Widget Builder

Develop, install, and distribute HTML widgets for your Windows desktop with a simple CLI

Installation

Download, unzip, navigate to the folder, and install with npm:

$ npm install -g
$ npm start

or download directly from npm:

$ npm install -g widget-builder

Quickstart Guide

1) Create a new folder 2) cd to the folder, enter widgets init, and fill in your project's name 3) Mess around with the generated HTML file to customize your widget's appearance 4) Add and link JavaScript or CSS files to your master HTML file 5) Modify the config file 6) Navigate to the folder and enter widgets build to locally build and install your widget

Samples

Check out Spotify listener, a widget for listening to your favorite tunes:

Publishing and installing widgets

Publishing

So you want to share your widget for distribution? Here's what to do: 1) cd to your project folder 2) Run widgets publish 3) A new dist folder will be generated in the same directory as your project folder. You can now distribute this folder, and others can install it with widgets install

Installing

Here's how to install a widget that was shared with you: 1) Navigate to the folder 2) Run widgets install

The Config File

Every widgets project contains a config.json file. This file tells the program what settings you would like to use for your widget.
Here's a standard config file:

{
  "name": "widget",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "Custom desktop widget",
  "index": "./index.html",
  "properties": {
    "x": 100,
    "y": 100,
    "width": 100,
    "height": 100,
    "transparent": false,
    "interact": true,
    "draggable": true
  }
}

| Property | Definition | | ---- | ---- | | name (string) | Project name | | version (string) | Project version | | index (string) | The reference to your master HTML file. Other references (like JS or CSS) should be linked in this file. | | x, y, width, and height (integers) | The position and dimensions of your widget when it is first start up | | transparent (boolean) | Make the widget's background transparent | | interact (boolean) | Make the widget interactable | | draggable (boolean) | Make the widget draggable | | top (boolean) | Make the widget stay on top of all windows | | requirements (array) | npm packages required for the widget to function; these packages are locally installed when the widget is installed | | install (string or array) | Script(s) to run during widget installation |

Using the CLI

Once widget builder is installed, the CLI can be accessed with the keyword widgets

Commands

| Command | Definition | | ---- | ---- | | widgets build [folder] | Builds HTML files to desktop widget and installs | | widgets publish [folder] | Generates a dist file that can be installed by the widgets cli | | widgets install [folder] | Installs widget at folder | | widgets init [folder] | Initializes widgets project | | widgets list | Lists all installed widgets | | widgets uninstall <widget> | Uninstall widget by name | | widgets config <widget> | Configure widget by name | | widgets start [folder] | Starts the widget at folder |