gui/webview/bundle

This package is what runs when you type salam bundle. It reads the [app] table of salam.toml, builds the program, packs its assets and makes installers. See making installers for how to use it.

The [app] table

Everything salam bundle needs is in the [app] table of salam.toml. Only id and name matter much: the version defaults to 0.1.0, the entry file to main.salam and the category to Utility. slug is made from the name for file names. ReadManifest returns false when there is no table.

import gui.webview.bundle
import io

func main:
    text := "[app]\nid = \"com.example.notes\"\nname = \"Notes\"\nversion = \"1.2.0\"\nassets = \"www\"\ncategory = \"Utility\"\n"
    io.WriteFile("salam.toml", text)
    mut m := bundle.Manifest {}
    if not bundle.ReadManifest("salam.toml", m):
        println "no [app] table"
        ret 1
    end
    println m.id
    println m.name, m.version
    println "main file:", m.main
    println "assets:", m.assets
    println "file name:", m.slug
end

Formats and targets

The default formats are tar and deb on Linux, zip on Windows, and app and tar on macOS. Name others with --format; each needs its tool on the PATH.

$ salam bundle --format=rpm,appimage      # rpmbuild, appimagetool
$ salam bundle --target=x86_64-w64-windows-gnu --format=nsis   # makensis
$ salam bundle --target=arm64-apple-macos --format=app,dmg     # hdiutil
$ salam bundle --output=dist

A cross build needs no extra software, because the compiler links Windows and macOS programs itself. A PNG icon is converted to .ico and .icns. Nothing is signed, so sign and notarize before you hand a program to other people.

The web engine is part of the [app] table too. By default a program uses the web view of the operating system. Set engine = "chromium", or pass --engine=chromium, to build against Chromium Embedded Framework, and point runtime (or --runtime=DIR, or the SALAM_CEF_DIR environment variable) at the folder with the built salam_webview_cef library, salam_cef_helper and the CEF runtime files. That folder is copied next to the program, and only for tar on Linux and zip on Windows. See choosing the web engine for what the Chromium engine can do today.

Building installers in CI

Run the same command on one Linux runner for every system, passing a different --target and --output each time, and upload the results. The desktop.yml workflow in the Salam repository does this and then runs each result on a real Windows, macOS and Linux machine.

Types

struct Manifest

import gui.webview.bundle
import os

func main:
    mut m := bundle.Manifest {
        id = "com.example.app", name = "App", version = "1.0", main = "main.salam", assets = "www", icon = "icon.png", description = "An app", publisher = "Example", category = "Utility", slug = "app", engine = "system", runtime = ""
    }
    println bundle.ReadManifest("salam.toml", m), m.name
    ret bundle.Main(os.Args())
end

Functions

func ReadManifest(path: str, out &: Manifest): bool

func Main(args: Vector<str>): int