CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cordovaionic-frameworkcross-platformnativedesktop
unsafe_where_true
unsafe_where_true

Reputation: 6320

Can it be used to build desktop apps (linux, OSX, Win)?

I have done a couple of simple projects with ionic/cordova for mobile apps (Android, iOS).

I wonder, can I use it for creating desktop apps for linux, OSX, and Win as well?

The apache docs suggests it can be done (here: osx): https://cordova.apache.org/docs/en/latest/guide/platforms/osx/"

This guide shows how to set up your SDK development environment to deploy Cordova apps for OS X computers.

This link (aged around 2 years it seems) claims it can't: https://www.airpair.com/ionic/a-year-using-ionic-for-hybrid-ios-android-apps

In case you wondered Ionic is only for native/hybrid mobile apps (Android, iOS, Windows phone, Chrome and even Apple Watch) and cannot be used to develop desktop applications.

I know there are other (native) cross-platform frameworks like qt, but as I happen to have extensive web technologies experience, I would be most efficient working with HTML5 and CSS...

There's this question on stack overflow, but it is from 2011 and has no answer: Can Ionic be used for on desktop computers (as a web app)?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 3142

Answers (1)

oikonomopo
oikonomopo

Reputation: 4065

Seems yes, but there is not much resources/tutorials/examples/samples etc!

  1. Image from official ionic site:

enter image description here

At upper right of the image, there is an electron icon. With electron you can distribute to windows/macosx/linux.

  1. http://ionicframework.com/docs/developer-resources/desktop-support/

  2. From official site also:

    Ionic 2 is focused on building both native/hybrid apps through Cordova, as well as adding the ability for Progressive Web Apps and Electron .

  3. https://github.com/ionic-team/ionic/issues/9050: (@jgw96)

    Hello all! Sorry for the confusion here. While it is totally possible right now to build an Electron app with Ionic 2, we do not currently have a build process set up for it so it requires a little bit of setup on the developer's end. After we get Ionic 2 stable out we will be looking into providing more infrastructure around using Electron with Ionic 2.

    ionic/electron sample project

  4. From official ionic forum answer:

    You can build Desktop worthy UI in Ionic by default - or just use Ionic as the base you build on with your own UI, so deploying this via Electron is a nice way to get cross platform Desktop native apps out of it. Of course these won't be Office like apps, but anything that can be used on a big tablet can also be used on a desktop PC.

  5. "Some initial thoughts on building desktop apps with Ionic and Electron" (Raymond Camden's Blog):

    All in all, I think this is an interesting idea. Ionic provides a great UI, and it looks just as good on desktop as it does mobile, and obviously the power of Angular to help architect your application is just as useful here. Certainly there are issues to keep in mind when building a desktop app that won’t apply to mobile, but they are things you can address. I’d love to hear what people think, and if you build something (or have built something), please share it in the comments below!

Upvotes: 2

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