Windows Platform

[IT-MikeS]

Platform Request

Name: Windows Package: @capacitor-community/windows

Description

Community support for building for the Windows enviroment

This was requested in an issue (ionic-team/capacitor#92) and makes more sense to live here now.

[pjc2007]

Now perhaps there is the option to use the new chromium based webview2

[miroslavvojtus]

Any progress here? Having support for Windows is our most important aspect which block us from switching over from cordova which supports the windows and electron.

[Jaifroid]

I'm looking into migrating to Capacitor, but I'm stunned to discover there doesn't seem to be any support for Windows native APIs. Android and iOS, no problem, but no support for the OS with the largest market share on the planet? The only issue I could find referencing this is this one (and the closed issue that asked for it) with no movement for two-and-a-half years. It should be perfectly possible with WebView2: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/webview2/. Why isn't this a priority for Capacitor?

[robingenz]

I'm looking into migrating to Capacitor, but I'm stunned to discover there doesn't seem to be any support for Windows native APIs. Android and iOS, no problem, but no support for the OS with the largest market share on the planet? The only issue I could find referencing this is this one (and the closed issue that asked for it) with no movement for two-and-a-half years. It should be perfectly possible with WebView2: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/webview2. Why isn't this a priority for Capacitor?

There are in fact many ways to use Capacitor on Windows:

• Electron (Community): https://github.com/capacitor-community/electron
• Tauri (Community): https://github.com/capacitor-community/tauri
• Ionic Windows (Enterprise): https://ionic.io/docs/windows/usage

[Jaifroid]

Thanks for the links and info. There are problems with each of these:

• Electron: huge, clunky framework that forces a minimum app size of around 70MB to 100MB
• Tauri: alpha framework, developed (heroically) by one man and his dog - promising, but not ready yet
• Ionic Enterprise: starts at $499 PER MONTH. (I'm a FOSS developer.)

ISTM that what is needed is built-in, first-class support for WinRT APIs on a par with the support for Android and iOS native APIs. See Call native-side WinRT code from web-side code.

[alexcroox]

Desktop support used to be a part of core Capacitor but it was split off into a community maintained effort as it wasn't going to be a focus for Capacitor core team anymore. I imagine because there are so few desktop apps being built these days vs mobile/web, which is understandable.

So your options are what is listed above.

[Jaifroid]

because there are so few desktop apps being built these days vs mobile/web

It's not desktop vs mobile/web. PWAs are a major focus for Windows too, and they have first-class support in the Microsoft Store, where the main use case is now desktop and/or tablet (or two-in-ones). There are countless good examples, but all stymied a bit by not having access to native APIs -- though Project Fugu is doing a very good job of getting us 80% of the way there with Web APIs. It's a shame Capacitor removed Windows targets from core, as it could have provided the missing 20% for apps build with HTML/JS. Tant pis.

[MulverineX]

This looks promising https://gluonjs.org/

[Jaifroid]

@MulverineX Thank you, that looks exciting! I hope to try it out.