[MM-47256] Notifications native module

[tboulis]

Summary

Use node-notifier for displaying native notifications.
Add support for sending test notification under Desktop Settings page

Ticket Link

• https://mattermost.atlassian.net/browse/MM-47617
• https://mattermost.atlassian.net/browse/MM-47256

Screenshots

Release Note

Use native module for notifications

[devinbinnie]

Overall looks good! Added a couple non-blocking comments.

[mattermod]

Building app in separate branch.

[mattermod]

Successfully building:
https://circleci.com/gh/mattermost/desktop/24578
https://circleci.com/gh/mattermost/desktop/24577
https://circleci.com/gh/mattermost/desktop/24576

[mattermod]

Artifact links:
https://output.circle-artifacts.com/output/job/d7e60b3c-7dd4-459c-8d1a-f473cf769008/artifacts/0/tmp/artifacts/mattermost-desktop-5.2.0-develop.1-win-ia32.zip
https://output.circle-artifacts.com/output/job/d7e60b3c-7dd4-459c-8d1a-f473cf769008/artifacts/0/tmp/artifacts/mattermost-desktop-5.2.0-develop.1-win-x64.zip
https://output.circle-artifacts.com/output/job/a4ded704-f691-4bbb-a677-433b975bb322/artifacts/0/tmp/artifacts/mattermost-desktop-5.2.0-develop.1-linux-x64.tar.gz
https://output.circle-artifacts.com/output/job/67f0ce92-8ba0-4c9e-8b38-78ec898c3006/artifacts/0/tmp/artifacts/mattermost-desktop-5.2.0-develop.1-mac-m1.dmg
https://output.circle-artifacts.com/output/job/67f0ce92-8ba0-4c9e-8b38-78ec898c3006/artifacts/0/tmp/artifacts/mattermost-desktop-5.2.0-develop.1-mac-x64.dmg

[jgilliam17]

Thanks @tboulis
Seeing one issue on Windows 10, I can hear the notification sound, but no notification popup for messages or when I test "send notification" in settings.
I did get "session expired" notifications, both sound and popup.
On macOS and Ubuntu this works as expected (sound and popup) for both new messages and testing the setting.

[tboulis]

Thanks @tboulis Seeing one issue on Windows 10, I can hear the notification sound, but no notification popup for messages or when I test "send notification" in settings. I did get "session expired" notifications, both sound and popup. On macOS and Ubuntu this works as expected (sound and popup) for both new messages and testing the setting.

Thank you Jelena, I'll take a look!

[tboulis]

The notifications on Windows dont seem to work after building the app. If I run the application locally they are displayed. It could be related to this issue: mikaelbr/node-notifier#182

[tboulis]

node-notifier has too many issues. Closing..

Native module for Notifications feedback (node-notifier)

a. The notifications on Windows don't seem to work (not displayed) after building the app. If I run the application locally they are displayed. It could be related to this issue: mikaelbr/node-notifier#182. I tried the suggested solutions but it wasn't fixed
b. Dynamic notification images (user avatars) don't work correctly: mikaelbr/node-notifier#71
c. Cannot play custom sounds on all OSs, so we still need to play the sound manually, mikaelbr/node-notifier#166 (comment)
d.Notifications on macOS disappear mikaelbr/node-notifier#184

The above are major issues which lead me to move away from this package. Leaving this here for future reference.

Alternatives:

• electron-windows-notifications: Last release 2 years ago and the author probably abandoned the projects
• Electron.Notification: It supports a lot of features for Macos (actions, replies), but not for linux & Windows. For windows we could use the toastXML and customize the notifications with xml to support replies and actions but, the drawback is that we need to use custom protocols & URIs for the actions & replies to work. See this for more info: https://www.sipgate.de/blog/how-to-create-native-notifications-with-action-buttons-on-windows-for-your-electron-app