Packaging a web app as a desktop app

Question

OK so being a web programmer I'm building an ajax app, but my problem is that my target market isn't going to want it as a web app, they'll want it on their desktop with local file access, and possibly some optional cloud features and a sister phone app.

So I've played around with Titanium and Air and both come up very short compared to running it straight off my local server in a browser.

The Titanium build runs very slow. And its only really very small at this stage (126kb of code including jquery.js). Even the css:hover lags a second behind! And besides the documentation is mainly just placeholders telling you that there is no documentation for desktop. Their demo kitchen sink application doesn't even run properly, unless of course their whole desktop feature set is just an empty white background!
Adobe Air makes a dogs breakfast out of it. Even though it works like a treat in Chrome, Air won't run any of my scripts and renders it like I'm making cubist art. No offence to any cubists out there.

So my question is, what are the options for a javascript/php programmer in embedding a small server into an ssb and running it that way?

@CzarekTomczak, why haven't you provided this comment as an answer? Tried it, seems like a good solution so far. — Mustafa Temiz, Jul 19 '14 at 10:52

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 23 '11 at 04:28

3

Most popular way to do what you are doing is to embed a Web Server in your Application. Jetty is very popular for this, it is what Google uses for its local deployment to your local machine for testing for GWT and GAE. Then just have a way to start up the server, and launch the default web browser pointing to that server and port you are running.

answered Feb 23 '11 at 04:28

Thanks! I took a look at their website and it looks great, I'll definitely try that out! – cybermotron Feb 23 '11 at 05:59

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 03 '12 at 16:11

2

I know this thread is aging, but I'm looking to achieve something similar and the soon to be released TideSDK seems to be worth looking into.

answered Oct 03 '12 at 16:11

Jim

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Looking over their site they only support windows 8, mac, and linux. This looks like it might work ok as long as you don't need to support vista or windows 7. – Phil Patterson Oct 06 '12 at 17:33
Looking a their [wiki page](https://github.com/TideSDK/TideSDK/wiki), it's looks like they support (or plan to support) Windows XP to Windows 8. – Jim Oct 11 '12 at 00:25

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 15 '17 at 12:45

0

You can have a look at Nativefier. It is a nodeJs package that internally uses electron to create a platform specific native application for the web app.

answered Apr 15 '17 at 12:45

sidd607

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score -5 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 23 '11 at 13:13

-5

Some quick solutions for you:

Adobe Air (Javascript)
Titanium (Python, PHP)

... I have some more names in my mind, but have to search for them.

answered Feb 23 '11 at 13:13

Yuvrajm

1

Thanks, but if you read the content of my post you would see that I tried those and found them to not play very nice with my code. – cybermotron Feb 23 '11 at 22:14

Packaging a web app as a desktop app

4 Answers4