GUI apps in javascript without a browser?

Question

I would like to use javascript to develop general-purpose GUI applications. Initially these are to run on Windows, but I would like them to ultimately be cross-platform.

Answer 1

Well, if you didn't want your software to be cross-platform, then you had two options on Windows:

• HTML Application (HTA) .hta (tutorial)
• Windows Script/Scripting Host (WSH) and the XML like Windows Script File (WSF) .wsf format, to mix JScript and VBScript and run them with cscript.exe/wscript.exe (example)

Notes:

• Option one actually uses Internet Explorer and mshta.exe under the hood, so I don't think it suffices your requirements.
• Option two, JScript doesn't have all the VBScript GUI functionalities. So in the example provided above, you have to actually define VBScript SUBs to get GUI elements.
• Microsoft's JScript and mainstream dialects of JavaScripts are not fully compatible.

P.S. A great tutorial about WSH, WSF, VBScript, JScript ... here