Reworked as npm workspaces

[cawa-93]

Project was restructured. Now all package IS actually independent packages. Each may contain it's own dependencies, building pipeline, linters, tests etc.

Each package is accessed through its name:

// entry-point.js

import {initApp} from '@vite-electron-builder/main';

initApp();

  const browserWindow = new BrowserWindow({
    webPreferences: {
      preload: resolve('@vite-electron-builder/preload'),
    },
  });

await browserWindow.loadFile(resolve('@vite-electron-builder/renderer'));

Note

Importing preload into renderer will quietly throw all the data through the electron.contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld(), so you don't need to worry about it.

---

This also opens up the possibility to put any logic in separate packages and share them across all app.

// somewhere
import { something } from '@vite-electron-builder/some-shared-package-in-workspace';

something('do stuff');

---

After this changes structure of compiled app changed. Now all packages copied into node_modules and importer from it.

app/
├── node_modules/
│   └── workspace-packages/
│       ├── package-a/
│       ├── package-b/
│       ├── package-c/
│       └── package-d/
├── packages/
│   └── entry-point.js
└── package.json

But this lead to a few pitfalls.

By default, electron-builder copies each package into the output compilation entirety,
including the source code, tests, configuration, assets, and any other files.

So you may get compiled app structure like this:

app/
├── node_modules/
│   └── workspace-packages/
│       ├── package-a/
│       │   ├── src/            # Garbage. May be safely removed
│       │   ├── dist/
│       │   │   └── index.js    # Runtime code
│       │   ├── vite.config.js  # Garbage
│       │   ├── .env            # some sensitive config
│       │   └── package.json
│       ├── package-b/
│       ├── package-c/
│       └── package-d/
├── packages/
│   └── entry-point.js
└── package.json

That's why I introduced a new requirement:

Important

Each sub-package MUST define files property in it's package.json where explicitly describe what should be included into final app.

So if package-a in its package.json describes

{
  "name": "package-a",
  "files": [
    "dist/**\/"
  ]
}

Then in the compilation only those files and package.json will be included:

app/
├── node_modules/
│   └── workspace-packages/
│       ├── package-a/
│       │   ├── dist/
│       │   │   └── index.js    # Runtime code
│       │   └── package.json
│       ├── package-b/
│       ├── package-c/
│       └── package-d/
├── packages/
│   └── entry-point.js
└── package.json