Getting Started

It is recommended to split the application and it's deployment into different crates. This has the advantage that the same application can be easily deployed with several different methods but the structure of the repository can be kept clean. However to simplify the setup of this tutorial, we will skip this step.

Futhermore, we will use electron to deploy a desktop application. Currently, this is the recommended method to deploy greenhorn applications. To simplify the project setup, start by cloning the quickstart repository:

git clone https://github.com/raffber/greenhorn-electron-quickstart

This quickstart repo makes us of the following tools:

• neon to compile rust modules for nodejs
• webpack to bundle JS and CSS assets
• electron as browser frontend
• electron-builder to package the app into an installer

Then, setup the nodejs environment (make sure you have nodejs and npm installed):

npm install

Compiling and running the application can be achieved using npm:

npm run start

This will compile the application in debug mode and run electron. Finally, if you want to package the application, use:

npm run package

That's it for the project setup. You are now ready to start developping you app.