asticode/go-astilectron — a backend project — sits at 4.9k GitHub stars in the Backend space. Build cross platform GUI apps with GO and HTML/JS/CSS (powered by Electron)
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Thanks to go-astilectron build cross platform GUI apps with GO and HTML/JS/CSS. It is the official GO bindings of astilectron and is powered by Electron.
Warning
This project is not maintained anymore.
Demo
To see a minimal Astilectron app, checkout out the demo.
It uses the bootstrap and the bundler.
If you're looking for a minimalistic example, run go run example/main.go -v.
Real-life examples
Here's a list of awesome projects using go-astilectron (if you're using go-astilectron and want your project to be listed here please submit a PR):
go-astivid Video tools written in GO
GroupMatcher Program to allocate persons to groups while trying to fulfill all the given wishes as good as possible
Stellite GUI Miner An easy to use GUI cryptocurrency miner for Stellite
Bootstrap
For convenience purposes, a bootstrap has been implemented.
The bootstrap allows you to quickly create a one-window application.
There's no obligation to use it, but it's strongly recommended.
If you decide to use it, read thoroughly the documentation as you'll have to structure your project in a specific way.
Bundler
Still for convenience purposes, a bundler has been implemented.
The bundler allows you to bundle your app for every os/arch combinations and get a nice set of files to send your users.
Quick start
WARNING: the code below doesn't handle errors for readibility purposes. However you SHOULD!
Import go-astilectron
To import go-astilectron run:
$ go get -u github.com/asticode/go-astilectron
Start go-astilectron
// Initialize astilectron
var a, _ = astilectron.New(log.New(os.Stderr, "", 0), astilectron.Options{
AppName: "<your app name>",
AppIconDefaultPath: "<your .png icon>", // If path is relative, it must be relative to the data directory
AppIconDarwinPath: "<your .icns icon>", // Same here
BaseDirectoryPath: "<where you want the provisioner to install the dependencies>",
VersionAstilectron: "<version of Astilectron to utilize such as `0.33.0`>",
VersionElectron: "<version of Electron to utilize such as `4.0.1` | `6.1.2`>",
})
defer a.Close()
// Start astilectron
a.Start()
// Blocking pattern
a.Wait()
For everything to work properly we need to fetch 2 dependencies : astilectron and Electron. .Start() takes care of it by downloading the sources and setting them up properly.
In case you want to embed the sources in the binary to keep a unique binary you can use the NewDisembedderProvisioner function to get the proper Provisioner and attach it to go-astilectron with .SetProvisioner(p Provisioner). Or you can use the bootstrap and the bundler. Check out the demo to see how to use them.
Beware when trying to add your own app icon as you'll need 2 icons : one compatible with MacOSX (.icns) and one compatible with the rest (.png for instance).
If no BaseDirectoryPath is provided, it defaults to the executable's directory path.
The majority of methods are asynchronous which means that when executing them go-astilectron will block until it receives a specific Electron event or until the overall context is cancelled. This is the case of .Start() which will block until it receives the app.event.readyastilectron event or until the overall context is cancelled.
HTML paths
NB! All paths in HTML (and Javascript) must be relative, otherwise the files will not be found.
To make this happen in React for example, just set the homepage property of your package.json to "./".
{ "homepage": "./" }
Create a window
// Create a new window
var w, _ = a.NewWindow("http://127.0.0.1:4000", &astilectron.WindowOptions{
Center: astikit.BoolPtr(true),
Height: astikit.IntPtr(600),
Width: astikit.IntPtr(600),
})
w.Create()
When creating a window you need to indicate a URL as well as options such as position, size, etc.
This is pretty straightforward except the astilectron.Ptr* methods so let me explain: GO doesn't do optional fields when json encoding unless you use pointers whereas Electron does handle optional fields. Therefore I added helper methods to convert int, bool and string into pointers and used pointers in structs sent to Electron.
Open the dev tools
When developing in JS, it's very convenient to debug your code using the browser window's dev tools:
// Open dev tools
w.OpenDevTools()
// Close dev tools
w.CloseDevTools()
Add listeners
// Add a listener on Astilectron
a.On(astilectron.EventNameAppCrash, func(e astilectron.Event) (deleteListener bool) {
log.Println("App has crashed")
return
})
// Add a listener on the window
w.On(astilectron.EventNameWindowEventResize, func(e astilectron.Event) (deleteListener bool) {
log.Println("Window resized")
return
})
Nothing much to say here either except that you can add listeners to Astilectron as well.
Play with the window
// Play with the window
w.Resize(200, 200)
time.Sleep(time.Second)
w.Maximize()
Check out the Window doc for a list of all exported methods
Send messages from GO to Javascript
Javascript
// This will wait for the astilectron namespace to be ready
document.addEventListener('astilectron-ready', function() {
// This will listen to messages sent by GO
astilectron.onMessage(function(message) {
// Process message
if (message === "hello") {
return "world";
}
});
})
GO
// This will send a message and execute a callback
// Callbacks are optional
w.SendMessage("hello", func(m *astilectron.EventMessage) {
// Unmarshal
var s string
m.Unmarshal(&s)
// Process message
log.Printf("received %s\n", s)
})
This will print received world in the GO output
Send messages from Javascript to GO
GO
// This will listen to messages sent by Javascript
w.OnMessage(func(m *astilectron.EventMessage) interface{} {
// Unmarshal
var s string
m.Unmarshal(&s)
// Process message
if s == "hello" {
return "world"
}
return nil
})
Javascript
// This will wait for the astilectron namespace to be ready
document.addEventListener('astilectron-ready', function() {
// This will send a message to GO
astilectron.sendMessage("hello", function(message) {
console.log("received " + message)
});
})
This will print "received world" in the Javascript output
// If several displays, move the window to the second display
var displays = a.Displays()
if len(displays) > 1 {
time.Sleep(time.Second)
w.MoveInDisplay(displays[1], 50, 50)
}
Menus
// Init a new app menu
// You can do the same thing with a window
var m = a.NewMenu([]*astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
{
Label: astikit.StrPtr("Separator"),
SubMenu: []*astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Normal 1")},
{
Label: astikit.StrPtr("Normal 2"),
OnClick: func(e astilectron.Event) (deleteListener bool) {
log.Println("Normal 2 item has been clicked")
return
},
},
{Type: astilectron.MenuItemTypeSeparator},
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Normal 3")},
},
},
{
Label: astikit.StrPtr("Checkbox"),
SubMenu: []*astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
{Checked: astikit.BoolPtr(true), Label: astikit.StrPtr("Checkbox 1"), Type: astilectron.MenuItemTypeCheckbox},
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Checkbox 2"), Type: astilectron.MenuItemTypeCheckbox},
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Checkbox 3"), Type: astilectron.MenuItemTypeCheckbox},
},
},
{
Label: astikit.StrPtr("Radio"),
SubMenu: []*astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
{Checked: astikit.BoolPtr(true), Label: astikit.StrPtr("Radio 1"), Type: astilectron.MenuItemTypeRadio},
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Radio 2"), Type: astilectron.MenuItemTypeRadio},
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Radio 3"), Type: astilectron.MenuItemTypeRadio},
},
},
{
Label: astikit.StrPtr("Roles"),
SubMenu: []*astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Minimize"), Role: astilectron.MenuItemRoleMinimize},
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Close"), Role: astilectron.MenuItemRoleClose},
},
},
})
// Retrieve a menu item
// This will retrieve the "Checkbox 1" item
mi, _ := m.Item(1, 0)
// Add listener manually
// An OnClick listener has already been added in the options directly for another menu item
mi.On(astilectron.EventNameMenuItemEventClicked, func(e astilectron.Event) bool {
log.Printf("Menu item has been clicked. 'Checked' status is now %t\n", *e.MenuItemOptions.Checked)
return false
})
// Create the menu
m.Create()
// Manipulate a menu item
mi.SetChecked(true)
// Init a new menu item
var ni = m.NewItem(&astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
Label: astikit.StrPtr("Inserted"),
SubMenu: []*astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Inserted 1")},
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Inserted 2")},
},
})
// Insert the menu item at position "1"
m.Insert(1, ni)
// Fetch a sub menu
s, _ := m.SubMenu(0)
// Init a new menu item
ni = s.NewItem(&astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
Label: astikit.StrPtr("Appended"),
SubMenu: []*astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Appended 1")},
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Appended 2")},
},
})
// Append menu item dynamically
s.Append(ni)
// Pop up sub menu as a context menu
s.Popup(&astilectron.MenuPopupOptions{PositionOptions: astilectron.PositionOptions{X: astikit.IntPtr(50), Y: astikit.IntPtr(50)}})
// Close popup
s.ClosePopup()
// Destroy the menu
m.Destroy()
A few things to know:
when assigning a role to a menu item, go-astilectron won't be able to capture its click event
on MacOS there's no such thing as a window menu, only app menus therefore my advice is to stick to one global app menu instead of creating separate window menus
on MacOS MenuItem without SubMenu is not displayed
Tray
// New tray
var t = a.NewTray(&astilectron.TrayOptions{
Image: astikit.StrPtr("/path/to/image.png"),
Tooltip: astikit.StrPtr("Tray's tooltip"),
})
// Create tray
t.Create()
// New tray menu
var m = t.NewMenu([]*astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
{
Label: astikit.StrPtr("Root 1"),
SubMenu: []*astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Item 1")},
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Item 2")},
{Type: astilectron.MenuItemTypeSeparator},
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Item 3")},
},
},
{
Label: astikit.StrPtr("Root 2"),
SubMenu: []*astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Item 1")},
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Item 2")},
},
},
})
// Create the menu
m.Create()
// Change tray's image
time.Sleep(time.Second)
t.SetImage("/path/to/image-2.png")
Notifications
// Create the notification
var n = a.NewNotification(&astilectron.NotificationOptions{
Body: "My Body",
HasReply: astikit.BoolPtr(true), // Only MacOSX
Icon: "/path/to/icon",
ReplyPlaceholder: "type your reply here", // Only MacOSX
Title: "My title",
})
// Add listeners
n.On(astilectron.EventNameNotificationEventClicked, func(e astilectron.Event) (deleteListener bool) {
log.Println("the notification has been clicked!")
return
})
// Only for MacOSX
n.On(astilectron.EventNameNotificationEventReplied, func(e astilectron.Event) (deleteListener bool) {
log.Printf("the user has replied to the notification: %s\n", e.Reply)
return
})
// Create notification
n.Create()
// Show notification
n.Show()
Dock (MacOSX only)
// Get the dock
var d = a.Dock()
// Hide and show the dock
d.Hide()
d.Show()
// Make the Dock bounce
id, _ := d.Bounce(astilectron.DockBounceTypeCritical)
// Cancel the bounce
d.CancelBounce(id)
// Update badge and icon
d.SetBadge("test")
d.SetIcon("/path/to/icon")
// New dock menu
var m = d.NewMenu([]*astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
{
Label: astikit.StrPtr("Root 1"),
SubMenu: []*astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Item 1")},
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Item 2")},
{Type: astilectron.MenuItemTypeSeparator},
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Item 3")},
},
},
{
Label: astikit.StrPtr("Root 2"),
SubMenu: []*astilectron.MenuItemOptions{
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Item 1")},
{Label: astikit.StrPtr("Item 2")},
},
},
})
// Create the menu
m.Create()
Global Shortcuts
Registering a global shortcut.
// Register a new global shortcut
isRegistered, _ := a.GlobalShortcuts().Register("CmdOrCtrl+x", func() {
fmt.Println("CmdOrCtrl+x is pressed")
})
fmt.Println("CmdOrCtrl+x is registered:", isRegistered) // true
// Check if a global shortcut is registered
isRegistered, _ = a.GlobalShortcuts().IsRegistered("Shift+Y") // false
// Unregister a global shortcut
a.GlobalShortcuts().Unregister("CmdOrCtrl+x")
// Unregister all global shortcuts
a.GlobalShortcuts().UnregisterAll()
Dialogs
Add the following line at the top of your javascript file :
const { dialog } = require('electron').remote
Use the available methods.
Basic auth
// Listen to login events
w.OnLogin(func(i astilectron.Event) (username, password string, err error) {
// Process the request and auth info
if i.Request.Method == "GET" && i.AuthInfo.Scheme == "http://" {
username = "username"
password = "password"
}
return
})
How active is development on asticode/go-astilectron?
The most recent commit recorded on asticode/go-astilectron was 2.5 years ago, based on the GitHub push timestamp. The repository has 342 forks — one of the better signals of community interest.
How does asticode/go-astilectron compare to other Backend projects?
asticode/go-astilectron is tracked by TopGit in the Backend category, with 4.9k GitHub stars and written in Go. Browse the Backend topic page on TopGit to compare it against similar projects by stars and activity.
How many stars does asticode/go-astilectron have?
asticode/go-astilectron has 4.9k GitHub stars — refresh the page for the live number, or check github.com/asticode/go-astilectron. TopGit mirrors GitHub's count but does not claim minute-by-minute accuracy.
What is asticode/go-astilectron?
asticode/go-astilectron (asticode/go-astilectron) is a Go project on GitHub. From the project's own README: Build cross platform GUI apps with GO and HTML/JS/CSS (powered by Electron)
What language is asticode/go-astilectron written in?
asticode/go-astilectron is written primarily in Go. GitHub's language field is based on the largest share of bytes in the default branch.
What topics is asticode/go-astilectron associated with?
GitHub's repository topics for asticode/go-astilectron: "cross-platform", "desktop-app", "electron", "go", "golang", "gui". TopGit's editorial category is Backend.
Why is asticode/go-astilectron categorized under Backend?
TopGit places asticode/go-astilectron in the Backend category based on its GitHub topics and description (tagged: "cross-platform", "desktop-app", "electron"). Categories are assigned from real repository metadata, not editorial guesswork.
Read full README in the tab above.
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