95
votes

I want to develop desktop app using electron that uses sqlite3 package installed via npm with the command

npm install --save sqlite3

but it gives the following error in electron browser console

Uncaught Error: Cannot find module 'E:\allcode\eapp\node_modules\sqlite3\lib\binding\node-v45-win32-x64\node_sqlite3.node'

My development environment is windows 8.1 x64 node version 12.7

my package.json file looks like this:

{
  "name": "eapp",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "electron ."
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "devDependencies": {
    "electron-prebuilt": "^0.32.1"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "angular": "^1.3.5",   
    "sqlite3": "^3.1.0"
  }
}

index.js file

var app = require('app');
var BrowserWindow = require('browser-window'); 
require('crash-reporter').start();
var mainWindow = null;


app.on('window-all-closed', function() {  
    if (process.platform != 'darwin') {
        app.quit();
    }
});

app.on('ready', function() {
    // Create the browser window.
    mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({width: 800, height: 600}); 
    mainWindow.loadUrl('file://' + __dirname + '/index.html');   
    mainWindow.openDevTools();  
    mainWindow.on('closed', function() {       
        mainWindow = null;
    });
});

my.js file

var sqlite3 = require('sqlite3').verbose();
var db = new sqlite3.Database('mydb.db');

db.serialize(function() {
    db.run("CREATE TABLE if not exists lorem (info TEXT)");

    var stmt = db.prepare("INSERT INTO lorem VALUES (?)");
    for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
        stmt.run("Ipsum " + i);
    }
    stmt.finalize();

    db.each("SELECT rowid AS id, info FROM lorem", function(err, row) {
        console.log(row.id + ": " + row.info);
    });
});

db.close();

index.html file

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head lang="en">
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title></title>
</head>
<body>
<div >
    <div>
        <h2>Hello</h2>
    </div>

</div>
<!--<script src="js/jquery-1.11.3.min.js"></script>-->
<script src="js/my.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
10

10 Answers

129
votes

By far the easiest way to use SQLite with electron is with electron-builder.

First, add a postinstall step in your package.json:

"scripts": {
   "postinstall": "install-app-deps"
   ...
}

and then install the necessary dependencies and build:

npm install --save-dev electron-builder
npm install --save sqlite3
npm run postinstall

electron-builder will build the native module for your platform, with the correct name for the Electron binding; and you can then require it in code as normal.

See my github repo and blog post - it took me quite a while to figure this out too.

22
votes

I would not recommend the native node sqlite3 module. It requires being rebuild to work with electron. This is a massive pain to do - At least I can never get it to work and their a no instructions to for rebuilding modules on windows.

Instead have a look at kripken's 'sql.js' module which is sqlite3 that has been compiled 100% in JavaScript. https://github.com/kripken/sql.js/

11
votes

Two aspects are to be considered here:

  1. Setting NODE_PATH: this lets electron know where to find your modules (see this answer for a thorough explanation)
  2. Compiling native modules against electron headers: see official docs

And checkout the following questions, that ask the same thing:


My tip would be to give lovefield (by Google) a try.

7
votes

I was having same problem. Tried everything and atlast this worked for me :-

npm install --save sqlite3
npm install --save electron-rebuild
npm install --save electron-prebuilt
.\node_modules\.bin\electron-rebuild.cmd

This will create "electron-v1.3-win32-x64" folder in .\node_modules\sqlite3\lib\binding\ location which is used by electron to use sqlite3.

Just start application and you will be able to use sqlite3 now.

6
votes

A simpler solution:

  1. Install electron-rebuild npm i electron-rebuild --save-dev
  2. Launch electron-rebuild ./node_modules/.bin/electron-rebuild (or .\node_modules\.bin\electron-rebuild.cmd on windows)
  3. Go to "node_modules/sqlite3/lib/binding/" and rename the folder "electron-v0.36-darwin-x64" to "node-v47-darwin-x64"

PS: v47 is my version, be careful to choose the good one (in your case v45)

5
votes
npm install --save sqlite3
npm install --save-dev electron-rebuild

Then, in the scripts of your package.json, add this line:

"scripts": {
  "postinstall": "electron-rebuild",
  ...
},

Then just re-install to trigger the post-install:

npm install

Works flawlessly for me in a complex use case also involving electron-builder, electron-webpack and sequelize.

It works in electron-webpack's dev mode and in production mode for both Windows and Linux.

3
votes

I encounter this error too. Here is how i solve it: npm install --save-dev electron-rebuild then: ./node_modules/.bin/electron-rebuild

from: https://electronjs.org/docs/tutorial/using-native-node-modules

ps: While it's on rebuilding, don't use npm startto lanch the electron app. Otherwise the rebuild process would fail.

3
votes

It works for me in version 3 and 4, unfortunately NOT version 5. See the sqlite3 documentation for details: https://www.npmjs.com/package/sqlite3#custom-builds-and-electron or otherwise run the following line: npm install sqlite3 --runtime=electron --target=4.0.0 --dist-url=https://atom.io/download/electron

2
votes

Have a look at a similar answer here

TL;DR

cd .\node_modules\sqlite3
npm install nan --save
npm run prepublish
node-gyp configure --module_name=node_sqlite3 --module_path=../lib/binding/electron-v1.3-win32-x64
node-gyp rebuild --target=1.3.2 --arch=x64 --target_platform=win32 --dist-url=http://electron.atom.io/ --module_name=node_sqlite3 --module_path=../lib/binding/electron-v1.3-win32-x64
0
votes

You can manually build the native modules using visual studio.

  1. Download visual studio 2019.
  2. Install package "desktop development with c++". In installation details tab select "MSVC v140 - VS 2015 C++ build tools (v14.00)"
  3. Download electron-builder in your project.
  4. In package.json create a script. "scripts": { "postinstall": "install-app-deps" }

  5. then run the script.