native-xcode-node-folder

Native Xcode Sample using a Node Project folder

An iOS Xcode project that uses the Node.js on Mobile shared library, as an example of using a Node Project folder inside the Application.

The sample app runs the node.js engine in a background thread to start an HTTP server on port 3000 and return the process.versions value alongside the result of using the left-pad npm module. The app's Main ViewController UI has a button to query the server and show the server's response. Alternatively, it's also possible to access the server from a browser running on a different device connected to the same local network.

Prerequisites

To run the sample on iOS you need:

• A macOS device with the latest Xcode (Xcode version 9 or greater) with the iOS SDK version 11.0 or higher.
• One iOS device with arm64 architecture, running iOS version 11.0 or higher.
• A valid Apple Developer Account.

How to run

• Clone this project.
• Run npm install inside ios/native-xcode-node-folder/nodejs-project/.
• Download the Node.js on Mobile shared library from here.
• Copy the NodeMobile.framework file inside the zip's Release-universal path to this project's NodeMobile/ folder (there's a copy-NodeMobile.framework-here empty file inside the project's folder for convenience).
• In Xcode import the ios/native-xcode-node-folder/native-xcode-node-folder.xcodeproj project.
• Select one physical iOS device as the run target.
• In the project settings (click on the project main node), in the Signing portion of the General tab, select a valid Team and handle the provisioning profile creation/update. If you get an error that the bundle identifier cannot be used, you can simply change the bundle identifier to a unique string by appending a few characters to it.
• Run the app. If the build process doesn't start the app right away, you might have to go to Settings>General in the device and enter Device Management or Profiles & Device Management to manually accept the profile.

How the sample was developed

This sample was built on top of the native-xcode sample from this repo, with the same functionality, but uses a nodejs-project folder that contains the node part of the project.

Create the nodejs-project folder

Create a nodejs-project folder inside the project and add it as a Resource to the Xcode project. It contains two files inside:

• main.js

var http = require('http');
var versions_server = http.createServer( (request, response) => {
  response.end('Versions: ' + JSON.stringify(process.versions));
});
versions_server.listen(3000);

• package.json

{
  "name": "native-xcode-node-project",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "description": "node part of the project",
  "main": "main.js",
  "author": "janeasystems",
  "license": ""
}

Add an npm module to the nodejs-project

Having a nodejs-project path with a package.json inside is helpful for using npm modules, by running npm install {module_name} inside nodejs-project so that the modules are also packaged with the application and made available at runtime.

Install the left-pad module, by running npm install left-pad inside the nodejs-project folder.

Update main.js to use the module:

var http = require('http');
var leftPad = require('left-pad');
var versions_server = http.createServer( (request, response) => {
  response.end('Versions: ' + JSON.stringify(process.versions) + ' left-pad: ' + leftPad(42, 5, '0'));
});
versions_server.listen(3000);

Start the node runtime from the Node Project

Change the code that starts the node runtime in AppDelegate.m to find the main.js inside the Application's bundle and start from there:

- (void)startNode {
    NSString* srcPath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"nodejs-project/main.js" ofType:@""];
    NSArray* nodeArguments = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:
                                @"node",
                                srcPath,
                                nil
                                ];
    [NodeRunner startEngineWithArguments:nodeArguments];
}