Case Study

Modernizing a mature Electron trade design platform — seven Angular versions, no rewrite

completed

Manufacturing

Summary

An established trade design platform built with Angular and Electron had reached the end of its supported technology lifecycle: increasingly hard to develop, increasingly exposed. A dedicated two-person dotWhite modernization team independently planned and executed the full technology refresh after initial handover — bringing the application onto a current, supported stack without a rewrite and without disrupting ongoing product development.

Client

Howdens

Manufacturing

Based in UK

Angular (8 → 15)
Electron
TypeScript
Node.js
npm
MSAL & MSAL Angular v2
Angular Material
Storybook
ESLint
Azure DevOps
Electron Builder
ffi-napi
node-addon-api

The Task

Challenge

Angular, Electron, and Node.js each support different version ranges, so no direct jump to the latest release was possible — the migration had to move incrementally through several major versions, validating compatibility and resolving breaking changes at every stage. Microsoft’s new authentication model required redesigning significant parts of the auth flow. And a critical third-party library for native OS window management had been discontinued, its final release containing defects that blocked integration with newer runtimes.

Our Solution

Results

The application runs on a current, supported technology stack with existing functionality fully preserved — no rewrite required. Maintainability, security, and long-term sustainability improved significantly, and the client continues evolving the product on modern tooling. Delivered by two engineers working independently after handover.

The Work

What we’ve built

An incremental migration from Angular 8 to Angular 15 with Electron, Node.js, npm, and TypeScript upgraded in lockstep — each stage proven functional before the next. The authentication layer was rebuilt on MSAL and MSAL Angular v2, including application registration and configuration changes. Beyond the frameworks: TSLint → ESLint migration, Angular Material and Storybook updates, dependency vulnerabilities resolved via npm audit, and compatibility secured for native modules (ffi-napi, node-addon-api). For the discontinued window-management library, we created and maintained our own fork, fixed the underlying defects, and integrated the patched version — avoiding costly architectural changes or feature loss. End-to-end testing accompanied every migration stage.

Supporting Platforms & Tools

Takeaway

Many teams can build a new Angular application. Far fewer can carry a mature commercial Electron product across seven major versions — with native modules, a redesigned auth system, and an abandoned dependency — while it stays shippable the whole way. Modernization under constraint is the rarer engineering skill.

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