All my VueJS projects use at the beginning the same baseline :
Vuex
Vue Router
Immutable.js
MathJS
MomentJs
ChartJS
Plus, all my projects have quite the same "index.js" file.
Is there a way to have a command line (preferably based on Vue CLI) that can generate a project with a pre-coded "index.js" file and a package.json with those above dependencies ?
It sounds like you are wanting to use the Vue CLI to create a project. However, you additionally want some default npm packages to be installed and imported into your index.js file.
Answer: no. this functionality does not exist (currently)
Some Suggestions:
Open a feature request here. If you did do a feature request, you should descibe it in a more general way. For example 'allow the ability to specify npm packages on project creation' opposed to specifically installing ChartJS, Moment and the other ones. That's too specific, that will get shot down and closed in a heart beat.
Create a repo with the project structure and packages you want and always start from that repo (opposed to using vue cli)
Write your own custom node cli to interface with vue cli that handels your extra steps for you. You could easily write a node (console program) that executes the steps you want. Basically, create the vue project, npm install what you need, generate an index.js with your package imports.
I think the easiest route is to just create an empty vue project how you want it. Save that repo as 'vue-boilerplate' or something and just always start off with that empty project opposed to doing vue create every time.
In my personal opinion, I think going through all this to npm install 3 packages and add the imports to a js file isn't entirely worth it unless you find yourself creating a massive amount of projects that will all require the exact same setup.
Angular has a similar idea called schematics but I do not see an equivilant within Vue as of yet.
TL;DR Summary
(I'm using Lodash as an example here, but it could be any other package)
In addition to using Lodash for its own purposes, my application also needs to import JavaScript from an NPM package that I created. The JavaScript in this package relies on Lodash as well. It's possible that each codebase may have installed a different version of Lodash. If JavaScript in my application and JavaScript in the installed package both import the same Lodash functions, then I want to avoid having to bundle two different versions of the same function. I understand that NPM is able to resolve the dependencies and that nothing will break, but the size of my application's JavaScript bundle will continue to grow as each codebase uses functions from different versions of the same libraries. It sounds like the only way to keep the versions in sync is to continuously monitor them and upgrade manually when appropriate, or to use the version provided by the installed package directly, without ever installing it into my application's own package.json. Is doing the latter a bad idea and is there no better way?
Original Question
At my company, we've created a Git repository that houses most of our UI component code. This repository also contains a static site generator, which transforms our UI component code into a "living style guide" website. The purpose of this website is to document and showcase our UI components on the web (similar to how PatternLab works).
We also distribute this code via NPM, so that it can be shared across multiple projects. Each project installs the NPM module as a dependency, then imports the SASS and JavaScript files contained within. The JavaScript has been written in ES6 and has not been bundled or transpiled. We've intentionally chosen not to distribute browser-ready code. Instead, each project is responsible for compiling its own SASS and bundling/transpiling its own JavaScript.
Most of our UI component JavaScript is simple and does not depend on any third-party libraries, so it's easy to import into our projects. However, some of our newer, more complex components rely on NPM packages such as Lodash, which presents a problem.
Obviously, we need to install Lodash in order for the static site generator to showcase our Lodash-reliant components inside of a web browser. Similarly, projects that consume the NPM package will also need to install Lodash, in order to create instances of these same components. This forces us to install Lodash twice: once in the UI component project, then again in the project that consumes the NPM package. This is problematic because the two projects could potentially install different versions of Lodash, which could lead to compatibility issues and/or increase the size of our JavaScript bundle.
One solution that I've discovered is to include Lodash under dependencies instead of devDependencies, in the UI component project. This way, when external projects install the UI component NPM module, Lodash will be installed along with it. This gives the project "free" access to Lodash without needing to explicitly install it itself. This is possible because NPM installs packages in a single, flat directory hierarchy, so it doesn't seem to matter if your project installs a package directly or if one of its dependencies exposes it as a dependency in it's own package.json. This eliminates version conflicts, since you don't have to install the package twice.
My question is, does this violate NPM best practices or is this how NPM is intended to work? After reading the NPM documentation and Googling for answers, it doesn't seem like this should be a problem. However, if what I'm suggesting is a bad idea, how else can I accomplish what I'm trying to do?
Here's a quick visual aid:
main.js
node_modules/
lodash/
foo/
bar.js
node_modules/
lodash/
main.js imports and uses Lodash. It also imports foo/bar.js, which uses Lodash too, but a potentially different version. Both files are ES6. main.js gets bundled and transpiled before being sent to the browser.
if is something you are directly using you should specify it in your package.json. it will be installed anyways but this way it will ensure that if your dependency removes that package as a dependency your project won't break
I am creating a javascript client side library which I will make available via Bower and depends on two other libraries, one that is available via Bower (https://github.com/abritinthebay/datejs) and another that is available only via npm (https://github.com/fent/randexp.js). I am concerned about how the users of my library would go about using it. My doubts and fears are:
how can I declare the second library as a dependency of my library when it's only available via npm?
after the user installs my library, will he/she have to be aware of the dependencies and manually include the corresponding javascript files in their index.html? I am aware of grunt-bower-install solving this issue, but I'm concerned about people who don't even use grunt at all.
would it be so bad if I just gave up on all of this and included the code of said libraries in my own code?
(bonus round): I want my library to be available as an AngularJS service, as a node.js module, and as a 'normal' javascript function. Is there a way for me to achieve this using only one repository or do I have to create 3 separate projects?
1) You need to wrap the second library in a bower package if you want it to be available to the bower package management system. npm is something entirely different and you won't be sharing between the two directly.
2) Yes, the user needs to ensure the dependencies are loaded in the right order on each page. Bower just ensures your dependencies are installed and at the correct version.
3) Generally, I'd avoid this. They're separate projects with orthogonal concerns. This is why we've created package managers like bower to begin with.
Bonus:
4) Yes, you can achieve this with one repository. Each package management service requires their own configuration files - but there's nothing wrong with having a bower.json and a package.json both sitting at the root of your repository. You just use npm and bower separately and respectively to publish to each system.
PS. This should have been more than 1 question.
I noticed that somehow there is no packages folder in my newly created Meteor 0.9 project. This means that it must be using package from the ~/.meteor things. However, I cannot work like this as I am hopping between machines all day and I would like the package to stay locally; like in the project folder itself.
In the previous Meteor 0.8.3 project, I manually created packages folder in the project and when I add package it went inside there (for example i can find collectionFs inside package/ in the project directory).
I want it to be like this. How can I do this safely?
You can still drop packages into the top-level "packages" directory inside your project and then run meteor add like usual. These packages are just treated as app-specific packages. Here are the docs about using packages. The relevant bit is quoted here:
In addition to the packages in the official Meteor release being used by your app, meteor list and meteor add also search the packages directory at the top of your app.
I think the idea was to delineate the stand-alone application code from 3rd party libraries. As a package author, this means there are less forks of my library with subtle changes floating around on Atmosphere. It also makes your apps a bit less prone to bugs (given the packages are stable), and encourages better package maintenance.
If you want to use local packages though, here is a good walk-through.
For NPM packages, also check out meteorhacks:npm | github
For the collectionFS, you have to use meteor 0.6 version.
You have to add new release file of meteor 0.6 version.
https://github.com/CollectionFS/Meteor-cfs-example-filemanager
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Although there are great solutions to manage dependencies on the server side, I could not find any that satisfies all my needs to have a coherent client side JavaScript dependency management workflow. I want to satisfy these five requirements:
Manage my client-side dependencies in a format similar to npm's package.json or Bower's bower.json
It should have the flexibility to point to a Git repository or actual JavaScript files (either on web or locally) in my dependency.json file for lesser known libraries (npm let you point to Git repositories)
It should minify and namespace all libraries into a single file like Ender - that's the only JavaScript file I would need to put in my <script> tag in the client side
It should have out of box support for CoffeeScript like BoxJS4 (now dead)
In the browser, I should be able to use either require style:
var $ = require('jquery');
var _ = require('underscore');
Or better yet, do headjs style:
head.js(['jquery', 'underscore', 'mylib'], function($, _, mylib) {
// Executed when all libraries are loaded
});
If no one such single tool exists, what is the best combination of tools i.e. a tool-chain that I can combine using something like Volo (or Grunt)?
I have already researched all the tools I have linked to in here and they satisfy only up to three of my requirements at best individually.
So, please don't post again about these tools. I would only accept an answer that provides a single tool that satisfies all five of my requirements or if someone posts a concrete workflow/script/working example of a toolchain of multiple such tools that also satisfies all my requirements.
RequireJS does everything you need.
My answer to this question may help you.
Example:
Client app project hierarchy:
sampleapp
|___ main.js
|___ cs.js
|___ require.js
main.js is where you initialize your client application and configure RequireJS:
require.config({
baseUrl: "/sampleapp",
paths: {
jquery: "libs/jquery", // Local
underscore: "http://underscorejs.org/underscore-min.js", // Remote
backbone: "https://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/blob/master/backbone-min.js" // Remote on GitHub
},
shim: {
backbone: {
deps: ["underscore", "jquery"] // Backbone depends on jQuery and Underscore.js
}
}
});
require(["cs!someCoffeescriptFile", "jquery", "backbone", "underscore"], function (SomeCoffeescriptFile, $, Backbone, _) {
// Dependencies are loaded...
// Execute code
});
Dependencies will use the cs plugin when prepended by "cs!". The cs plugin compiles the CoffeeScript file.
When you go in production, you can precompile your whole project with r.js.
node ./node_modules/requirejs/bin/r.js -o buildclientconfig.js
Here are your requirements:
Manage my client side dependencies in a format similar to npm's
package.json or Bower's component.json file. Different but as good!
I should have the flexibility to point to a Git repository or the actual JavaScript files (either on web or locally) in my dependency.json file for lesser-known libraries (npm lets you point to Git repositories). Yes
It should minify and namespace all libraries into a single file like Ender. That's the only JavaScript file I would need to put in my script-tag on the client side. Yes with r.js.
It should have out of box support for CoffeeScript, like Box. Yes
In the browser I can use either require style or headjs. Yes
RequireJS is the one you are looking for, I believe.
As Guillaume86, I think Hem will get you the closest to where you want to be.
In Hem, dependencies are managed using a combination of npm and Hem. Use npm
to explicitly install all of your projects external dependencies. Use Hem to specify which dependencies (both external and local) should be stitched together for you client side operations.
I created a skeleton project of this, so you can see how this would work. You can see it at Client-side Hem.
Adding dependencies
Use npm to search for a specific dependency and then modify the package.json file to ensure that the dependency is tracked in the future. Then specify the
dependency for your application in slug.json.
For example, suppose you wanted to add the CoffeeScript dependency. Just use npm to install the dependency and save it to your package.json file:
npm --save install coffee-script
Manually edit the slug.json file. Add "coffee-script" to "dependencies".
Suppose you wanted to include your own module 'bloomfilters' and it wasn't in the npm registry. You could add it to your project in the following way:
npm --save install https://github.com/dsummersl/bloomfilters/tarball/master
Manually edit the slug.json file. Add "bloomfilters" to "dependencies".
Local modules
If you want to include your own CoffeeScript or JavaScript code, you can do so by adding those files to the app/ folder. Note that in order to expose your script via the 'require' method you must make it a CommonJS module. It is very simple—see the Hem documentation.
Local files
If you want to include non-CommonJS non 'require' code, you can also stitch that by referencing your custom JavaScript or CoffeeScript code via the 'libs' list in
file slug.json.
CSS
Hem will stitch together your CSS too, if you want. See the Hem documentation.
Building
Once you have your dependencies listed, you can use hem to stitch them all together.
# Make sure all dependencies are present:
npm install .
# Make public/application.js
hem build
# See your minified js in public/application.js
Notes
Hem was meant for the Spine.js project - but you don't have to use it for that. Ignore any documentation mentioning spine as you wish...
There is also Browserify.
supports the package.json format
uses npm underneath which can use a GitHub (or any Git) repository as a package source
minifies and concatenates all dependencies into a single file.
supports CoffeeScript if you include it in your dependencies
require style all the way.
supports source maps
I'm pretty sure Hem meets your requirements (I use a personal fork with additional compilers, Jade and Stylus. It's easy to customize to your needs). It uses npm to manage dependencies.
You might want to take a look at Yeoman, which uses several techniques to help you with your requirements.
Our workflow is comprised of three tools for improving your
productivity and satisfaction when building a web app: Yo (the
scaffolding tool), Grunt (the build tool) and Bower (for package
management).
Built-in support for CoffeeScript, Compass and more. It works with r.js (RequireJS), unit testing, etc.
As for your requirements:
Bower is used for dependency management
Bower can work with local files, git://, http:// and more
Built-in support for minification and concatenation (even for your images)
Built-in support to automatically compile CoffeeScript and Compass (with LiveReload)
As stated in the build process: if you're using AMD, I will pass those modules through r.js so you don't have to.
All features:
Lightning-fast scaffolding — Easily scaffold new projects with
customizable templates (e.g HTML5 Boilerplate, Twitter Bootstrap),
RequireJS and more.
Great build process — Not only do you get
minification and concatenation; I also optimize all your image files,
HTML, compile your CoffeeScript and Compass files, if you're using
AMD, I will pass those modules through r.js so you don't have to.
Automatically compile CoffeeScript & Compass — Our LiveReload watch
process automatically compiles source files and refreshes your browser
whenever a change is made so you don't have to.
Automatically lint your scripts — All your scripts are automatically run against JSHint to ensure they're following language best-practices.
Built-in preview server — No more having to fire up your own HTTP Server. My built-in
one can be fired with just one command.
Awesome Image Optimization — I optimize all your images using OptiPNG and JPEGTran so your users can spend less time downloading assets and more time using your app.
Killer package management — Need a dependency? It's just a keystroke
away. I allow you to easily search for new packages via the
command-line (e.g. bower search jquery), install them and keep them
updated without needing to open your browser.
PhantomJS Unit Testing — Easily run your unit tests in headless WebKit via PhantomJS. When
you create a new application, I also include some test scaffolding for
your app.
Bower may suit your needs (1). And (2) for the rest you have RequireJS.
From the README:
Bower is a package manager for the web. Bower lets you easily install assets such as images, CSS and JavaScript, and manages dependencies for you.
To install a package:
bower install jquery
bower install git://github.com/maccman/package-jquery.git
bower install http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.7.2.js
bower install ./repos/jquery
I just came across inject.js
Some of the features, from the project site:
Inject (Apache Software License 2.0) is a revolutionary way to manage your dependencies in a Library Agnostic way. Some of its major features include:
CommonJS Compliance in the Browser (exports.*)
View the full CommonJS Support Matrix
Cross domain retrieval of files (via easyXDM)
localStorage (load a module once)
Look at the Jam package manager. Following is the description from its homepage
For front-end developers who crave maintainable assets, Jam is a package manager for JavaScript. Unlike other repositories, we put the browser first.
It seems a lot similar to npm in how it works.
Install the package like below:
jam install backbone
Keep the packages up-to-date by executing:
jam upgrade
jam upgrade {package}
Optimize packages for production
jam compile compiled.min.js
Jam dependencies can be added in package.json file.
For complete documentation, read the Jam documentation.
There are a couple of options:
Browserify which allows you to import modules
RequireJS addresses the same problem
One that seems to be in active development is JoinJS
Component might also be of interest. It does not manage dependencies per se, but it allows you to use chopped up versions of otherwise large libraries.
Here's a solution that takes a very different approach: package up all the modules into a JSON object and require modules by reading and executing the file content without additional requests.
Pure client-side demo implementation: http://strd6.github.io/editor/
https://github.com/STRd6/require/blob/master/main.coffee.md
STRd6/require depends on having a JSON package available at runtime. The require function is generated for that package. The package contains all the files your app could require. No further HTTP requests are made because the package bundles all dependencies. This is as close as one can get to the Node.js style require on the client.
The structure of the package is as follows:
entryPoint: "main"
distribution:
main:
content: "alert(\"It worked!\")"
...
dependencies:
<name>: <a package>
Unlike Node.js a package doesn't know its external name. It is up to the package including the dependency to name it. This provides complete encapsulation.
Given all that setup here's a function that loads a file from within a package:
loadModule = (pkg, path) ->
unless (file = pkg.distribution[path])
throw "Could not find file at #{path} in #{pkg.name}"
program = file.content
dirname = path.split(fileSeparator)[0...-1].join(fileSeparator)
module =
path: dirname
exports: {}
context =
require: generateRequireFn(pkg, module)
global: global
module: module
exports: module.exports
PACKAGE: pkg
__filename: path
__dirname: dirname
args = Object.keys(context)
values = args.map (name) -> context[name]
Function(args..., program).apply(module, values)
return module
This external context provides some variable that modules have access to.
A require function is exposed to modules so they may require other modules.
Additional properties such as a reference to the global object and some metadata are also exposed.
Finally we execute the program within the module and given context.
This answer will be most helpful to those who wish to have a synchronous Node.js style require statement in the browser and are not interested in remote script loading solutions.
I use Hem with npm, and I wanted to add some additional benefits that I think weren't covered so far.
Hem has a self-contained web server (Strata) so you can develop your code without even needing to recompile. I never use hem build unless I am publishing an application.
You don't need to use Spine.js to use Hem. You can use it to compile arbitrary CoffeeScript packages if you set up file slug.json correctly. Here's one of my packages that is auto-compiled with cakefile:
TurkServer
Speaking of the above, Hem allows you to link other dependencies on your local system in with an npm link and combines them seamlessly even when you are using the Strata server. In fact, you needn't even use the cake method above; you can just link directly to CoffeeScript from dependent projects.
Hem supports eco (embedded CoffeeScript) for views and Stylus for CSS, and compiles all that, along with your CoffeeScript code, into one JavaScript file and one CSS file.
Here's a basic list for getting set up with a Spine.js, Hem, and CoffeeScript application. Feel free to ignore the Spine.js parts. In fact, sometimes I use spine app to set up a directory structure for a non-Spine.js application, then edit file slug.json to change to a different compilation structure.
Install NPM: curl http://npmjs.org/install.sh | sh on a Unix-like system. I'll assume it's available from the command line.
Install Hem globally (npm install -g hem). Development has branched as of late, so you might want to get it straight out of GitHub, checkout a branch, and npm install -g . in that folder.
npm install -g spine.app will make spine available as a global command
spine app folder will make a Spine project called app in folder, generating the right directory structure and a bunch of skeleton files to get started.
cd to folder and edit file dependencies.json for the libraries you need. Add them to file slug.json, so that Hem knows where to find them as well.
Optional: npm link any of your local packages in development to folder node_modules, and you can add them to file slug.json for Hem (either an index.js file to include directly or an index.coffee file if you want hem to compile it.)
npm install . to download all the dependencies you just entered in.
If you take a look at the default spine configuration, there is a app/lib/setup.coffee where you require all the libraries you need from your dependencies. Examples:
# Spine.app had these as dependencies by default
require('json2ify')
require('es5-shimify')
require('jqueryify')
require('spine')
require('spine/lib/local')
require('spine/lib/ajax')
require('spine/lib/manager')
require('spine/lib/route')
# D3.js was installed via file 'dependencies.json'
require 'd3/d3.v2'
In file index.coffee, you just do require lib/setup and load the main controller for your application. In addition, you need to do require on any other classes in those other controllers. You can use spine controller something or spine model something to generate templates for controllers and models. A typical Spine controller looks like the following, using Node.js' require:
Spine = require('spine')
# Require other controllers
Payment = require('controllers/payment')
class Header extends Spine.Controller
constructor: ->
# Initialize the class
active: ->
super
#render()
render: ->
# Pull down some eco files
#html require('views/header')
# Makes this visible to other controllers
module.exports = Header
The default generated index.html file will usually be fine for loading your application, but modify as necessary. Per your requirements, it only pulls in one .js and one .css file, which you never need to modify.
Edit your stylus files as necessary in the css folder. It's a lot more flexible than CSS :)
From folder, run hem server to start a Hem server, and navigate to localhost:9294 to see your application (if you installed Hem globally). It has some hidden arguments, for example, --host 0.0.0.0 listens on all ports.
Build the rest of your application using proper MVC techniques, and use stylus for CSS and eco for views. Or don't use Spine at all, and Hem will still work great with CoffeeScript and npm. There are many examples of projects using both models.
One more thing: normally, hem server will update automatically as you update your code and save files, which makes it a cinch to debug. Running hem build will compile your application into two files, application.js, which is minified and application.css. If you run hem server after this, it will use those files and no longer update automatically. So don't hem build until you actually need a minified version of your application for deployment.
Additional references: Spine.js and Hem: Getting started
Check out Cartero if you are using Node.js or Express.js on the backend.
I'd suggest to check out the Dojo Toolkit which seems to meet most of your requirements. The one I'm not sure about is CoffeeScript.
Dojo works with modules written in the Asynchronous Module Definition (AMD) format. It has a build system with packages and you can aggregate them in one or several files (called layers). Apparently it accepts Git type repositories, and more details on the build system are on Creating Builds.
For the record, v1.9 beta is expected next month.
Dependency injection with asynchronous loading and Browserify will be another good choice, compares to RequireJS.
asynchronous-frontend-dependency-management-without-AMD
Another framework that satisfies all my criteria released recently is http://duojs.org/ (and it also supports treating other resources, like CSS, as dependencies).