What is broccoli-plugin?
The broccoli-plugin npm package is a base class for Broccoli plugins. Broccoli is a JavaScript build tool, and this package allows developers to create custom plugins for their build pipelines. It provides a structured way to define input and output nodes, manage file transformations, and handle build errors.
What are broccoli-plugin's main functionalities?
Creating a Basic Plugin
This code demonstrates how to create a basic Broccoli plugin that reads a file, transforms its content to uppercase, and writes the result to the output directory.
const Plugin = require('broccoli-plugin');
const fs = require('fs');
class MyPlugin extends Plugin {
constructor(inputNodes, options) {
super(inputNodes, options);
}
build() {
const inputPath = this.inputPaths[0];
const outputPath = this.outputPath;
const inputFile = `${inputPath}/input.txt`;
const outputFile = `${outputPath}/output.txt`;
const content = fs.readFileSync(inputFile, 'utf8');
const transformedContent = content.toUpperCase();
fs.writeFileSync(outputFile, transformedContent);
}
}
module.exports = MyPlugin;
Handling Multiple Input Nodes
This example shows how to handle multiple input nodes in a Broccoli plugin. It reads files from two different input directories, combines their contents, and writes the result to the output directory.
const Plugin = require('broccoli-plugin');
const fs = require('fs');
class MultiInputPlugin extends Plugin {
constructor(inputNodes, options) {
super(inputNodes, options);
}
build() {
const inputPath1 = this.inputPaths[0];
const inputPath2 = this.inputPaths[1];
const outputPath = this.outputPath;
const content1 = fs.readFileSync(`${inputPath1}/file1.txt`, 'utf8');
const content2 = fs.readFileSync(`${inputPath2}/file2.txt`, 'utf8');
const combinedContent = content1 + '\n' + content2;
fs.writeFileSync(`${outputPath}/combined.txt`, combinedContent);
}
}
module.exports = MultiInputPlugin;
Error Handling in Plugins
This code demonstrates how to handle errors in a Broccoli plugin. It checks if the input file exists and throws an error if it does not. Any errors encountered during the build process are caught and logged.
const Plugin = require('broccoli-plugin');
const fs = require('fs');
class ErrorHandlingPlugin extends Plugin {
constructor(inputNodes, options) {
super(inputNodes, options);
}
build() {
try {
const inputPath = this.inputPaths[0];
const outputPath = this.outputPath;
const inputFile = `${inputPath}/input.txt`;
const outputFile = `${outputPath}/output.txt`;
if (!fs.existsSync(inputFile)) {
throw new Error('Input file does not exist');
}
const content = fs.readFileSync(inputFile, 'utf8');
const transformedContent = content.toUpperCase();
fs.writeFileSync(outputFile, transformedContent);
} catch (error) {
console.error('Build error:', error);
}
}
}
module.exports = ErrorHandlingPlugin;
Other packages similar to broccoli-plugin
gulp
Gulp is a toolkit for automating painful or time-consuming tasks in your development workflow. It uses a code-over-configuration approach and streams to handle file transformations. Compared to Broccoli, Gulp is more flexible and has a larger ecosystem of plugins, but it can be more complex to set up and use.
webpack
Webpack is a module bundler that takes modules with dependencies and generates static assets representing those modules. It is highly configurable and supports a wide range of plugins and loaders. Webpack is more focused on bundling JavaScript applications, whereas Broccoli is more general-purpose for file transformations.
rollup
Rollup is a module bundler for JavaScript that compiles small pieces of code into something larger and more complex, such as a library or application. It is known for its tree-shaking capabilities, which help to remove unused code. Rollup is more specialized for JavaScript bundling, while Broccoli is a more general build tool.
The Broccoli Plugin Base Class
Example Usage
const Plugin = require('broccoli-plugin');
class MyPlugin extends Plugin {
constructor(inputNodes, options = {}) {
super(inputNodes, {
annotation: options.annotation,
});
}
build() {
const input = this.input.readFileSync(`foo.txt`);
const output = someCompiler(input);
this.output.writeFileSync(`bar.txt`, output);
}
}
Reference
new Plugin(inputNodes, options)
Call this base class constructor from your subclass constructor.
Plugin.prototype.build()
Override this method in your subclass. It will be called on each (re-)build.
This function will typically access the following read-only properties:
-
this.inputPaths
: An array of paths on disk corresponding to each node in
inputNodes
. Your plugin will read files from these paths.
-
this.outputPath
: The path on disk corresponding to this plugin instance
(this node). Your plugin will write files to this path. This directory is
emptied by Broccoli before each build, unless the persistentOutput
options
is true.
-
this.cachePath
: The path on disk to an auxiliary cache directory. Use this
to store files that you want preserved between builds. This directory will
only be deleted when Broccoli exits. If a cache directory is not needed, set
needsCache
to false
when calling broccoli-plugin
constructor.
All paths stay the same between builds.
To perform asynchronous work, return a promise. The promise's eventual value
is ignored (typically null
).
To report a compile error, throw
it or return a rejected promise. Also see
section "Error Objects" below.
If the trackInputChanges
option was set to true
, an object will be passed to the
build method with the shape of:
{
changedNodes: [true, true, ...]
}
This array contain a booleans corresponding to each input node as to whether or not that node changed since the last rebuild. For the initial build all values in the array will be true
.
Plugin.prototype.getCallbackObject()
Advanced usage only.
Return the object on which Broccoli will call obj.build()
. Called once after
instantiation. By default, returns this
. Plugins do not usually need to
override this, but it can be useful for base classes that other plugins in turn
derive from, such as
broccoli-caching-writer.
For example, to intercept .build()
calls, you might
return { build: this.buildWrapper.bind(this) }
.
Or, to hand off the plugin implementation to a completely separate object:
return new MyPluginWorker(this.inputPaths, this.outputPath, this.cachePath)
,
where MyPluginWorker
provides a .build
method.
Error Objects
To help with displaying clear error messages for build errors, error objects
may have the following optional properties in addition to the standard
message
property:
file
: Path of the file in which the error occurred, relative to one of the
inputPaths
directoriestreeDir
: The path that file
is relative to. Must be an element of
this.inputPaths
. (The name treeDir
is for historical reasons.)line
: Line in which the error occurred (one-indexed)column
: Column in which the error occurred (zero-indexed)
Plugin.prototype.input
An api which enables a plugin to easily read from one or more input directories ergonomically and safely.
Note: We recommend users stop using this.inputPaths and instead rely on this.input. Our plan at present is to strongly consider deprecation of this.inputPaths once this.input has had time to bake.
this.input's features:
this.input
reads from the provided inputPaths
. No path concatenation required.this.input
provides readOnly file system APIs. This prevents a plugin from erroneously mutating its inputs.this.input
provides a merged view of inputs, this allows every plugin to easily support multiple inputs, without the use of broccoli-merge-trees
or implementing a complex merge algorithm.this.input.at(index)
provides access to each individual input if desired.
Example:
fs.readFileSync(this.inputPaths[0] + '/file.txt');
this.input.readFileSync('file.txt');
this.input.at(0).readFileSync('file.txt);
// ReadOnly
this.input.writeFileSync // throws error
List of Methods
- readFileSync
- existsSync
- lstatSync
- statSync
- readdirSync
- at
Read more about input
here
Note: input
will be available only after the build
starts.
Plugin.prototype.output
An api which enables a plugin to easily write to the output directory ergonomically and safely.
Note: We recommend users stop using this.outputPath and instead rely on this.output. Our plan at present is to strongly consider deprecation of this.outputPath once this.output has had time to bake.
this.output's features:
this.ouput
writes to the outputPath
. No path concatenation required.this.output
provides read operations on the outputPath
. No path concatenation required.
Ex:
fs.writeFileSync(this.outputPath + '/file.txt', 'text');
this.output.writeFileSync('file.txt', 'text');
List of Methods
- readFileSync
- existsSync
- lstatSync
- readdirSync
- statSync
- writeFileSync
- appendFileSync
- rmdirSync
- mkdirSync
Read more about APIs present in output
here.
Note: output
will be available only after the build
starts.