Gulp-mockup NPM

gulp-mockup

Create frontend mockups from template files a backend can use so that they do not get out of sync after the go-live. Or you can just use the plugin to easily create and maintain static websites.

Description

Frontend mockups have the tendency to get out of sync with the production website after the go-live as nobody has got the time to always update the mockup with every little detail. This plugin allows the frontend developer to write template files the backend developer can use in the production code. This way, all additions to the production templates will automatically be included in the mockup.

The backend is simulated by data files which contain a path to a Nunjucks template view and the simulated data for the template context. The data files will also dictate the directory structure of the mockup and are parsed with any-eval to allow for code-splitting.

Installation

Install the package with npm and save it as a development dependency.
npm install --save-dev gulp-mockup

Usage

Create a data file for each page of your HTML mockup. The data should include a path to a Nunjucks view and some data for the rendering context.

// data/projects-loremipsum.js
module.exports = {
  template: 'views/project.njk',

  title: 'Lorem Ipsum',
  lead: 'Dolor sit amet.',
  ...
};

Then pass a glob or an array of globs describing your data files to gulp.src and pipe it through this plugin - and gulp-rename for the file extensions - to create a mockup with templates you can reuse in your Express backend.

The data files can have any format understood by any-eval and the location of the template path can be changed in the settings.

This plugins supports gulp-data if you want to attach more data in your Gulp task. Things you do not want to maintain by hand. For example, mock galleries from image folders.

Examples

Minimalistic

const mockup = require('gulp-mockup');
const rename = require('gulp-rename');

gulp.task('njk', () => {
   let glob = `${__dirname}/src/njk/data/*.js`;

   let tplDir = path.join(__dirname, 'src', 'njk');

   return gulp.src(glob)
      .pipe(mockup({ tplDir }))
      .pipe(rename({ extname: '.html' }))
      .pipe(gulp.dest(path.join(__dirname, 'dist')));
});

Integrated

const mockup = require('gulp-mockup');
const rename = require('gulp-rename');

gulp.task('njk', () => {
   let globs = [
      // Files that should generate an output.
      `${__dirname}/app/templates/data/*.js`,

      // Helper files imported by files above.
      // This is not necessary. Files will be removed from
      // the output if they do not export a template path.
      // This is to suppress the associated warning.
      `!${__dirname}/app/templates/data/_*.js`,
   ];

   let options = {
      // Something not in use by your backend.
      tplProp: 'meta.template',
      // Where your backend stores its templates.
      tplDir: path.join(__dirname, 'app', 'templates'),
      // The environment you have set up for your backend.
      njkEnv: require(path.join(__dirname, 'app', 'nunjucks')).env,
   };

   return gulp.src(globs)
      .pipe(mockup(options))
      .pipe(rename({ extname: '.html' }))
      .pipe(gulp.dest(path.join(__dirname, 'public_html')));
});

API

mockup(options)

options

Type object

No option is required. But, you should have a look at templateDirectories.

templateProperty

Type: string
Default: 'template'
Alias: tplProp

Where the path to the template view is stored in the extracted data object.

The file path should be relative to templateDirectories. Or more generally speaking, relative to the search paths of the filesystem loaders from the environment.

The plugin uses Lodash's at function to get to the property from a string. Check their documentation for the string syntax.

templateDirectories

Type: string or string[]
Default: path.resolve(__dirname, '../..')
Alias: tplDir

The base directories for the paths specified in templateProperty.

The default value should point to the project root. But, you probably want to set your own value.

If you provide your own environment, this option will be ignored. Otherwise, this path will be used to initialize Nunjuck's filesystem loader.

nunjucksOptions

Type: object
Default: {}
Alias: njkOpts

The options will be passed directly to the Nunjucks Environment constructor.

The constructor accepts the following flags:
autoescape, throwOnUndefined, trimBlocks, lstripBlocks

For more control, you can provide your own environment to nunjucksEnvironment.

nunjucksEnvironment

Type: nunjucks.Environment
Default: undefined
Alias: njkEnv

The Nunjucks environment to be used to render the templates.

If you provide an environment, templateDirectories and nunjucksOptions will be ignored. Your environment should come fully configured. The idea is to pass the enviroment you use in your Express backend.

gulp-nunjucks
That is what I used before.
gulp-render-nunjucks
That came closest to covering my needs. But, my Gulp task felt hacky and convoluted. If my plugin is too specific for your needs, that one will probably be what you are looking for.
gulp-nunjucks-render
That just really looked like what I needed.
gulp-nunjucks-md
Something similar but with front-matter.