4

I have developed a Meteor app. I would like to package this app in the node-webkit app runtime for Chromium. I need the Meteor server process to run locally. How would I go about starting the Meteor server process when a user launches the node-webkit app?

I know I can start a NodeJS server instance with node-webkit like this:

server.js

#!/usr/bin/env node
require('http').createServer(function(req, res) {
  res.writeHead(200, {'content-type': 'text/html'});
  res.end('<h1>sup</h1>');
}).listen(9000, '127.0.0.1');

Then if I run:

$ nw ./

node-webkit will start the NodeJS server and launch the node-webkit instance. I'm not including the package.json file here, but it essentially just says look at http://127.0.0.1:9000.

So, how would I go about writing that server.js file to start the Meteor instance while the node-wekkit app is running?

Thanks for any thoughts.

bryan kennedy
  • 6,969
  • 5
  • 43
  • 64

1 Answers1

1

First Bundle your meteor app meteor build --directory /your/node-webkit/project/ and use this code to start your app. But, packaging Meteor with node-webkit can be a little bit more complicated. First, you'll need a mongodb server running on your client computer or somewhere the client can connect anytime.

var path = require('path');
var child_process = require('child_process');

// change these
var PORT = 9000;
var ROOT_URL = 'http://localhost:'+PORT;
var MONGO_URL = 'mongodb://localhost:27017/my_app_db';
var NODE_BIN = '/usr/local/bin/node';

// install npm dependencies
var options = {cwd: path.resolve(__dirname, 'bundle/programs/server/')};
var installNpm = child_process.exec('npm install', options, onNpmInstall);

function onNpmInstall (err, stderr, stdout) {
  if(err) throw new Error('could not install npm dependencies');

  // start Meteor
  var options = {
    env: {PORT: PORT, MONGO_URL: MONGO_URL, ROOT_URL: ROOT_URL},
    cwd: __dirname
  };

  var proc = child_process.spawn(NODE_BIN, ['bundle/main.js'], options);
  proc.on('close', function (code) {
    console.log('Meteor exited with code ' + code);
  });
}

You must remove mongo related smart packages if you want a 100% client-side application.

Thanish
  • 309
  • 2
  • 5