to this is to use the Electron and Node APIs directly in our Svelte files.

• This was my first experiment with Electron, please take this guide/tutorial as more of an intro to how it could be used and not how it should be used.

PS: I will be giving a really short lightning talk on this in March at the Svelte London Meetup.