Hello

Sample project with a simple implementation of the webxdc read and write APIs.

Demo (no server or installation required)

1. Open index.html in your web browser
2. Click 'Add Peer' to open as many peers as you like
3. Type a message and press 'Send' to see the update in each peer. (For Safari you might need to check the setting under Develop > Disable Local File Restrictions.)

Developing webxdc apps

Simply copy webxdc.js from this repo beside your index.html and you are ready to go to develop and test your app in most browsers.

Bundle your app using ./create-xdc.sh your-app-name and send it to your friends 🙂

Further Hints and Troubleshooting

Limitations

Due to the nature of most browsers and how they scope localStorage, each emulated peer will get the same localStorage.

To really test the storage usage of your Webxdc, bundle the app and test it in Delta Chat directly where all peers get their own localStorage. Alternatively, use the more advanced webxdc-dev tool.

Type-checking and completion

If you are using VSCode you can have autocompletion and type-checking even without using TypeScript by adding these two lines to your JavaScript source files:

//@ts-check
/** @typedef {import('./webxdc').Webxdc} Webxdc */

Without VSCode you need to install TypeScript and then run the check manually.

npm -g typescript
tsc --noEmit --allowJs --lib es2016,dom webxdc.js # to check if types and simulator are in sync
tsc --noEmit --allowJs --lib es2016,dom your_js_file.js

Developing in Safari

To use the devtool in safari you need to disable the local file restrictions under Develop -> Disable Local File Restrictions.

After doing this you can use the dev tool simulator.

Make sure to reload (Cmd + R) all simulator tabs/windows to apply this setting. Without this option Add Peer seems to work (it opens a new instance), but the instances will not be able to communicate.

Developing on Android

• install Termux
• install Python and Git in Termux
• git clone the devtool repo or your fork of it
• use python -m http.server to serve it for development using nano/vim
• when you are done, use ./create-xdc.sh for bundling
• copy the created .xdc file to a location from where you can access and send it via Delta Chat
• pro tip: you can create symbolic link to a folder in the external storage