Chapter 4. Shipping your first desktop application
This chapter covers
- Creating an icon for the app
- Compiling the app for different OSs
- Testing the app on different platforms
In the world of software, it’s easy to start a new project, but persisting with it and seeing it through to the end is not so easy. Shipping software is the big divide between those who make software that’s used around the world and those who start a lot of projects but don’t finish them.
In chapter 3, you fleshed out the skeleton of your desktop app until you reached the point where you could call it a minimally viable product. Now, the next step for you is to prepare the app for distribution by making it an app that users can get and run on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
You’ll explore how to use build tools for NW.js and Electron to help build standalone executables of the Lorikeet app.
Once an app is built and ready for users to get their hands on, the next step is to get the app ready for packaging and distribution. This involves a number of things:
- Getting the app to display a custom icon in place of the default app
- Creating native binaries of the app for the different OSs
- Testing those apps out on the various platforms
You’ll start with creating the icons for the app.