Create-apex-js-app NPM

create-apex-js-app

create-apex-js-app bootstraps a JavaScript app for your Oracle APEX application based on a template. This template can either be a publicly available template as a npm package or git repository, or your own, fully customized template. By default, create-apex-js-app uses the apexjs-template-js-lib template, which allows you to create your own JavaScript library for APEX and includes a full build process.

By using a standardized way to build your JavaScript code, you will benefit from an increase in quality and reusability of your JavaScript codebase. create-apex-js-app helps you with the initial setup of your project, which can be tedious and time-consuming, and allows you to concentrate on your code.

Before you start

Please make sure you have the following installed:

node.js >= 8.9.0

These tools are optional, but greatly enhance your development experience:

Visual Studio Code
Prettier Plugin for Visual Studio Code (a configuration file for Prettier is included)

Create your app

To create your JavaScript app for APEX, run the following command in your shell with the app name replaced (the app name may only include letters, numbers, underscores and hashes):

npx create-apex-js-app <app-name>

This will download and run the generator package, without leaving anything installed on your machine from the generator itself. If you do not specify a template, as in this example, create-apex-js-app uses the apexjs-template-js-lib template.

You can also use a specific version for the generation of your app:

npx create-apex-js-app@0.0.1 <app-name>

This uses version 0.0.1 of this tool to create your app.

Options

-p / --plain

By default, the required dependencies for your app are installed during the creation of your project. If you do not want this and rather install the dependencies yourself at a later point, you can use the --plain flag.

npx create-apex-js-app <app-name> --plain

Before you can start bundling your app, you then need to install the dependencies by running the following command from the route of your project:

npm install

-t / --template

If you want to create your app with a different template, you can define the template at runtime by using the --template option:

npx create-apex-js-app <app-name> --template <templateName>

The template name can either be a npm package or a github repository. Below are examples of possible calls with the template option:

# load the template from the npm package apexjs-template-my-lib
npx create-apex-js-app myApp -t apexjs-template-my-lib

# load the template from the npm package apexjs-template-my-lib with the version 0.1.4
npx create-apex-js-app myApp -t apexjs-template-my-lib@0.1.4

# load the template from the github repository "myTemplate" of user "gituser" via https
npx create-apex-js-app myApp -t git+https://git@github.com/gituser/myTemplate.git

# load tag 0.1.4 of the template myLocalTemplate from your local git url with ssh
npx create-apex-js-app myApp -t git+ssh://git@my-local-git-url:myLocalTemplate.git#0.1.4

Please note, that while it is a possibility to install a project from a github repository like "gituser/repository", this notation can not be used here at this point. You must provide the full git url as shown above in order to assure that the template is loaded correctly.

Check below section for more details on how to create your own template .

Available templates

The following templates are currently publicly available for create-apex-js-app:

Template name	Description
apexjs-template-js-lib	Default template to create a JavaScript library

You have an idea for an additional template? You already create a template and want to share it? Check out below section on how to contribute.

-s / --supress-inquiry

During the creation of your app, you might be asked additional question regarding the details of your app. These questions are set by the template you use. Check the documentation of the template you use for details regarding the setup questions.

This option is passed to the template and indicates, that no questions should be asked during the setup, hence the template must use default values for all questions. The main purpose for this is to allow the automatic build to pass without having to answer questions. You might however also use this option, if you are ok with all default values of a tempate anyways.

How to use your app

How to write an build your app depends on the template you use. By default, this tool uses the apexjs-template-js-lib template, which bootstraps a project that allows you to put your JavaScript code into a library that you can then use in APEX. For this template, the build of your app can be triggered by executing the following command in the root of your app:

npm run build

For all details on how to write and build your app, check the documentation of the template your are using.

Create your own template

When using this tool, chances are that at some point you want to change some of the predefined settings and generate your libraries from your own, customized template. To create your own template, please fork the default template repository (apexjs-template-js-lib) and create your template from that. Checkout the guide on forking projects if you are not familiar with forking. If you do not want to have your template publicly available, you can clone the template and then remove the link to the git repository as well.

Having created your copy of the default template, there are just a few things that you need to follow, in order to be able to use it from this tool:

The package.json file of your template project, needs to include all the dependencies required during the creation of a app with your template. It is important that they are added as dependencies and not devDependencies!
Your template must expose the function called setupLibrary and logWelcomeMsg in the index.js file in the root of your template. The setupLibrary function should include all customization you want to apply to your template during the creation of a new app and before the template files are copied. It can also include any questions you want to ask for details that you need for the app creation. Any action in that function must be wrapped in a promise, which is returned b the function. The logWelcomeMsg function can include any message you want to log to the console when the app has been created and should serve as a short introduction on how to use your template.
After the setupLibrary function has completed, a folder called template must exist in the root of your template. All files contained in that folder will be copied to the new app.
The template project should not contain the node_modules folder. Make sure, that this folder is added to the .gitignore file. All dependencies listed in your package.json will be installed during the creation of a new app.