CHAPTER 06 / WEBFRONT

Embed and distribute

Turn sources into an embedded interface.

Generate the C++ resources

In the application terminal, this command compiles TSX and packages assets and dependency notices into a compressed header. C++ recompilation remains explicit.

WEBFRONT TERMINAL

wf embed ui/main.tsx --output generated/LifeUI.hpp

Change the entry point

The embedded programme replaces the development project and bootstrap with the generated provider. This code uses the Life example’s headers and assumes generated/LifeUI.hpp is on the include path. The repository already provides the equivalent WebFrontLifeEmbedded target.

C++23

#include "Life.hpp"
#include "LifeFrontend.hpp"
#include <webfront/WebFront.hpp>
#include "generated/LifeUI.hpp"

int main() {
    webfront::demo::LifeAppWithAssets<webfront::fs::LifeUI> app;
    app.cppFunction("life.step", &webfront::demo::nextLife);
    app.show();
}

Rebuild the example

Close the developer window and run these commands in the same build directory. With Visual Studio, run examples\Debug\WebFrontLifeEmbedded.exe. The application runs offline without UI sources or the tool cache. You still need to handle native-engine deployment: wf embed is not an installer generator.

SOURCE

cmake .. -DWEBFRONT_LIFE_ASSETS="$PWD/life-project/generated/LifeUI.hpp"
cmake --build . --target WebFrontLifeEmbedded
examples/WebFrontLifeEmbedded

Question

Does wf embed install the native engine on the user’s machine?

Read the source documentation ↗