NeutralinoJS: Lightweight Electron alternative using native browser controls

#1

Post by api » Wed, Feb 26, 2020, 2:06 PM UTC

NeutralinoJS: Lightweight Electron alternative using native browser controls
neutralino.js.org

Re: NeutralinoJS: Lightweight Electron alternative using native browser controls

#2

Post by mwexler » Wed, Feb 26, 2020, 2:34 PM UTC

Surprised not to see the license clearly on the site, but it's under MIT License: https://github.com/neutralinojs/neutralinojs/blob/master/LIC...

Re: NeutralinoJS: Lightweight Electron alternative using native browser controls

#3

Post by antoineMoPa » Wed, Feb 26, 2020, 2:35 PM UTC

So if I understand right, what makes this lighter than electron is the fact that only webkit2 is used instead of embedding the whole chromium app.

Re: NeutralinoJS: Lightweight Electron alternative using native browser controls

#4

Post by ecmascript » Wed, Feb 26, 2020, 2:37 PM UTC

Looks great, I will definitely try it!

Re: NeutralinoJS: Lightweight Electron alternative using native browser controls

#5

Post by jacobush » Wed, Feb 26, 2020, 2:37 PM UTC

antoineMoPa wrote: post #3

So if I understand right, what makes this lighter than electron is the fact that only webkit2 is used instead of embedding the whole chromium app.

I don't understand, it seems like it runs in any browser? Are they using webkit2 as a replacement for node and the system browser for the GUI?

Re: NeutralinoJS: Lightweight Electron alternative using native browser controls

#6

Post by hellofunk » Wed, Feb 26, 2020, 2:39 PM UTC

jacobush wrote: post #5

antoineMoPa wrote: post #3

So if I understand right, what makes this lighter than electron is the fact that only webkit2 is used instead of embedding the whole chromium app.

I don't understand, it seems like it runs in any browser? Are they using webkit2 as a replacement for node and the system browser for the GUI?

I agree that they really need to explain this better on their site somewhere.

Re: NeutralinoJS: Lightweight Electron alternative using native browser controls

#7

Post by antoineMoPa » Wed, Feb 26, 2020, 2:46 PM UTC

jacobush wrote: post #5

antoineMoPa wrote: post #3

So if I understand right, what makes this lighter than electron is the fact that only webkit2 is used instead of embedding the whole chromium app.

I don't understand, it seems like it runs in any browser? Are they using webkit2 as a replacement for node and the system browser for the GUI?

It seems to me that the Javascript runs in the client.

The Javascript side calls the system via the local network, passing through this router: https://github.com/neutralinojs/neutralinojs/blob/master/cor...

I hope that there is some form of authentication to make sure no random web apps are accessing the API.

Re: NeutralinoJS: Lightweight Electron alternative using native browser controls

#8

Post by jonmaim » Wed, Feb 26, 2020, 2:50 PM UTC

antoineMoPa wrote: post #3

So if I understand right, what makes this lighter than electron is the fact that only webkit2 is used instead of embedding the whole chromium app.

Indeed I think they don't ship the whole browser package.

What they might actually do is to locally launch a HTTP server which renders the app if you call it on any browser (localhost:8080 in the examples). The chrome of the app is actually a thin layer that use the default OS web browser. That is why the memory footprint is much less higher that alternatives like electron.

Re: NeutralinoJS: Lightweight Electron alternative using native browser controls

#9

Post by rusticpenn » Wed, Feb 26, 2020, 2:52 PM UTC

> There are some drawbacks such as Windows edition is based on IE etc.

What does this mean?

Re: NeutralinoJS: Lightweight Electron alternative using native browser controls

#10

Post by fbn79 » Wed, Feb 26, 2020, 2:53 PM UTC

If I understand it's like Google Chrome Native Messaging but with a generic multi-purpouse server. https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/nativeMessaging