For online education, healthcare, and video conferencing applications, building a cross-platform client for both Windows and Mac is an essential step. In the past, each operating system required separate development using specific programming languages, which made the process time-consuming and inefficient. Today, with the availability of various tools and frameworks, cross-platform development has become more accessible. One of the most popular solutions is Electron.
Electron was originally known as Atom Shell, and it is built on top of Node.js and Chromium. It allows front-end developers to create desktop applications using familiar web technologies like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. This makes it easy for developers to build powerful and feature-rich applications that can run on multiple platforms.
Electron supports macOS, Windows, and Linux, enabling applications developed with it to work seamlessly across all three operating systems. You can find it in many well-known projects such as Slack, Visual Studio Code, and Cocos Creator, among over 500 other applications.
This article explores several implementation approaches for using Electron in a video conferencing application, along with their advantages and disadvantages. It also includes a demo example showing how to develop a video conferencing app using Electron combined with the Agora Web SDK.
Several Ideas for Implementing Video Conferencing
How can we implement a video conferencing app using Electron? The answer largely depends on the technology used for the Real-Time Communication (RTC) part, which is the core of the application.
The first approach involves using a C++ SDK. By leveraging the Node.js plugin node-gyp, you can compile the C++ library into a format that Node.js can use directly. The interface can be implemented through the web, and the RTC logic can be handled by calling the compiled C++ module.
This method offers performance and stability benefits because it directly uses the C++ interface. However, it comes with challenges, especially when integrating native modules with the web layer. For instance, if the C++ SDK relies on platform-specific dynamic libraries, different versions must be compiled for each OS using node-gyp to ensure compatibility with Electron.
Another idea is to use WebRTC, where both the interface and the RTC business logic are implemented through the web. This approach simplifies integration and debugging, as most of the work can be done directly in the browser and then ported to Electron.
However, WebRTC lacks built-in server-side solutions for deployment and NAT traversal. To overcome this, you might need to integrate it with open-source projects like Janus. Alternatively, using the Agora Web SDK simplifies the process significantly, eliminating the need to handle complex server configurations.
By combining WebRTC with the Agora Web SDK, developers can quickly implement real-time audio and video communication on the web. Agora.io's SD-RTN real-time cloud ensures high-quality transmission, while WebRTC’s features like packet loss retransmission, bandwidth prediction, and dynamic rate adjustment enhance the user experience during multi-party calls.
To help developers get started, we have provided an open-source demo project on GitHub. Let’s take a quick look at how the core audio and video calling functionality is implemented in the demo.
Audio and Video Calls Based on Agora Web SDK
To begin, create a directory called `web-app` within your Electron environment. This will hold the basic web components needed for the video call.
First, initialize an AgoraRTC instance 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 a local stream and publish it:
```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 these steps are complete, your video should appear on the screen. Now, let’s run this code inside an Electron application.
Create a `BrowserWindow` instance and load 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;
});
}
app.on('ready', createWindow);
```
After setting everything up, you can start the Electron app using `npm start`.
You can find the full 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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