istatic

Inline Static Files for express / connect / nodejs

Why this?

Add compressed inline css and scripts to your html, but write them as seperated files.

You don't have to worry about accessing the template's local variables. And you can even include a .less file.

Usage:

var istatic = require('istatic');
va app = express.createServer();

istatic.enable(app, { compress: false });

The second parameter is optional. The available options are:

compress

Whether to compress the css or js. Default: true.

showPath

Whether to include the file's path in the output. Default: false.

root

The root of your inline static files. Default: process.cwd() + '/public/'.

ttl

By default, the contents of your static files are cached in memory forever, until the process dies. You can set the ttl to a number of seconds, so the cache will be cleared every that much of time.

charset

The charset of your static files. Default: utf-8.

js

The options object for compressing a js file. It will be passed to UglifyJS.

Default: undefined.

css

The options object for compressing a css file. It will be passed to UglifyCSS.

Default: undefined.

For css and js options, you can define an js.removals or css.removals, to remove some contents (like console.log()) before compressing. This will make the inline css/script even more smaller, but still keep the maitainability of the code.

By default, there's only removals for js, and it's an RegExp: /_log\(.+?\)/g.

Use inside template:

Now you can include static files in your template like this:

#{istatic(filename, [options])}

filename is the path of your static file. If it begins with a '/', the real path will be process.cwd() + filename. Otherwise, the file will be looked up from the root of your inline static files, as you configured before.

You can set available options above, except for root and ttl. A fresh option is available for you to set this istatic call always read from file directly.

Be careful, since jade can not correctly parse curly braces inside a couple of curly braces, don't write:

script
  #{istatic('js/my.js', { showPath: (DEBUG ? true : false) })}

Write like this instead:

- istatic_opt = { showPath: (DEBUG ? true : false) }
script
  #{istatic('js/my.js', istatic_opt)}

And it's definitely easier to read and maintain, too.

Get access to templates' local variables:

Just get in touch with them in the form you already very familiar with:

#{data.title}

Attention: no matter what templating language you are using, you must always use this syntax in your static files. And don't put {} inside the curly braces. This is for performance consideration.

You can even excecute a local funtion just as what you will do in the template:

#{usr.getId('haha...')}

API

NOTE: These APIs are not for templates.

istatic(filename, options)

Return the inlined string of some file.

When passing options, these options will be saved as default options for any other later istatic or istatic.enable calls.

But when you call istatic(filename, options) in a template, the options will not be save as default options. And APIs below is not suitable for an inside template call, too.

istatic.enable(app)

To enable the istatic helper for an express app.

istatic.default(options)

Set default options for istatic.enable and istatic.inline. This can be implictly done by call istatic(filename, [forceReload, options]) and pass the options object.

istatic.uglify.css(str, [options])

Uglify some css string. Options are passed to UglifyCSS.

istatic.uglify.js(str, [options])

Uglify some js string. Options are passed to UglifyJS.

Example

var express = require('express');
var istatic = require('istatic');

var app1 = express.createServer();
var app2 = express.createServer();

istatic.default({ compress: false }).enable(app1).enable(app2);

var compressed_css = istatic.uglify.css('.class1 { font: Arial; }');
var compressed_js = istatic.uglify.js('// some javascript codes..');

var str_pinyin_js = istatic('/utils/pinyin.js');

Visit 大声看法 for a live example.