1. Watch enabled successfully.

2. Reloading electron after build.

ElectronNET.API/ElectronNET.API.csproj

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
 
   <PropertyGroup>
-    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.0</TargetFramework>
+    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.1</TargetFramework>
     <GeneratePackageOnBuild>true</GeneratePackageOnBuild>
     <PackageOutputPath>..\artifacts</PackageOutputPath>
     <PackageId>ElectronNET.API</PackageId>

ElectronNET.API/WebHostBuilderExtensions.cs

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
 using System;
+using System.IO;
 
 namespace ElectronNET.API
 {
@@ -22,16 +23,27 @@ namespace ElectronNET.API
                 {
                     BridgeSettings.SocketPort = argument.ToUpper().Replace("/ELECTRONPORT=", "");
                     Console.WriteLine("Use Electron Port: " + BridgeSettings.SocketPort);
-                } else if(argument.ToUpper().Contains("ELECTRONWEBPORT"))
+                }
+                else if (argument.ToUpper().Contains("ELECTRONWEBPORT"))
                 {
                     BridgeSettings.WebPort = argument.ToUpper().Replace("/ELECTRONWEBPORT=", "");
                 }
             }
 
-            if(HybridSupport.IsElectronActive)
+            if (HybridSupport.IsElectronActive)
             {
-                builder.UseContentRoot(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory)
-                    .UseUrls("http://127.0.0.1:" + BridgeSettings.WebPort);
+                // check for the content folder if its exists in base director otherwise no need to include
+                // It was used before because we are publishing the project which copies everything to bin folder and contentroot wwwroot was folder there.
+                // now we have implemented the live reload if app is run using /watch then we need to use the default project path.
+                if (Directory.Exists($"{AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory}\\wwwroot"))
+                {
+                    builder.UseContentRoot(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory)
+                        .UseUrls("http://localhost:" + BridgeSettings.WebPort);
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    builder.UseUrls("http://localhost:" + BridgeSettings.WebPort);
+                }
             }
 
             return builder;

ElectronNET.CLI/Commands/StartElectronCommand.cs

@@ -62,20 +62,7 @@ namespace ElectronNET.CLI.Commands
                 string tempBinPath = Path.Combine(tempPath, "bin");
                 var resultCode = 0;
 
-                if (parser != null && parser.Contains("watch"))
-                {
-
-                    // no need for this code i will remove this before PRS
-                    //if (!Directory.Exists($"{tempBinPath}")) Directory.CreateDirectory(tempBinPath);
-                    //if (!Directory.Exists($"{tempBinPath}\\wwwroot")) resultCode = ProcessHelper.CmdExecute($"mklink /D {tempBinPath}\\wwwroot wwwroot", aspCoreProjectPath);
-
-                    //if (!File.Exists($"{tempBinPath}\\electron.manifest.json"))
-                    //{
-                    //    resultCode = ProcessHelper.CmdExecute($"mklink /h {tempBinPath}\\electron.manifest.json electron.manifest.json", aspCoreProjectPath);
-                    //}
-
-                }
-                else
+                if (parser != null && !parser.Arguments.ContainsKey("watch"))
                 {
                     resultCode = ProcessHelper.CmdExecute($"dotnet publish -r {platformInfo.NetCorePublishRid} --output \"{tempBinPath}\" /p:PublishReadyToRun=true --no-self-contained", aspCoreProjectPath);
                 }

ElectronNET.Host/api/browserWindows.js

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ const path = require('path');
 const windows = [];
 let readyToShowWindowsIds = [];
 let window, lastOptions, electronSocket;
+let mainWindowId;
 module.exports = (socket, app) => {
     electronSocket = socket;
     socket.on('register-browserWindow-ready-to-show', (id) => {
@@ -168,6 +169,21 @@ module.exports = (socket, app) => {
         else if (!options.webPreferences) {
             options = { ...options, webPreferences: { nodeIntegration: true } };
         }
+        // lets not recreate the same window if its already open
+        let nWindow = null;
+        if (app.commandLine.hasSwitch('watch')) {
+            app.on('hot-reload', (id) => {
+                mainWindowId = id;
+                nWindow = getWindowById(mainWindowId);
+                if (nWindow) {
+                    nWindow.reload();
+                    if (loadUrl) {
+                        nWindow.loadURL(loadUrl);
+                    }
+                    return;
+                }
+            });
+        }
         window = new electron_1.BrowserWindow(options);
         window.on('ready-to-show', () => {
             if (readyToShowWindowsIds.includes(window.id)) {
@@ -209,6 +225,11 @@ module.exports = (socket, app) => {
             window.webContents.session.clearCache();
             console.log('auto clear-cache active for new window.');
         }
+        // set main window id
+        if (mainWindowId == undefined) {
+            mainWindowId = window.id;
+            app.emit("mainWindow", mainWindowId);
+        }
         windows.push(window);
         electronSocket.emit('BrowserWindowCreated', window.id);
     });

ElectronNET.Host/api/browserWindows.ts

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ const path = require('path');
 const windows: Electron.BrowserWindow[] = [];
 let readyToShowWindowsIds: number[] = [];
 let window, lastOptions, electronSocket;
+let mainWindowId;
 
 export = (socket: SocketIO.Socket, app: Electron.App) => {
     electronSocket = socket;
@@ -199,6 +200,23 @@ export = (socket: SocketIO.Socket, app: Electron.App) => {
             options = { ...options, webPreferences: { nodeIntegration: true } };
         }
 
+        // lets not recreate the same window if its already open
+        let nWindow = null;
+
+        if (app.commandLine.hasSwitch('watch')) {
+            (app as any).on('hot-reload', (id) => {
+                mainWindowId = id;
+                nWindow = getWindowById(mainWindowId);
+                if (nWindow) {
+                    nWindow.reload();
+                    if (loadUrl) {
+                        nWindow.loadURL(loadUrl);
+                    }
+                    return;
+                }
+            })
+        }
+
         window = new BrowserWindow(options);
         window.on('ready-to-show', () => {
             if (readyToShowWindowsIds.includes(window.id)) {
@@ -245,6 +263,12 @@ export = (socket: SocketIO.Socket, app: Electron.App) => {
             console.log('auto clear-cache active for new window.');
         }
 
+        // set main window id
+        if (mainWindowId == undefined) {
+            mainWindowId = window.id;
+            app.emit("mainWindow", mainWindowId);
+        }
+
         windows.push(window);
         electronSocket.emit('BrowserWindowCreated', window.id);
     });

ElectronNET.Host/main.js

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ let appApi, menu, dialogApi, notification, tray, webContents;
 let globalShortcut, shellApi, screen, clipboard, autoUpdater;
 let commandLine, browserView;
 let splashScreen, hostHook;
+let mainWindowId;
 
 let manifestJsonFileName = 'electron.manifest.json';
 let watchable = false;
@@ -26,7 +27,6 @@ let manifestJsonFilePath = path.join(currentBinPath, manifestJsonFileName);
 // if watch is enabled lets change the path
 if (watchable) {
     currentBinPath = path.join(__dirname, '../../'); // go to project directory
-    currentBinPath = currentBinPath.substr(0, currentBinPath.length - 1);
     manifestJsonFilePath = path.join(currentBinPath, manifestJsonFileName);
 }
 
@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@ app.on('ready', () => {
 
 });
 
+app.on("mainWindow", id => {
+    mainWindowId = id;
+    console.log(` Main Window ID = ${id}`);
+})
+
 function isSplashScreenEnabled() {
     if (manifestJsonFile.hasOwnProperty('splashscreen')) {
         if (manifestJsonFile.splashscreen.hasOwnProperty('imageFile')) {
@@ -131,6 +136,11 @@ function startSocketApiBridge(port) {
         global['electronsocket'].setMaxListeners(0);
         console.log('ASP.NET Core Application connected...', 'global.electronsocket', global['electronsocket'].id, new Date());
 
+        // send signal to reload
+        if (mainWindowId != undefined) {
+            app.emit("hot-reload", mainWindowId);
+        }
+
         appApi = require('./api/app')(socket, app);
         browserWindows = require('./api/browserWindows')(socket, app);
         commandLine = require('./api/commandLine')(socket, app);
@@ -213,14 +223,12 @@ function startAspCoreBackendWithWatch(electronPort) {
     function startBackend(aspCoreBackendPort) {
         console.log('ASP.NET Core Watch Port: ' + aspCoreBackendPort);
         loadURL = `http://localhost:${aspCoreBackendPort}`;
-        const parameters = ['watch','run', `--project ${currentBinPath}`, `/electronPort=${electronPort}`, `/electronWebPort=${aspCoreBackendPort}`];
+        const parameters = ['watch', 'run', `/electronPort=${electronPort}`, `/electronWebPort=${aspCoreBackendPort}`];
 
         console.log(currentBinPath);
         var options = {
             cwd: currentBinPath,
-            env: {
-                PATH: process.env.PATH
-            }
+            env: process.env,
         };
         apiProcess = cProcess('dotnet', parameters, options);
 

ElectronNET.WebApp/ElectronNET.WebApp.csproj

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web">
   <PropertyGroup>
-    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.0</TargetFramework>
+    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.1</TargetFramework>
     <AspNetCoreHostingModel>OutOfProcess</AspNetCoreHostingModel>
     <AspNetCoreModuleName>AspNetCoreModule</AspNetCoreModuleName>
     <RuntimeIdentifiers>win-x64</RuntimeIdentifiers>