Electron – How to add external files?

I have an Electron app. I try to make the app open an .exe file. I created a directory in the root folder named lib and placed the .exe file there. In development, I have no problem opening the file by using __dirname + '/lib/file.exe, but when I package the app (using yarn dist), it does not open the exe file and there is no lib folder anymore on the dist folder.

I tried writing to console the default location using console.log(__dirname) and it outputs distwin-unpackedresourcesapp.asa (which is a file).

How can I add an external file that can be accessed when the app is packaged?

Answer

Managed to solve it by using extraResources. Should be declared under build in your package.json file.

For example:

1. Create a new folder named extraResources adjacent to pacakge.json

2. Add the following code to your package.json file:

   "build": {
       "extraResources": ["./extraResources/**"]
   }
   

3. Then, you can access the files inside this folder by using __dirname + '/../extraResources/' from your main app.