The shared directory provides reusable components that handle common CEF integration patterns, reducing code duplication across test applications and demonstrating best practices for CEF application development.

Used by:

cefclient - Comprehensive feature demonstration and testing application
ceftests - Automated unit test suite

Not used by:

cefsimple - Minimal C++ example (self-contained)
cefsimple_capi - Minimal C API example (self-contained)

Directory Structure

browser/

Browser process utilities including:

Application framework with delegate pattern (client_app_browser)
Message loop implementations (standard, external pump, multi-threaded)
Cross-platform resource loading (resource_util)
File system operations and geometry utilities

common/

Code shared across all process types:

Base application handler (client_app)
Process type detection and command-line parsing
Custom scheme registration
String and binary data utilities

renderer/

Renderer process handler with delegate pattern for V8 context management and JavaScript extension registration.

resources/

Shared test resources (HTML pages, icons, sample files).

Key Concepts

Delegate Pattern: Applications (cefclient, ceftests) extend shared base classes by implementing delegates rather than modifying shared code.

Message Loop Abstraction: Supports multiple threading models - standard CEF loop, external pump (integrates with platform event loops), and multi-threaded mode.

Platform Abstraction: Common interfaces with platform-specific implementations for resource loading, file operations, and window management.

Usage

Applications use shared handlers for process-specific behavior:

CefRefPtr<ClientApp> app;
switch (process_type) {
  case ClientApp::BrowserProcess:
    app = new ClientAppBrowser();   // Browser process handler
    break;
  case ClientApp::RendererProcess:
    app = new ClientAppRenderer();  // Renderer process handler
    break;
}

Applications customize behavior by implementing delegates without modifying shared code.

References

CEF General Usage - CEF API documentation
CEF Tutorial - Application architecture overview
cefclient - Reference implementation using shared code
ceftests - Test suite using shared code