#lein-cljsnwk

Usage

Node-webkit, the popular app runtime based on Chromium and node.js, allows for native applications to be built using modern web technologies like HTML, CSS, and Javascript. This project aims to provide a turnkey template for developing node-webkit applications using Clojurescript.

This project is a work in progress and should be considered experimental etc. It has only been tested on OSX so far.

Features

• Easy configuration of loading CSS and Javascript dependencies all in Clojurescript
• Easily editable configuration for
  • node.js package for node-webkit
  • application js and CSS dependencies
  • cljsbuild configurations
• All configuration is handled initially to allow for little to no startup time to get running with node-webkit and Clojurescript
• Support for browser connected REPL to running node-webkit applications

Resources

This template is built on a few key components

• leiningen and lein-new
• node-webkit
• Clojurescript
• cljsbuild

---

Walkthrough

NOTE: This walkthrough will be based on an OSX configuration. Additional information on configuring for Linux and Windows can be found in the node-webkit documentation

##Quick Start

1. Download node-webkit binary
   • node-webkit downloads
2. Create new project using lein new cljsnwk
   • $ lein new cljsnwk my-project
3. Open project directory
   • $ cd ../my-project
4. Install node modules
   • $ npm install
5. Make runner script executable
   • $ chmod u+x my-project/script/my-project
6. Run cljsbuild
   • $ lein cljsbuild auto
7. Start browser connected REPL (optional)
8. Start node-webkit application
   • $ ./my-project/script/my-project

After steps 1-4 have been done initially, they will not be needed to run the application. For new projects, the node modules will need to be installed per project and the generated runner script made executable.

##Detailed Start

####Download binary Before running a node-webkit project the node-webkit binary must be downloaded. This can be done from the node-webkit project repository's downloads section.

On OSX, the binary should be placed in the Applications directory /Applications/node-webkit.app.

####Creating New cljsnwk Project Using lein-new, a project can be created by running

$ lein new cljsnwk my-project

This will create a new cljsnwk project with the following initial structure

• project-root
  • public
    • js
      • compiled project cljs source file
    • css
    • images
  • script
    • application run script
  • src
    • project clj/cljs source
  • test
  • app.js for browser connection
  • package.json
  • project.clj

After the project is created, cd into the root directory.

$ cd ../projects/my-project

####Install Node Modules Before this step, make sure you have installed node and/or brought it up to date. In OSX with homebrew:

$ brew install node

or to update

$ brew upgrade node

node.js dependencies are maintained in the package.json file at the root of the project. Initially, the only dependency included by cljsnwk is for serving the application locally to support REPL connection.

After creating the project the node.js dependencies can be installed with npm like so:

from project root

$ npm install

####Running Without Local Server Serving the project files on a local web server is not required for running the application. Only for connecting to the running application from a browser connected REPL. This can be changed by editing the runner script and the package.json file like so:

package.json

{
  "name": "My Project",
  "main": "http://localhost:3000/index.html",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "window": {
    "title": "{{name}}",
    "width": 1200,
    "height": 800,
    "show":   true,
    "toolbar": true,
    "resizable": true
  },
  "node-remote": "<local>",
  "devDependencies": {
    "connect" : "*"
  }
}

will change to

{
  "name": "My Project",
  "main": "index.html",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "window": {
    "title": "{{name}}",
    "width": 1200,
    "height": 800,
    "show":   true,
    "toolbar": true,
    "resizable": true
  }
}

####Make Script Executable For convenience, there is a script included to run the project as well as fire up the node.js local web server. This must first be made executable:

$ chmod u+x my-project/script/my-project

####Run cljsbuild Compile once or with file watch auto compilation:

from project root

$ lein cljsbuild once

or

$ lein cljsbuild auto

See the cljsbuild documentation for more detailed information.

####Start Browser Connected REPL NOTE: For this to work, the clojurescript from the application must call the clojure.browser.repl/connect function. This can be done manually passed as a flag in the initial configuration map in my-project/src/my_project/core.cljs

Using either the standard cljsbuild browser configuration or something like SublimeREPL (the Clojurescript Browser REPL in the most recent release), start the browser connected REPL.

#####Start node-webkit Application

Using the script, the application can be started:

$ ./project/script/my-project

This will start the node.js web server to host the files as well as start the node-webkit binary using the project.

The browser connected REPL should connect and the index.html page should now load.

##Contributions Contributions are strongly encouraged. Please feel free to form and issue pull requests etc.

License

Copyright © 2013 FIXME

Distributed under the Eclipse Public License, the same as Clojure.