How to enable Node.js in a CEP Extension

[Nikhil Bhojwani]

Hi everyone,

I have followed this article/tutorial on how to make my first CEP Panel 

Link: https://blog.developer.adobe.com/how-to-create-your-first-adobe-panel-in-6-easy-steps-f8bd4ed5778

Now I'm trying to follow this article on how to enable Node.js on a CEP Panel

Link: https://medium.com/adobetech/how-to-build-a-node-js-server-in-a-panel-ba1d63ea67e2

Unfortunately, I'm getting this (attached below) error when I'm trying to debug the extension on the browser. Can someone explain to me how to resolve this or what exactly am I missing here?

Let me know if you need any further information about my extension/system.

[Inventsable · Accepted solution]

• That article is outdated and most of Adobe's own documentation (UXP aside) isn't nearly as reliable as community documentation
• You need NodeJS installed on your machine
• You should use CEFClient to debug as of CEP10 and on certain browsers cannot use devtools any more without additional steps
• Ensure the following parameters are included inside CEFCommandLine in your CSXS/manifest.xml file:

<DispatchInfoList>
  <Extension Id="some.adobe.extension">
    <DispatchInfo>
      <Resources>
        <MainPath>./main/index.html</MainPath>
        <CEFCommandLine>
          <Parameter>--enable-nodejs</Parameter>
          <Parameter>--mixed-context</Parameter>
        </CEFCommandLine>
      </Resources>

•  If you're using jQuery (which I don't recommend) then you need to follow the instructions in the Cookbook about adding boot code, this can be in the head of your index.html file before the jQuery script
• Check out some more modern "Getting Started" guides for CEP like this one
• There are much easier though admittedly more advanced ways to create panels. My own Bombino framework can generate a panel for you in less than a minute and comes with an entire component library included for you to use though it's all in Vue 2x. Bolt-CEP is my personal choice as of late though it's all Typescript, Vue3/React/Svelte. Searching through Github for keywords like "adobe" and "cep" should show quite a few of these and you're likely to find one for vanilla Javascript without using frameworks like Vue or React, though either Vue or Svelte are great picks and beginner friendly so if you have a decent grasp on Javascript I'd really recommend one of them.

[Nikhil Bhojwani]

Thanks buddy,
I really appreciate this, and I figured it out. Also, your Bombino framework is a piece of art.
Kudos to you!