topcube

TopCube

Gives node developers a way to have a desktop GUI to their node servers using HTML5 + CSS3 as the GUI platform.

Assumes:

• Client/server architecture with communication over HTTP.
  If you're interested in merged event loops, common javascript contexts, or other non-HTTP communication and resource sharing between the node process and the GUI take a look at node-webkit.
• Single, HTML5 + CSS3 driven window.
  The client window does not spawn popups, support tabs, create additional windows or add any native UI components other than what a typical browser pane would provide.
• Child process.
  The client window runs as a child process of the calling node process.

Implementation Details

Linux

Requires gtk2.0 and webkitgtk. Install the following packages on Debian/Ubuntu or the equivalents for your system to build topcube:

sudo apt-get install libgtk2.0-dev libwebkitgtk-dev

Windows

The windows client currently downloads a custom compiled binary client that uses the Chromium Embedded Framework. If you're interested in building the client yourself or making modifications see mapbox/cefclient.

Mac OS X

TODO. Work on a native webkit client for Mac OS X that can be built within topcube is certainly welcome.

API

Pass a single options object to topcube with the following properties:

• url of your running node application to point topcube at.
• name of the window displayed in the titlebar. Also sets any window manager classes associated with the topcube window. On linux a .desktop file using the same name can be used set the icon for your application.
• width in pixels of the window. Optional.
• height in pixels of the windows. Optional.
• minwidth in pixels. Restricts resizing the window width smaller than this value. Optional.
• minheight in pixels. Restricts resizing the window height smaller than this value. Optional.
• ico full path to a Windows .ico file to use for your application. Optional, no-op on non-windows platforms.

Example usage of topcube to wrap a default "Hello world" server.

var Http = require('http');
var TopCube = require('topcube');

Http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
  res.end('Hello World\n');
}).listen(7569);

TopCube({
  url: 'http://localhost:7569',
  name: 'My webapp',
  width: 800,
  height: 600
});