automator-dan v1.0.0

automator-dan

An automated build utility for browserify+watchify/SASS projects, with a tiny live CSS reloading server.

Installation

npm install automator-dan

Usage

automator-dan is a CLI tool, generally invoked through a scripts entry in package.json.

Usage: automator-dan [OPTIONS]

Options

  -h, --help          Display this usage guide
  -p, --production    Do a production build (include "production" config from package.json)
  -w, --watch         Watch source directories and re-run builds on changes
  -s, --sass          Enable style build with node-sass
  -l, --liveCSS       Inject live reloading CSS code and host local websocket server (8080)

automator-dan reads the automatorConfig field in your project's package.json. Here's an example:

"automatorConfig": {
  "js": {
    "target": "./dist/App.js",
    "base": {
      "entries": ["./src/js/App.js"],
      "paths": ["./node_modules", "./src/js/"],
      "transform": [
        [
          "babelify", {
            "presets": ["es2015", "react"]
          }
        ]
      ],
      "plugin": [
        [
          "minifyify", {
            "map": "App.js.map",
            "output": "./dist/App.js.map"
          }
        ]
      ]
    }
  },

  "style": {
    "srcDir": "./src/style",
    "entry": "App.scss",
    "target": "./dist/App.css"
  }
}

The js field configures the Javascript build process. target is the location of the final output bundle. The base field specifies the default configuration options that are fed to browserify. In the above example, browserify is configured to take ./src/js/App.js as input, require or import from ./node_modules and ./src/js/, use babelify as a transform (with presets es2015 and react) and run the output through minifyify.

If, in addition to base, a production field is present and the -p option is used, options in production will override those in base.

The style field configures the node-sass build process, and is only required when the -s option is used. srcDir is the source directory for sass files, entry is the entry point for the sass build (within srcDir) and target is the location of the final output bundle.

If the -w option is used, automator-dan will inject watchify as a plugin into the Javascript build configuration, which enables source tree watching and smart, fast rebuilds. Additionally, if the style build is enabled, it will watch the srcDir for changes and do a node-sass build when necessary.

LiveCSS

automator-dan has a built in hot CSS reloading server that can be enabled with the -l option.

If LiveCSS is enabled, automator-dan will try to start a websockets server on port 8080 that notifies any listeners whenever a style build finishes. It will also inject a code snippet into the final Javascript bundle that connects to that service and listens for updates. Whenever this listener receives a notification, it reloads the main stylesheet, instantly pushing out style changes to the page.

In order for this to work, the stylesheet that you want to reload needs to be tagged with a main-stylesheet id, e.g.

<link id='main-stylesheet' rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="App.css">

License

MIT