hbsfy

hbsfy

Handlebars precompiler plugin for Browserify without magic.

Compiles Handlebars templates to plain Javascript. The compiled templates only have one copy of the Handlebars runtime so they are lightweight and fast!

Usage

Install hbsfy locally to your project:

npm install hbsfy

You will also need Handlebars installed. Handlebars 1.x is officially supported for now:

npm install handlebars@1

Although the alpha version of Handlebars 2.0 should also work. Just drop the @1 to try it.

Then use it as Browserify transform module with -t:

browserify -t hbsfy main.js > bundle.js

where main.js can be like:

var template = require("./template.hbs");
document.body.innerHTML = template({ name: "Epeli" });

and template.hbs:

<h1>Hello {{name}}!</h1>

Options

Custom Extension

You can use --extensions or -e subarg option to configure custom extensions for the transform:

browserify -t [ hbsfy -e html,htm ] main.js > bundle.js

Alternate Precompiler/Compiler

You can specify how the templates are precompiled by using -p or --precompiler, which might also be used with the -c or --compiler option, like so:

browserify -t [ hbsfy -p ember-template-compiler -c Ember.Handlebars ] main.js > bundle.js

By default the precompiler is the handlebars node module and the compiler is "require('hbsfy/runtime')".

Options for the precompiler can be passed using a precompilerOptions key.

Example:

Enable myUltimateHelper only

browserify -t [ hbsfy --precompilerOptions [ --knownHelpersOnly --knownHelpers [ --myUltimateHelper ] ] ]  main.js > bundle.js

See Handlebars API reference for details.

Common JS Partial Resolution

Using the --traverse or -t option will cause partials to be resolved using node's module resolution algorithm. Be sure to prefix relative paths with ./ or ../ as needed. Otherwise the algorithm assumes a node_module is being referenced.

Example:

browserify -t [ hbsfy -t ] main.js > bundle.js

<!-- main.hbs -->
<div>{{> ./path/to/partial.hbs }}</div>

<!-- path/to/partial.hbs -->
<p>I'm a partial</p>

package.json

Transform can be configured from the package.json too.

{
  "browserify": {
    "transform": [
      [
        "hbsfy",
        {
          "extensions": [
            "html"
          ],
          "precompilerOptions": {
            "knownHelpersOnly": true,
            "knownHelpers": {
              "myUltimateHelper": true
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    ]
  }
}

The precompiler and compiler keys are naturally available too.

See module-deps documentation for more information as this feature is implemented there (it's a part of Browserify itself).

Programmatic usage

The configure method of the transform can be used to create new transforms with different defaults.

var hbsfy = require("hbsfy").configure({
  extensions: ["html"]
});

var browserify = require("browserify");
var b = browserify("./index.js");
b.transform(hbsfy);
b.bundle().pipe(fs.createWriteStream("./bundle.js"));

Helpers

To register custom helpers just require the runtime use and registerHelper to create helper:

var Handlebars = require("hbsfy/runtime");
Handlebars.registerHelper("upcase", function(s) {
  return s.toUpperCase();
});

Partials

Partials can be created by giving precompiled template to the registerPartial function.

Handlebars.registerPartial('link', require("./partial.hbs"));

Checkout the example folder for details.

Note: if using the --traverse option, partial registration is automatic.

Changelog

2.4.0

• support handlebars 2, 3, 4

2.3.1

• Handle null nodes when traversing Handlebars AST.

2.3.0

• Allow resolving / requiring partials using node's module resolution algorithm (--traverse). #47

2.2.1

• Emit compile errors instead of crashing. #38

2.2.0

• Support for compiler options #29

2.1.0

• Subargs options for alternate precompilers and compilers #31

2.0.0

• Support Browserify subargs
• The configure method does not mutate the inner state of the module anymore
  • Instead it returns a new transform function.
• Handlebars is not a peerDependency anymore
  • It must be manually installed
  • This relaxes completely the version binding of Handlebars - it is now possible to try Handlebars 2.0 alpha

1.3.0

• Support Handlebars 1.3
• Now uses the official runtime api

1.0.0

• Remove handlebars-runtime dependency and depend directly on the handlebars module as a peer dependency.
  • Runtime must be now required with require("hbsfy/runtime") instead of require("handlebars-runtime").
  • Thanks to @kamicane for teaching me how to do this.
• Option to configure template extensions