How to reference node fs API with electron in typescript?

Question

I've created an electron app based on this link (but using recent modules).

I want to create a simple desktop app, I need to open some local files. I know that there is the node fs API for this, but I'm have problems with referencing it correctly.

Here is what I tried:

• Based on this queston in Stackoverflow, I tried to import and use fs like this:

  ///<reference path="../typings/node/node.d.ts"/>
  import fs = require('fs');
  fs.readFileSync('foo.txt','utf8');
  

  As a result, I got a Module not found: Error: Cannot resolve module 'fs' when I called npm run build

• Then I added the following lines to webpack.config.js (I read it somewhere):

  node: {
    fs: "empty"
  },
  

  then npm run build command was OK, but I see the following error at runtime in electron's developer tool: TypeError: fs.readFileSync is not a function

I'm new to this topic, and I would appreciate if someone could help me how to reference node's fs API correctly.

Answer 1

You need to set target: 'electron-renderer' in your Webpack config, if you still have issues after that take a look at https://github.com/chentsulin/electron-react-boilerplate