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I want to build a windows app using ElectronJS framework. The main feature is to monitor user's process list in Windows. For example, if app finds example.exe it will make api request on my server. Now i can't find any specific information how exactly it is possible to do with Electron. Can anybody please tell does it make sense at all to start working with Electron in this case? Thanks.

Alex Fadeev
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  • electron js basically works in chromium environment, and interacts with OS through chromium api, so you have to see if the chromium supports the operations you are looking for. – Umar Hussain Feb 12 '18 at 11:15
  • See https://stackoverflow.com/a/46969969/2626313 – xmojmr Feb 12 '18 at 12:03

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Now i can't find any specific information how exactly it is possible to do with Electron.

That's because you don't need an Electron-specific solution. Electron helps you build desktop applications using Node.js by providing abstractions on top of all sorts of APIs like Chromium for the rendering and execution of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript or system-specific APIs (for displaying notifications, showing dialogs, etc.).

Electron, for the most part, does not force you to use its APIs and you're free to use any of Node.js's core APIs and other packages from npm. That means if you don't find an Electron-specific way to solve a certain problem, just search for a way to solve the problem using Node.js and it will most likely work.

The real question, therefore, is: Is there even any reason to use Electron in this case?

The main feature is to monitor user's process list in Windows. For example, if app finds example.exe it will make api request on my server.

For this feature alone you don't need Electron. You don't need a graphical user interface.

But when it comes to displaying the processes (on the computer your application is running on) – maybe in a Task Manager-like GUI – Electron would be a good fit because it allows you to create windows. "Pure" Node.js application, on the other hand, run only inside the terminal which is sometimes enough.

Niklas Higi
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