How do I access an object from the main process from a render process [Electron]

问题

I'm trying to create a tool for editing files containing a object that is related to my companies business logic. I'm using electron to do so.

I've created a javascript class which represents the object, handles its internals, and provides buisness functions on it:

class Annotation {
    constructor() {
        this._variables = []
        this._resourceGenerators = []
    }

    get variables() {
        return this._variables
    }

    get resourceGenerators() {
        return this._resourceGenerators
    }

    save(path) {
        ...
    }

    static load(path) {
        ...
    }
};

module.exports = Annotation;

I create the object in my main process, and I have an event handler which gives render processes access to it:

const {ipcMain} = require('electron')
const Annotation = require('./annotation.js');

... Do electron window stuff here ...

var annotation = new Annotation()

ipcMain.on('getAnnotation', (event, path) => {

    event.returnValue = annotation
})

I've just found out that sending an object through ipcMain.sendSync uses JSON.stringify to pass the annotation, meaning it looses the getters/functions on it.

I'm fairly new to web/electron development; what is the proper way of handling this? Previously I had handlers in main for dealing with most of the functions that the render processes needed, but main started to become very bloated, so I'm trying to refactor it somewhat.

回答1:

TL; DR: RECONSTRUCT OBJECT ON RECEIVER SIDE.

Description: Electron's main architectural design is based on multi-process, separating main (node.js) and each renderer (chromium) processes and allow to communicate between processes via IPC mechanism. And due to several reason (efficiency, performance, security, etcs) Electron's OOTO IPC only allows serializable POJO to be sent / received. Once receiver have those data, you may need reconstruct desired object from there.

If your intention around access is to share references like true singleton, that's not available.

回答2:

The first thing I would suggest is that in most cases, you don't need to transfer anything to the main process. The main process is mostly for creating windows and accessing Electron API's which are restricted to the main process. Everything else should and can be done from the renderer including access to all node modules. You can write files, access databases, etc all from the renderer.

Read this article about the differences between the main and renderer processes and what you should be using each for.

来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48667008/how-do-i-access-an-object-from-the-main-process-from-a-render-process-electron

标签

javascript

node.js

electron