In-browser applications

In-browser applications, also known as web applications, are programs that run directly within a web browser without needing to be installed in the workspace.

Info

In-browser applications necessitate no installation. All they require is a static file server in the workspace to be served.

Note

Every Alnoda workspace has python static filke server by default, but you can also install other alternatives from the Aloda Hub.

The procedure of integrating static web applications into Alnoda workspaces involves two stages:

1. Downloading the static website that contains the in-browser application
2. Serving the downloaded static website via the static file server

As an example, let's add Laverna to the workspace. Laverna is a JavaScript note-taking web application with a Markdown editor and encryption support. It's built to be an open source alternative to Evernote.

Open workspace terminal and download a prebuilt version of Laverna:

<font color="#5EA702">wget</font> https://github.com/Laverna/static-laverna/archive/gh-pages.zip -O laverna.zip

Extract zip file:

<font color="#5EA702">unzip</font> laverna.zip -d /home/abc/apps/

The files were extracted into the folder /home/abc/apps/static-laverna-gh-pages/, let's rename it:

<font color="#5EA702">mv</font> /home/abc/apps/static-laverna-gh-pages/ /home/abc/apps/laverna

Serve Laverna with a default python static server:

<font color="#5EA702">cd</font> /home/abc/apps/laverna; <font color="#5EA702">python</font> -m http.server 8026

Now you can open Limus using tab "My App on port 8026".

Warning

In-browser applications store data not in the workspace, but in the browser you are opening it. If clear browser cache you will loose the data. You will also not have the same data if you open app in the other browser.