Use Service Workers to Turbocharge Your Web Apps
“You have made an excellent decision in picking up this book. If I was just starting on my learning path to mastery of Progressive Web Apps, there are not many folks I would trust more to get me there than John.”
―Simon MacDonald, Developer Advocate, Adobe
Software developers have two options for the apps they build: native apps targeting a specific device or web apps that run on any device. Building native apps is challenging, especially when your app targets multiple system types―i.e., desktop computers, smartphones, televisions―because user experience varies dramatically across devices.
Service Workers―a relatively new technology―make it easier for web apps to bridge the gap between native and web capabilities. In Learning Progressive Web Apps, author John M. Wargo demonstrates how to use Service Workers to enhance the capabilities of a web app to create Progressive Web Apps (PWA). He focuses on the technologies that enable PWAs and how to use those technologies to enhance your web apps to deliver a more native-like experience.
• Build web apps a user can easily install on their local system and that work offline or on low-quality networks
• Utilize caching strategies that give you control over which app resources are cached and when
• Deliver background processing in a web application
• Implement push notifications that enable an app to easily engage with users or trigger action from a remote server
Throughout the book, Wargo introduces each core concept and illustrates the implementation of each capability through several complete, operational examples. You’ll start with simple web apps, then incrementally expand and extend them with state-of-the-art features. All example source code is available on GitHub, and additional resources are available on the author’s companion site, learningpwa.com.
Author(s): John Wargo
Edition: 1
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Year: 2020
Language: English
Commentary: Vector PDF
Pages: 262
City: Boston, MA
Tags: Web Applications; Node.js; Application Development; Automation; Service Workers; Push Notifications; Google Workbox
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
1 Introducing Progressive Web Apps
First, a Little Bit of History
PWAs Are
Making a Progressive Web App
PWA Market Impact
PWAs and App Stores
Wrap-Up
2 Web App Manifest Files
Save to Home Screen
Making a Web App Installable
Anatomy of a Web App Manifest
Setting the App Name
Setting App Icons
Configuring Display Mode
Setting the Installed App’s Start URL
Setting App Options
Additional Options
Controlling the Installation Experience
Preparing to Code
Node.JS
Git Client
Visual Studio Code
App Installation in Action
Adding a Service Worker
Adding a Web Manifest File
Running the App
Enhancing the Installation Process
Troubleshooting
Manifest Generation and More
Wrap-Up
3 Service Workers
PWA News
Introducing Service Workers
Preparing to Code
Prerequisites
Navigating the App Source
Configuring the Server API
Starting the Server
Registering a Service Worker
Service Worker Scope
The Service Worker Lifecycle
Forcing Activation
Claiming Additional Browser Tabs
Observing a Service Worker Change
Forcing a Service Worker Update
Service Worker ready Promise
Wrap-Up
4 Resource Caching
Service Worker Cache Interface
Preparing to Code
Caching Application Resources
Cache Management
Return a Data Object on Error
Adding an Offline Page
Implementing Additional Caching Strategies
Cache-Only
Network First, Then Cache
Network First, Update Cache
Wrap-Up
5 Going the Rest of the Way Offline with Background Sync
Introducing Background Sync
Offline Data Sync
Choosing a Sync Database
Create Database
Create Store
Add Data
Delete Objects
Iterating through Data Using Cursors
Preparing to Code
Enhancing the PWA News Application
Preparing the Service Worker for Background Sync
Updating the Web App to Use Background Sync
Finishing the Service Worker
Dealing with Last Chances
Wrap-Up
6 Push Notifications
Introducing Push Notifications
Remote Notification Architecture
Preparing to Code
Generating Encryption Keys
Validating Notification Support
Checking Notification Permission
Getting Permission for Notifications
Local Notifications
Notification Options
Subscribing to Notifications
Unsubscribing from Notifications
Remote Notifications
Dealing with Subscription Expiration
Sending Notifications to Push Services
Wrap-Up
7 Passing Data between Service Workers and Web Applications
Preparing to Code
Send Data from a Web App to a Service Worker
Send Data from a Service Worker to a Web App
Two-Way Communication Using MessageChannel
Wrap-Up
8 Assessment, Automation, and Deployment
Assessing PWA Quality Using Lighthouse
Preparing to Code
Using the Lighthouse Plugin
Using the Lighthouse Tools in the Browser
Using the Lighthouse Node Module
PWABuilder
Using the PWABuilder UI
Creating Deployable Apps
Using the PWABuilder CLI
PWABuilder and Visual Studio
PWAs and the Microsoft Store
Wrap-Up
9 Automating Service Workers with Google Workbox
Introducing Workbox
Generating a Precaching Service Worker
Add Precaching to an Existing Service Worker
Controlling Cache Strategies
Wrap-Up
Index
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