lfr-amd-loader

AMD Module Loader

Supports loading modules via combo URL. Modules can be loaded automatically when some other module is being triggered, but only if some condition is met.

How to build it?

1. Clone or fork the repository on your machine.
2. Install NodeJS.
3. Install Gulp [sudo] npm install -g gulp.
4. Run npm install in the cloned/forked repository.
5. Run gulp to build it.

This will build the loader in 'dist' directory. There will be two versions:

• loader.js - which comes with ES6 Promise polyfill
• loader-pure.js - version without Promise polyfill. If you already have Promise polyfill in your project or you are only targeting browsers which support Promises natively, use this version.

Both versions have minified versions too.

How to run the demo?

1. The default configuration and the demo require a combo loader. Go to the folder, where you cloned the loader, then run node combo.js. This will run a combo handler on port 3000.
2. Download mongoose or if you have brew just do brew install mongoose, then navigate to Loader folder and run mongoose with the following params: mongoose -listening_port 8080 -document_root dist.
3. Open a browser, for example Chrome and load http://localhost:8080/demo/. Open the console and look for the messages. You will see that resouces are being loaded.

Loader features

1. Supports combo loading of the resources.
2. Supports conditional loading.
3. The configuration can be auto generated.

Registering modules

Use define function:

define('aui-dialog', ['aui-node', 'aui-plugin-base'], function(node, pluginBase) {
    return {
        log: function(text) {
            console.log('module aui-dialog: ' + text);
        }
    };
});

You may specify that the module should be loaded on triggering some other module and only of some condition is being met:

define('aui-dialog', ['aui-node', 'aui-plugin-base'], function(node, pluginBase) {
    return {
        log: function(text) {
            console.log('module aui-dialog: ' + text);
        }
    };
}, {
    condition: {
        trigger: 'aui-test',
        test: function() {
            var el = document.createElement('input');

            return ('placeholder' in el);
        }
    },
    path: 'aui-dialog.js'
});

Here it is specified, that this module should be loaded automatically if developer requests 'aui-test' module, but only if some condition is being met.

Using ES6 syntax in your modules:

'use strict';

import {log as logBase} from 'aui-base';
import {log as logCore} from 'aui-core';
import {log as logEvent} from 'aui-event';

function log(text) {
    logEvent('module aui-dialog says via aui-event: ' + text);
    logBase('in module aui-dialog logBase is available: ' + text);
    logCore('in module aui-dialog logCore is available: ' + text);
}

export {log};

/**
 * The code below is meta configuration, in this case it includes module condition only.
 * You may delete the whole function statement if you don't need it.
 */
(function META() {
    return {
        condition: {
            test: function() {
                return true;
            },
            trigger: 'nate'
        },
        path: 'nate.js'
    };
});

Transpile the above using 6to5 or es6-module-transpiler to AMD syntax. If you transpile using 6to5, be sure you added the option for generating module IDs too.

Loading modules

Use require method:

require('aui-base', 'aui-test', function(base, test) {
	    // your code here
	}, function(error) {
	    console.error(error);
	});

Mappings

You can map parts of module's path with another value and the path will be replaced accordingly. Example:

map: {
    'jquery': 'http://code.jquery.com/jquery-2.1.3.min.js',
    'aui': 'html/js'
}

In this case a module, specified as "jquery" will be loaded from "http://code.jquery.com/jquery-2.1.3.min.js" and a module, specified as "aui/loader.js" will be loaded from:
URL + basePath + "html/js/loader.js" where URL and basePath will be retrieved from config.js. Here is an exaple:
If the URL is "http://localhost:3000/modules" and basePath is "/base", the final path will look like this: "http://localhost:3000/modules/base/html/js/loader.js"

Loading modules via combo URL:

In order to load the modules via combo URL, a special config file have to be created first. You can do that manually or using a special tool, which comes together with the loader. It is called config-generator. See the next section for more details:

Automatically generating the configuration

In order to generate the configuration, there is a small NodeJS program, called config-generator. You may use it to generate the configuration file automatically. Here are the options it supports:

  Usage: config-generator [options] <file ...>

  Options:

    -h, --help                                 output usage information
    -b, --base [file name]                     Already existing template to be used as base for the parsed configuration
    -c, --config [config object]               The configuration object in which the modules should be added
    -e, --extension [module extension]         Use the provided string as an extension instead to get it automatically from the file name. Default: ""
    -f, --format [module format]               Regex and value which will be applied to the file name when generating the module name. Example: "/_/g,-". Default: ""
    -i, --ignorePath [ignore path]             Do not create module path and fullPath properties.
    -k, --keepExtension [keep file extension]  If true, will keep the file extension when it generates module name. Default: false
    -l, --lowerCase [lower case]               Convert file name to lower case before to use it as module name. Default: false
    -o, --output [file name]                   Output file to store the generated configuration
    -p, --filePattern [file pattern]           The pattern to be used in order to find files for processing. Default: "**/*.js"
    -r, --moduleRoot [module root]             The folder which will be used as starting point from which the module name should be generated. Default: current working directory
    -V, --version                              output the version number

Here is an example of its usage:

$ node config-generator.js -b src/config/config-base.js -o src/config/config.js src/modules

A preferable way to work with the loader would be to generate a separate, base config file and pass it to the config generator as in the code above. In the base file you may define the URLs, combine flags, etc. and then leave config generator to add the modules. Look on the example modules and the demo for more information. Then, just load the generated configuration to the browser and the Loader will do the rest.

Enjoy!