For online education, medical services, and video conferencing, building a cross-platform client for both Windows and macOS is a crucial step. Traditionally, each operating system required separate development using specific programming languages. However, with the rise of modern tools and frameworks, cross-platform development has become more efficient. Among these, Electron has gained significant popularity.
Electron was originally known as Atom Shell, built on top of Node.js and Chromium. It enables front-end developers to create desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. This makes it accessible for web developers to build powerful desktop apps without needing deep knowledge of native code.
Electron supports Mac, Windows, and Linux, allowing applications built with it to run seamlessly across all three platforms. You can find it in well-known projects like Slack, Visual Studio Code, Cocos Creator, and over 500 other applications.
This article explores different implementation approaches for video conferencing using Electron, along with their advantages and disadvantages. It also includes a demo example showing how to develop a video conferencing app using the Agora Web SDK integrated with Electron.
Several Ideas for Implementing Video Conferencing
How can we implement a video conferencing application using Electron? The answer depends largely on the technology used for the Real-Time Communication (RTC) core, which is essential for the application’s functionality.
The first approach involves using a C++ SDK. By leveraging Node.js plugins such as node-gyp, we can compile the C++ library into a format that Node.js can use directly. The user interface is then implemented via the web, while the RTC logic is handled by the compiled plugin.
The main benefit of this method is the high performance and stability from directly calling the C++ interface. However, the downside is the complexity involved in integrating the native module with the web layer. For instance, if the C++ SDK uses platform-specific dynamic libraries, you must compile different versions for each OS using node-gyp to ensure compatibility within Electron.
Another approach is to use WebRTC, where both the UI and the RTC logic are implemented through the web. This simplifies integration and debugging, as most of the work can be done in a browser and then easily ported to Electron.
However, WebRTC lacks built-in server-side solutions for NAT traversal and deployment. To overcome this, developers often combine WebRTC with open-source projects like Janus. But if you use the Agora Web SDK, many of these challenges are already addressed, making it the fastest and easiest way to implement real-time communication.
Agora Web SDK, combined with WebRTC, allows multi-party audio and video communication on the web. It leverages Agora.io’s SD-RTN real-time cloud network to ensure high-quality transmission, even over public networks. Combined with WebRTC's features like packet loss retransmission, bandwidth prediction, and dynamic rate adjustment, it delivers a smooth and reliable user experience.
To help you get started, we've created an open-source demo project on GitHub. Let's take a quick look at how the core audio and video call functionality is implemented in the demo.
Audio and Video Calls Using Agora Web SDK
To begin, create a folder called "web-app" within your Electron project. This will hold the basic web components needed for the video call.
First, initialize an AgoraRTC client and join a channel:
```javascript
let client = AgoraRTC.createClient({ mode: "interop" });
client.init(options.key, () => {
console.log("AgoraRTC client initialized");
client.join(options.key, options.channel, options.uid, (uid) => {
console.log("User " + uid + " joined the channel successfully");
console.log(new Date().toLocaleTimeString());
// Create local stream
resolve(uid);
});
});
```
Next, create and publish a local stream:
```javascript
let stream = AgoraRTC.createStream(merge(defaultConfig.config));
localStream.init(() => {
client.publish(localStream, err => {
console.log("Publish local stream error: " + err);
localStream.play("element_id");
});
},
```
Once this is done, you should see your own video feed. Now, integrate this code into Electron by creating a `BrowserWindow` instance that loads the contents of the `web-app` directory:
```javascript
const electron = require('electron');
const app = electron.app;
const BrowserWindow = electron.BrowserWindow;
let mainWindow;
function createWindow() {
mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({ width: 800, height: 600 });
mainWindow.loadURL(url.format({
pathname: path.join(__dirname, './web-app/dist/index.html'),
protocol: 'file:',
slashes: true
}));
mainWindow.webContents.openDevTools();
mainWindow.on('closed', function () {
mainWindow = null;
});
}
```
After setting up everything, start the Electron app using `npm start`.
You can find the complete source code for the demo here: [https://github.com/AgoraIO/Agora-Web-Electron-Demo](https://github.com/AgoraIO/Agora-Web-Electron-Demo).
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