Create PWA (Create a Progressive Web Application)

> Easily create a Progressive Web Application

About

create-pwa is a module for quick scaffolding and producing of progressive web applications.

create-pwa adds the minimum required boilerplate which your app requires in order to become a PWA.

create-pwa can be used with existing applications or can be the first thing one does when starting a new app.

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Dependencies

In order to use this module, you must have NodeJS installed and NPM or Yarn available.

You also need a bash shell installed and configured - default on OSX and linux or Git bash on Windows.

Install

``sh


Using NPM:

1. icon: Specifies a relative path to the application icon. Should be a .png file.

This path is relative to the folder you are located in. It is recommended that the icon file is at least a 512x512 pixels square.

The icon argument is not required.

If the icon argument is not provided, the default icon is used.

2. launch: Specifies a relative path to the application launch (splash) screen. Should be a .png file.

This path is relative to the folder you are located in. It is recommended that the launch is at least 3200x3200 pixels square and the actual content (for example brand image) is located in the middle of the image in a square with dimensions up to 500x500 pixels.

The launch argument is not required.

If the launch argument is not provided, the default launch screen is used.

3. output: Specifies a relative path to the output directory.

This path is relative to the folder you are located in.

The output argument is not required.

If the output argument is not provided, the default value for it is empty string (the root of your project or the location of your package.json file).

Usage

If you want to use if from the command line, you should first install Create PWA globally:

`sh
npm i -g create-pwa

or

yarn global add create-pwa
`

Then, navigate to your application's folder:
Then run the install command (see above)

`sh
cd your/app/folder

create-pwa --icon="./icon.png" --launch="./launch.png"
`

You can also use create-pwa as a package.json script (in this case you don't need to install the package globally):

`json
{
"scripts": {
"pwa": "create-pwa --icon=\"path/to/your/icon.png\" --launch=\"path/to/your/launch.png\""
}
}
`

The above commands will generate:

- a manifest.json and a service-worker.js files
- several (8) png icons in the /icons/ folder in your app's root folder
- several (19) favicons in the /favicons folder in your app's root folder
- several (20) launch screen images in the launch-screen folder in your app's root folder
- a config.xml file in your app's root folder - this file is required in Microsoft's browsers

You can edit the contents of the manifest.json and service-worker.js files.

Their default content is based on industry's best practices and is highly opinionated.

In order to create a customized experience for your users, feel advised to revise and edit the contents of the above files.

When the files(manifest.json and service-worker.js) are ready for production, you need to let the world know about them:

Feel adviced to edit the content of the tag in the config.xml file as it matches the color of your application's status bar on Chrome (found in the tag);

1. Add the following to the head of your HTML file(s):

`html

`

You can read more about the Web App Manifest here.

2. Add the following snippet to your application's JavaScript bundle or place it in a script tag just before the closing tag in your HTML file(s):

`javascript
if ('serviceWorker' in navigator) {
window.addEventListener('load', () => {
navigator.serviceWorker.register('./service-worker.js').then(
registration => {
console.log(ServiceWorker registration successful with scope: ${registration.scope});
},
error => {
console.log(ServiceWorker registration failed: ${error});
}
);
});
}
`

The code above checks for service worker support and then registers a service worker located in the service-worker.js file in the root of the project.

You can read more about Service Workers here.

After that, add references to all icons which were generated by create-pwa:

3. Add the following favicons and meta tags in the head of your HTML file(s):

For more info about the favicons and meta tags below see here.

4. (Optional) Add the following launch screens in the head of your HTML file(s):

In order to have the launch screens shown on an iOS device you also need to tell the device it is dealing with a web app:

`html

`

The formet works on Safari on all iOS devices.
The latter works on Google Chrome on all iOS devices.

Android devices show splash screen based on the data provided in the manifest.json file: icons, name, etc.

5. (Optional) Add the following attribute to your html tag: manifest=".appcache". It should look something like this:

`html



`

This will enable application cache and will cache all files listed in the .appcache file.
Application cache is currently deprecated in most evergreen browsers and will probably be removed soon.
This, however, does not mean that you can not use it in older browsers (for example IE 11).

You can read more about Application Cache here

More info

There is a lot information about Progressive Web Applications on the Internet.
In order to comply with browser's requirements and pass the audits you need to check out and fulfill the PWA Checklist.

The entries listed in Baseline Progressive Web App Checklist are mandatory and without them your web app will not qualify as a PWA.

If you wish to test your web app's compliance, you can use the Chrome's built-in Lighthouse tool (found under the _Audits_ tab in the Developer tools).

NodeJS API

You can generate each of the components above separately using the Create PWA API in NodeJS:

1. To create only an appcache file:

`javascript
const { setAppCache } = require('create-pwa');
const appName = 'Your application name';
const distFolder = 'dist';

setAppCache(appName, distFolder);
`

The generated appcache file contains references to the application icons and application launch screens. You must have these already generated otherwise you must edit your appcache file and remove them.

2. To create only the application icons:

`javascript
const { setIcons } = require('create-pwa');
const appIcon = require('fs').resolve(__dirname, './your_icon.png');
const distFolder = 'dist';

setIcons(appIcon, distFolder);
`

The generated icons are located in the /icons folder.

3. To create only the launch screens:

`javascript
const { setLaunchScreens } = require('create-pwa');
const launchScreen = require('fs').resolve(__dirname, './your_launch_screen.png');
const distFolder = 'dist';

setLaunchScreens(launchScreen, distFolder);
`

The generated files are located in the /launch-screens folder.

4. To create only manifest file:

`javascript
const { setManifest } = require('create-pwa');
const appName = 'Your application name';
const distFolder = 'dist';

setManifest(appName, distFolder);
`

The generated manifest.json file contains references to the application icons. You must have these already generated otherwise you must edit your manifest.json file and remove them.

5. To create only favicon files:

`javascript
const { setFavicons } = require('create-pwa');
const appIcon = require('fs').resolve(__dirname, './your_icon.png');
const distFolder = 'dist';

setFavicons(appIcon, distFolder);
`

The generated files are located in the /favicons folder.

6. To create only service worker file:

`javascript
const { setServiceWorker } = require('create-pwa');
const appName = 'Your application name';
const distFolder = 'dist';

setServiceWorker(appName, distFolder);
`

The generated service-worker.js file contains references to the application icons and application launch screens. You must have these already generated otherwise you must edit your service-worker.js` file and remove them.

LICENSE

MIT

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