Refresh external browser window in node-webkit

Question

I'm trying to load a file in the browser and then refresh it when an event is fired. I'm using the node-open module:

var open = require('open');
var url = 'http://www.stackoverflow.com';
var myWindow = open(url); //returns a child process

myWindow.on('refresh', function() {
    open(url);
});

// stuff...

myWindow.emit('refresh');

The open() method returns a child process, so I'm attaching an event listener to it that is triggered when the refresh event is fired. However (as you can see) a new window is opened when refresh is fired. How can I keep track of the original window and refresh it?

Answer 1

If you really mean an external browser, then I'm not sure, but if you're using the window.open in node-wekbit, you could do this:

var url = 'http://www.stackoverflow.com';
var myWindow = open(url);  // returns a Window object

. . .

myWindow.window.location.reload();

This will open another node-webkit window with the given url, but beware that it's not as safe to browse with node-webkit as with a standard browser as not all of the security protections are in place.

If you're talking about an external browser, then I'm not sure there is an easy solution. I don't think there's a signal you can send a child process to cause a browser reload.