Uncaught Exception: Error: Cannot find module 'pcsclite'

[flackjap]

Hi,

This is the first time I'm building something with Electron.
Now, I read everything there is in the FAQ section and "Can I use this library in my Electron app?".
I tried everything from the Electron docs (Using Native Node Modules). The only thing I didn't try is "Manually building for a custom build of Electron" - since I'm not running a custom Electron build.

Things I tried:

• Different versions of almost everything.
• Tried doing everything on OSX and Linux.
• Older node and npm versions.
• Different electron headers.
• Checked that the cpu target architectures are matched.
• Tried packaging the app with electron-builder and running it on OSX.
• Tried re-configuring the electron-builder with options such as buildDependenciesFromSource and npmRebuild set to true.
• Removed node_modules, removed cache and tried installing everything a few times.

No success.
I keep getting the following Uncaught Exception whenever I run the app (whether with "electron ." (npm start) or as a fully packaged app with electron-builder).

Error: Cannot find module 'pcsclite'
    at Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:584:15)
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (/Users/flackjap/Code/vozzi/electronic-service-book/first-test/node_modules/electron/dist/Electron.app/Contents/Resources/electron.asar/common/reset-search-paths.js:43:12)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:510:25)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:640:17)
    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:20:18)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/flackjap/Code/vozzi/electronic-service-book/first-test/main.js:4:18)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/flackjap/Code/vozzi/electronic-service-book/first-test/main.js:144:3)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:693:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:704:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:602:32)

Sorry if I shouldn't post this here if this is the general problem with building native modules. I just cannot know if it is, since I tried googling and didn't find enough relatable issues, so it seemed to me that the problem might actually be with this module specifically.

This is my package.json:

  "name": "electron-quick-start",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "A minimal Electron application",
  "main": "main.js",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "electron .",
    "pack": "electron-builder --dir",
    "distt": "electron-builder",
    "dist": "build"
  },
  "repository": "https://github.com/electron/electron-quick-start",
  "keywords": [
    "Electron",
    "quick",
    "start",
    "tutorial",
    "demo"
  ],
  "author": "GitHub",
  "license": "CC0-1.0",
  "devDependencies": {
    "electron-builder": "^20.38.5",
    "electron-rebuild": "^1.8.4"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "electron": "^4.0.4",
    "@pokusew/pcsclite": "^0.5.1"
  },
  "build": {
    "buildDependenciesFromSource": true,
    "nodeGypRebuild": false,
    "npmRebuild": true,
    "appId": "electron.vozzi.app",
    "dmg": {
      "contents": [
        {
          "x": 110,
          "y": 150
        },
        {
          "x": 240,
          "y": 150,
          "type": "link",
          "path": "/Applications"
        }
      ]
    },
    "linux": {
      "target": [
        "AppImage",
        "deb"
      ]
    },
    "win": {
      "target": "squirrel",
      "icon": "build/icon.ico"
    }
  }
}

The only thing I find a bit suspicious is the folder structure for this module, since it has two parent folders (node_modules/@pokusew/pcsclite/...), and that maybe some paths are misconfigured, but I don't know where to look or how to debug. I did however see at some stackoverflow comments that people are manually configuring some module paths in some cases, but I'm not sure how should I approach this, or even if I should be doing that.

Thanks in advance.

--

edit/update: Also tried manually copying the "pcsclite.node" from node_modules/@pokusew/pcsclite/build/Release" into the build folder of the project - still getting the same error.

[pokusew]

Hi @flackjap,

Thank you for posting your issue here. 🙂

I think, it's caused by incorrect module name in require statement.
The correct way to import @pokusew/pcsclite is:

const pcsclite = require('@pokusew/pcsclite');

The module name must exactly match the name listed in package.js's dependencies section.

Please let me know if you are able to make it work with the change above.

BTW: Unfortunately, there was a mistake (missing @pokusew scope) in the require statement in the README's example. I am very, very, very sorry for the confusion it might have created. 😔I've just fixed it and released the new version (so that it's fixed on npm README, too). 🚀

BTW 2: 👀I highly recommend taking a look at nfc-pcsc which offers easy to use high level API for detecting / reading and writing NFC tags and cards. ✨It is much easier to work with, it has more documentation and more examples. (And it uses @pokusew/pcsclite under the hood.)

Hope it helps. 🙂

---

PS Don't forget to star ⭐️my nfc-pcsc library, if you find it useful. 😃Thanks.

[flackjap]

Hi @pokusew ,

Yup, that was the issue :)
I figured it out by myself about 10 minutes before you commented. Someone asked me to post the code on StackOverflow (where I also posted a question about this), and I asked myself "What could possibly go wrong in the code - I just copy/pasted from readme and it only gets stuck at the import/require level" - and voila, there it was. I thought that I could even swear that I have already tried changing it to "@pokusew/pcsclite" - but it looks like I didn't :) ... Probably got distracted by thinking that the problem has to be around compiling native modules and totally neglected something basic as this :)

Thanks for the recommendation about the nfc-pcsc, I will definitely take a look at it and give it a shot.

Cheers!

[rc201612]

Hi @pokusew

I notice you say that you have this library working with Electron.

I am currently getting the the "cannot find module" error.

Before this I was getting the NODE_MODULE_VERSION mismatch error and ended up running ./node_modules/.bin/electron-rebuild . This suggests that it was finding the module before I ended up rebuilding it. I am running Windows and passed the --windows flag into the build.

Below is the code that I have in my Electron app.

const pcsclite = require('@pokusew/pcsclite');

const pcsc = pcsclite();

pcsc.on('reader', (reader) => {

  console.log('New reader detected', reader.name);

});

pcsc.on('error', err => {
  console.log('PCSC error', err.message);
});

Do you think you'd be able to share a simple example of running this inside Electron?

Many thanks.