buddy

buddy

buddy is a build tool for js/css/html projects. It compiles source code from higher order js/css/html languages (CoffeeScript, es6, JSX, Handlebars, Dust, Nunjucks, Stylus, Less, Jade, Twig), automatically wraps js files in module definitions, statically resolves js/css/html dependencies, and concatenates (and optionally compresses) all souces into bundles for more efficient delivery to the browser.

Features

• Allows you to write js modules without module boilerplate (similar to node.js)
• Resolves js dependencies automatically
• Resolves all relative dependencies
• Supports efficient lazy runtime evaluation by storing js modules as strings
• Compiles CoffeeScript, es6, JSX, Handlebars, Dust, Nunjucks, Stylus, Less, Twig, and Jade source files
• Concatenates js modules into file bundles
• Runs js and css code through linters to check for syntax errors
• Watches for source changes and builds automatically
• [Add-on] Serves static files from specified directory on specified port
• [Add-on] Restarts custom server after each change
• [Add-on] Refreshes connected browsers after each change
• Inlines css @imports automatically
• Inlines html <script> and <link> tags when flagged with inline attributes
• Inlines json content with require("path/to/my.json")
• Supports execution of a script after each build
• Supports execution of hook scripts afterEach file is processed, and before and after a target is built

Installation

To avoid running buddy directly as a global command, and thus avoid versioning problems across different projects, it is highly recommended that you install the separate buddy-cli command line interface system-wide:

$ npm -g install buddy-cli

...create a package.json file for each project, locally installing buddy as a devDependency:

{
  "name": "myproject",
  "description": "This is my web project",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "devDependencies": {
    "buddy": "2.0.0"
  },
  "buddy": {
    ...
  }
}

$ cd path/to/project
$ npm install

Usage

Usage: buddy [options] <command> [path/to/package.json
                                  || path/to/buddy.js
                                  || path/to/buddy.json]

Commands:

  build [config]         build js and css sources
  watch [config]         watch js and css source files and build changes
  deploy [config]        build compressed js and css sources
  ls                     list all previously created files and directories
  clean                  remove all previously created files and directories

Options:

  -h, --help             output usage information
  -V, --version          output the version number
  -t, --targets [types]  optional comma separated list of target(s) to build
                          [js,css,html]
  -c, --compress         compress output for production deployment
  -l, --lint             check output for syntax and logic errors
  -r, --reload           reload all connected live-reload clients on file
                          change during watch [ADD-ON buddy-server]
  -s, --serve            create a webserver to serve static files
                          during watch [ADD-ON buddy-server]
  -S, --script           run script on build completion
  -L, --lazy             convert js modules for lazy evaluation
  -v, --verbose          print all messages for debugging

Configuration

Please refer to the annotated configuration file for all possible settings.

Build concepts

Project Root: The directory from which all paths resolve to. Determined by location of the configuration file.

Sources: An array of additional directories from which referenced files may be retrieved from. The Project Root and node_modules directories are added by default. Note: A module's id is derived from it's relative path to it's source directory.

Targets: Objects that specify the input and output files or directories for each build. Targets are built in sequence, allowing builds to be chained together. Note: A js target can also have nested child targets, ensuring that dependencies are not duplicated across related builds.

Target parameters:

• input: file, directory, glob/expansion pattern, or array of files to build.

• output: file, directory, or array of files to output to. Optional: when omitted, input files are only watched for changes (during watch command).

• output_compressed: an alternate file or directory to use for compressed output.

• targets: a nested target that prevents the duplication of source code with it's parent target (js).

• alias: one or more id/filepath pairs to manually specify a module's id and location (js).

• modular: a flag to prevent files from being wrapped with a module definition (js).

• before, after, afterEach: hooks for modifying the build process (see hooks)

• boilerplate: a flag to specify inclusion of browser-require source code in the output file (js).

• bootstrap: a flag to specify that the entry-point module be automatically require'd to force application startup (js).

• server: a flag to force linkage of a target to the running development/application server. Ensures that changes during watch --reload --serve will force a server restart (see server).

Hooks

It is possible to intervene in the build process through the use of hooks. Hooks are assigned to specific targets and defined in the target configuration. See hooks for more details.

Aliases

Specifying aliases allow you to override the default behaviour for automatically resolving js module ids. Aliases are defined in the target configuration:

{
  "buddy": {
    "js": {
      "targets": [
        {
          "input": "somefile.js",
          "output": "somedir",
          "alias": {
            "jquery": "./lib/js/jquery-custom-2.0.js",
            "dust": "./node_modules/dustjs-linkedin/dist/dust-core-1.2.3.js"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

var jquery = require('jquery')
  , dust = require('dust');

Server

When developing locally, the buddy-server add-on and buddy watch --serve command will start a simple webserver on localhost to test against. Adding the --reload flag will enable automatic reloading of connected browsers through a livereload plugin. Specifying a file path will start/restart a custom application server instead of the default development server.

Install the add-on alongside buddy, and see buddy-server for more details.

{
  "dependencies": {
    "buddy": "2.0.0",
    "buddy-server": "1.0.0"
  },
  "buddy": {
    "server": {
      "port": 8000,
      "file": "./index.js",
      "env": {
        "DEBUG": "*"
      }
    }
  }
}

$ buddy watch --serve --reload

Working with JS

Each JS file is wrapped in a module declaration based on the file's location. Dependencies are determined by the use of require() statements:

var lib = require('./my/lib'); // in current package
var SomeClass = require('../SomeClass'); // in parent package
var util = require('utils/util'); // from root package
var module = require('module'); // from node_modules

lib.doSomething();
var something = new SomeClass();
util.log('hey');

Specifying a module's public behaviour is achieved by decorating an exports object:

var myModuleVar = 'my module';

exports.myModuleMethod = function() {
  return myModuleVar;
};

...or overwriting the exports object completely:

function MyModule() {
  this.myVar = 'my instance var';
};

MyModule.prototype.myMethod = function() {
  return this.myVar;
};

module.exports = MyModule;

Each module is provided with a module, exports, and require reference.

When require()-ing a module, keep in mind that the module id is resolved based on the following rules:

• packages begin at the root folder specified in build > js > sources: 'Users/alex/project/src/package/main.js' > 'package/main'
• ids are case-sensitive: 'package/MyClass.js' > 'package/MyClass' (depends on platform)

See node.js modules for more info on modules.

NOTE: require() boilerplate needs to be included in the browser to enable module loading. It's recommended to install a library like browser-require (npm: simple-browser-require), or set the boilerplate target flag to have it included automatically.

PRECOMPILED TEMPLATES

dust, handlebars, nunjucks, and jade support the precompilation of templates for efficient use in the browser. See precompiled for more details.

"LAZY" MODULES

When run with the --lazy flag, buddy supports storing js modules as strings which are only evaluated on first require('module') call. This can significantly speed up application startup time for large bundles, especially on mobile devices.

EXAMPLES

Generate www/main.js by concatenating and modularizing all dependencies in src/js or libs/js referenced in src/js/main.js, including modules installed via npm (under node_modules directory):

{
  "name": "myproject",
  "description": "This is my web project",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "devDependencies": {
    "buddy": "2.0.0"
  },
  "buddy": {
    "build": {
      "js": {
        "sources": ["src/js", "libs/js"],
        "targets": [
          {
            "input": "src/js/main.js",
            "output": "www/main.js"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

// src/main.js
var lodash = require('lodash') // npm module (node_modules/lodash)
  , view = require('./views/view') // src module (src/views/view.js)
  , util = require('utils/util'); // src module (libs/js/utils/util);

Generate www/main.js and an additional widget www/widget.js using shared sources (avoid duplicating dependencies):

{
  "buddy": {
    "build": {
      "js": {
        "sources": ["src/js", "libs/js"],
        "targets": [
          {
            "input": "src/js/main.js",
            "output": "www/main.js",
            "targets": [
              {
                "input": "src/js/widget.js",
                "output": "www/widget.js"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Compile a directory of CoffeeScript files for Node.js, skipping module wrapping and concatenation:

{
  "buddy": {
    "build": {
      "js": {
        "sources": ["src/coffee"],
        "targets": [
          {
            "input": "src/coffee",
            "output": "js",
            "modular": false
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Alias a custom build of jquery:

{
  "buddy": {
    "build": {
      "js": {
        "sources": ["src/js"],
        "targets": [
          {
            "input": "src/js/main.js",
            "output": "www/main.js",
            "alias": {
              "jquery": "./lib/js/jquery-custom-2.0.js"
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

var jquery = require('jquery');

Generate www/main.js by including require() boilerplate and automatically bootstraping (require('main')) the application:

{
  "buddy": {
    "build": {
      "js": {
        "sources": ["src/js"],
        "targets": [
          {
            "input": "src/js/main.js",
            "output": "www/main.js",
            "boilerplate": true,
            "bootstrap": true
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Working with CSS

Like js modules, css dependencies are automatically resolved through parsing and inlining of @import directives.

Examples

Generate www/main.css by concatenating all dependencies in src/css referenced in src/css/main.css:

{
  "buddy": {
    "build": {
      "css": {
        "sources": ["src/css"],
        "targets": [
          {
            "input": "src/css/main.css",
            "output": "www/main.css"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Working with HTML

When working with dust, handlebars, nunjucks, or jade templates, dependencies (partials, includes) are automatically resolved and registered before source files are compiled to html. In addition, html files are parsed for inlineable js and css sources.

Examples

Resolve template partials:

<!-- layout.handlebars depends on header.handlebars -->
{{> header}}
<body>
  ...
  <!-- ...and footer.handlebars -->
  {{> footer}}
</body>

Inline JS and CSS source files with inline attribute (see inline-source):

<!-- project/src/html/index.html -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <!-- inline project/src/js/inlineScript.js -->
  <script inline src="../js/inlineScript.js"></script>
  <!-- inline project/scripts/inlineScript.js -->
  <script inline src="/scripts/inlineScript.js"></script>
  <!-- inline project/src/css/inlineStyle.css -->
  <link inline rel="../css/inlineStyle.css"></link>
</head>
</html>

License

(The MIT License)

Copyright (c) 2011-2015 Pope-Industries <[e-mail]>

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.