I want to easily install the dApp on my local system

christianbrb commented 4 years ago

User Story

As Chris, I want to easily install the dApp on my local system so that I can test it without a hosted environment.

Acceptance criteria

Available on Mac, Linux and Windows
Downloading the latest release
Mechanism to update to the latest release
It is hosted on localhost
The dApp is getting opened
Extend the CI to build it
Upload it to GitHub releases

nephix commented 4 years ago

without a hosted environment

does that mean no external dependencies at all?

kelsos commented 4 years ago

We can give it a try if you can use the gh_pages branch sources in the browser without the need for any server. If it works maybe we can pack a version of the dApp in an archive and allow the users to extract and run locally from the browser.

nephix commented 4 years ago

In Chrome v73 and later we can already install the Light Client as a Chrome App:

Go to https://lightclient.raiden.network
Click on Settings (3 dots at top right)
Click on Install raiden-dapp

It then installs it as a PWA locally and starts it in a "native window". Still requires a hosted version to fetch updates from though. It can then be started by typing chrome://apps into Chrome and clicking on raiden-dapp.

Not sure but depending on exact requirements it could already be sufficient

andrevmatos commented 4 years ago

Nice finding @nephix, thanks @kelsos for the the seamless PWA implementation. The local static files from gh_pages branch is also a nice option, although we need to check if everything behaves properly when served from local filesystem on Chrome & Firefox. Just let's not go the cursed Electron route on this issue.

christianbrb commented 4 years ago

@andrevmatos to check, if PWA works with MetaMask

christianbrb commented 4 years ago

@kelsos proposed to do this with Electron

kelsos commented 4 years ago

@kelsos proposed to do this with Electron

I wouldn't say I proposed to do this with Electron. Rather, I said if the other ways to do it are not acceptable and we have to go the electron way then I can help because I have some prior experience with Electron and Vue :)

christianbrb commented 4 years ago

Ok, I hear your excitement 🤣

christianbrb commented 4 years ago

We should check

If there is an easy way to host it on the user's machine (like the wizard with a local webserver).
If MetaMask can be integrated in Electron

christianbrb commented 4 years ago

@andrevmatos @weilbith @kelsos Who has got time to do some pre-iteration research on this?

andrevmatos commented 4 years ago

I just checked here, and Metamask is definitely fully available for PWAs on Chromium. Would it be enough to provide it, and point to the serve_pr script or full local build/serve if the user needs further control?

kelsos commented 4 years ago

I just checked here, and Metamask is definitely fully available for PWAs on Chromium. Would it be enough to provide it, and point to the serve_pr script or full local build/serve if the user needs further control?

The problem with serve_pr is that it requires some technical skills, if the local version is targeting non-technical users I don't think it would work that easy.

christianbrb commented 4 years ago

The proposal from Kelsos:

Pack an express app with a node backend which serves the application
Leave the user to use MetaMask
Run in the local browser

palango commented 3 years ago

The proposal from Kelsos:

* Pack an express app with a node backend which serves the application

* Leave the user to use MetaMask

* Run in the local browser

The only problem I see with this approach is that the user might not know/understand how to stop the application properly. The same happened with the wizard running as a bundle from a terminal.

kelsos commented 3 years ago

The proposal from Kelsos:
* Pack an express app with a node backend which serves the application

* Leave the user to use MetaMask

* Run in the local browser
The only problem I see with this approach is that the user might not know/understand how to stop the application properly. The same happened with the wizard running as a bundle from a terminal.

I don't see how that is a problem. This could be easily solved if you add a terminate endpoint to the "server" and some packaged mode customization so that the user can terminate the server directly from the dApp. I think the WebUI is doing a similar thing with the python client already.

kelsos commented 3 years ago

Btw the server doesn't have to be node either, you could easily do a small flask backend packaged with PyInstaller that can produce binaries for Linux/OSX and Windows.

christianbrb commented 3 years ago

To check, if it works as a progressive web app: