In Electron.js, a panel
type Browser window has an approximately 28-pixel top area that acts as a moveable area. Clicking in this area focuses the application, bringing the app menu to the top taskbar, while clicking elsewhere does not. I want to prevent this focusing behavior when clicking the top area to create a spotlight-like panel window. Here is my Electron app's index.ts code.
//index.ts
import { app, BrowserWindow, globalShortcut, ipcMain } from "electron";
// This allows TypeScript to pick up the magic constants that's auto-generated by Forge's Webpack
// plugin that tells the Electron app where to look for the Webpack-bundled app code (depending on
// whether you're running in development or production).
declare const MAIN_WINDOW_WEBPACK_ENTRY: string;
declare const MAIN_WINDOW_PRELOAD_WEBPACK_ENTRY: string;
declare const QUICK_WINDOW_WEBPACK_ENTRY: string;
declare const QUICK_WINDOW_PRELOAD_WEBPACK_ENTRY: string;
// Handle creating/removing shortcuts on Windows when installing/uninstalling.
if (require("electron-squirrel-startup")) {
app.quit();
}
let mainWindow: BrowserWindow | null;
let quickWindow: BrowserWindow | null;
const createWindow = (): void => {
// Create the browser window.
mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
height: 600,
width: 1000,
webPreferences: {
preload: MAIN_WINDOW_PRELOAD_WEBPACK_ENTRY,
},
});
quickWindow = new BrowserWindow({
type: "panel",
frame: false,
show: false,
height: 600,
width: 600,
movable: false,
focusable: true,
skipTaskbar: true,
maximizable: false,
vibrancy: 'sidebar',
webPreferences: {
preload: QUICK_WINDOW_PRELOAD_WEBPACK_ENTRY,
},
});
// and load the index.html of the app.
mainWindow.loadURL(MAIN_WINDOW_WEBPACK_ENTRY);
quickWindow.loadURL(QUICK_WINDOW_WEBPACK_ENTRY);
globalShortcut.register("CmdOrCtrl+Shift+1", () => {
quickWindow?.show();
});
// Open the DevTools.
// mainWindow.webContents.openDevTools();
};
// This method will be called when Electron has finished
// initialization and is ready to create browser windows.
// Some APIs can only be used after this event occurs.
app.on("ready", createWindow);
// Quit when all windows are closed, except on macOS. There, it's common
// for applications and their menu bar to stay active until the user quits
// explicitly with Cmd + Q.
app.on("window-all-closed", () => {
if (process.platform !== "darwin") {
app.quit();
mainWindow = null;
quickWindow = null;
}
});
app.on("activate", () => {
// On OS X it's common to re-create a window in the app when the
// dock icon is clicked and there are no other windows open.
if (BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().length === 0) {
createWindow();
}
});
// In this file you can include the rest of your app's specific main process
// code. You can also put them in separate files and import them here.
ipcMain.handle("hideQuickAccess", () => {
quickWindow && quickWindow.hide();
});
ipcMain.handle("resizeToExtended", () => {
if (quickWindow) {
quickWindow.setBounds({ height: 450, width: 500 });
}
});
ipcMain.handle("resizeToNormal", () => {
if (quickWindow) {
quickWindow.setBounds({ height: 400, width: 300 });
}
});
In macOS, the panel type browser window is NSWindow type, not NSPanel. Calling some private API at runtime makes NSWindow look like NSPanel, but not 100% like NSPanel. (I found this in the Electron source code.)