A bunch of helper functions and short hand methods that I find useful in developing Node-Webkit applications.

BASH: node-webkit.bash

#!/bin/sh
#
#
#               _____       _         _ _ _     _   _   _ _
#              |   | |___ _| |___ ___| | | |___| |_| |_|_| |_
#              | | | | . | . | -_|___| | | | -_| . | '_| |  _|
#              |_|___|___|___|___|   |_____|___|___|_,_|_|_|
#
#              _____         _      _____     _
#             | __  |___ ___| |_   |  |  |___| |___ ___ ___ ___
#             | __ -| .'|_ -|   |  |     | -_| | . | -_|  _|_ -|
#             |_____|__,|___|_|_|  |__|__|___|_|  _|___|_| |___|
#                                              |_|
#
# =============================================================================
#
# This file contains helper functions and shorthands that aid with
# Node-Webkit app development on Windows and UNIX machines.
#
#
# NOTE FOR WINDOWS USERS:
# ---------------------------------------------
#
# I would definitely suggest for windows users to download
# Git Bash [https://code.google.com/p/msysgit/downloads/list?q=label:Featured] if you haven't already
#
#
# INSTALLATION:
# ---------------------------------------------
#
# - Save this file to a common location for your bash/shell scripts and be sure
#   to use the proper file extension for your platform.
#
# - Change the [#!/bin/xxx] reference up top for your OS' preferred declaration
#     ex: #!/bin/bash   <- UNIX
#         #!/bin/sh     <- Windows
#
# - Add this shell script as a 'source' reference in your bash .profile
#     ex: source "path/to/this/node-webkit.sh"
#
# - Change these values to match your folder system setup
#

APPPACKAGE="app.nw";
APPSDIR="/c/apps";
NWDIR="/c/apps/__node-webkit";


# Example of my /apps folder structure
# ---------------------------------------------
#
#   /C
#   - /apps
#     - /__node-webkit
#       - [downloaded node-webkit build files]
#     - /projectName
#     - /projectName2
#     - app.nw
#



# NODE WEBKIT HELPER FUNCTIONS
# ============================
#


# Navigate into your /apps directory
# ---------------------------------------------
#
# - Pass a name of the project you want to navigate into
#     ex: apps awesomesauce -> /c/apps/awesomesauce :D

function nw-apps() {
  cd $APPSDIR;

  if [ $1 ]
    then
    cd $1;
  fi

  dir;
}


# This inits the local dev Node-Webkit instance with the most
# recent app.nw build located in the /c/apps/app.nw directory
# ---------------------------------------------

function nw-init() {
  echo "[Initializing] $APPPACKAGE";
  echo "running...";

  $NWDIR/nw $APPSDIR/$APPPACKAGE

  echo "[Terminated]   $APPPACKAGE";
}


# Package your application assets and run Node-Webkit
# ---------------------------------------------
#
# This should be called from inside an "/apps/[project directory]/"
#

function nw-package() {
  if [ -e $APPSDIR/$APPPACKAGE ]
    then
    rm $APPSDIR/$APPPACKAGE;
  fi

  zip -r $APPSDIR/$APPPACKAGE * -x .*;

  nw-init;
}



# LICENSE
# ---------------------------------------------
#
# The MIT License (MIT)
#
# Copyright (c) 2013 Brandtley McMinn
#
# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
# of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
# in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
# to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
# copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
# furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
#
# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
# copies or substantial portions of the Software.
#
# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
# IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
# AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
# LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
# OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
# SOFTWARE.
#

Great script, thanks a lot for posting this!

I have a question about zip -r $APPSDIR/$APPPACKAGE * -x .*;

This will package up all the node_modules files, do you find this to be an issue? I have been able to get away not needing all those files zipped up. It lessens the size and boot-up time of the app.

Hey @SirZach, I wrote this as a means of getting started with NW dev and needed a way to automate the packaging process, so I hadn't done a whole lot of testing on what files were needed at the time. I haven't dabbled in Node Webkit much since I wrote this script, and I feel this script has been supplanted by more configurable build tools like node-webkit-builder and the various build systems that consume it (grunt, gulp, npm/node in general).

Thanks for the kudos, and happy development :)