Application Distribution

How do you package, protect, and distribute a program built with JadeView to end users? This article starts from the overall workflow and introduces three core capabilities: the JAPK resource package, in-memory loading, and the NSIS installer.

Release Workflow Overview

A typical JadeView application release workflow:

1. Development complete → The frontend resources (HTML/CSS/JS) and the main process (the exe that calls the JadeView DLL) are ready
2. Package the frontend resources → Use JadePack or @electron/asar to package the frontend project into a JAPK file
3. Protect the resource content → JadePack provides obfuscation and signature protection to prevent source code leakage and tampering
4. Embed or distribute the JAPK → You can distribute the JAPK as a standalone file, or embed it in the exe and load it from memory
5. Build the installer → JadePack's built-in NSIS installer packages everything in one click, producing a complete setup program

JAPK Resource Package

JAPK is JadeView's dedicated format for packaging frontend resources, bundling HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and more into a single .japk file.

Key advantages:

• Simple distribution: Just one file, no need to ship a pile of scattered files
• Fast loading: JadeView reads resources directly from inside the package, with no need to extract them to a temporary directory
• ASAR compatible: Fully compatible with the Electron ASAR format, so packages from the Electron ecosystem can be used directly

Build methods:

For detailed information, see JAPK Resource Package Format.

Source Code Protection

Frontend resources (JS/CSS/HTML) are plaintext by default, so distributing a JAPK package directly may expose you to the risk of source code leakage and tampering. JadePack provides two layers of protection:

Obfuscation Protection

Even without signing, JadePack applies a 3-layer reversible transform (XOR + byte permutation + bit rotation) to the packaged content, producing a non-plaintext obfuscated package. No public key is required when loading, making it suitable for basic protection scenarios.

Signing and Encryption

Provides a complete security solution combining Ed25519 signatures and AES-256-GCM encryption:

• Tamper protection: Signature verification ensures the package content has not been modified
• Forgery protection: Only those holding the private key can build a verifiable signed package
• Rollback protection: Once a public key is set, a failed signed-package load will not fall back to the obfuscated-package logic

Signed packages are recommended for production environments. For details, see JadePack Build Tool.

In-Memory Loading

JadeView supports loading a JAPK package directly from memory, with no need for the local file system. This means you can embed the JAPK data inside an executable to achieve single-file distribution.

Use cases:

• Embed the JAPK in the exe's resources, so users see only a single executable
• Download the JAPK from the network and load it directly, without writing to disk
• Prevent users from directly accessing and modifying the frontend resource files

Usage:

// 1. Initialize
JadeView_init(1, NULL, NULL, "MyApp", "com.example.app", 0);

// 2. Load the JAPK from memory
int rc = JadeView_load_from_bytes(japk_data, data_size);

// 3. Get the protocol URL and create a window
char url_buffer[256];
set_protocol_service_path("", url_buffer, sizeof(url_buffer), 0);  // 4th arg hot_reload: 0 = disabled, 1 = enabled
create_webview_window(url_buffer, 0, &options, NULL);

For the full API documentation, see Loading from Memory.

NSIS Installer

JadePack includes a built-in one-click NSIS installer packaging feature that packages the application directory into a complete Windows setup program.

Features

• One-click packaging: Configure through a graphical interface, with no need to hand-write NSIS scripts
• WebView2 bootstrapping: Automatically prompts to install WebView2 when it is not present on the target system
• Desktop shortcut: Optionally create a desktop shortcut
• Custom icon: Supports application icons in .ico format
• Compression options: Supports three compression levels: zip / lzma / solid
• Multilingual: The installation wizard supports Simplified Chinese, English, and more

Configuration Options

Workflow

1. In the JadePack build center, switch to the Installer tab
2. Fill in the configuration options above
3. Click the Package and Generate Installer button
4. Wait for packaging to complete, then retrieve the .exe installer from the output directory

Recommended Distribution Schemes

Depending on the scenario, the following distribution schemes are recommended:

Internal Tools / Prototypes

Frontend resources → @electron/asar packaging → plaintext JAPK → distributed with the exe

Simple and fast, with no extra tooling required.

User-Facing Desktop Applications

Frontend resources → JadePack obfuscated package → embedded in exe, loaded from memory → JadePack NSIS installer

Obfuscation protects the source code, single-file distribution, with an installer experience.

Commercial Software

Frontend resources → JadePack signed package → embedded in exe, loaded from memory → JadePack NSIS installer

Dual protection through signing and encryption, tamper and forgery proof, with a professional installation experience.