liferay-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.

Note: Loading anonymous modules via combo URL is not possible. If some of the modules is anonymous and combine is set to true, the module should be registered and anonymous property to be set as true. In this way this module will be excluded from the combo URL and a separate script element will be created for it. If combine is set to false, describing the module is not needed.

How to build it?

1. Clone or fork the repository on your machine.
2. Install NodeJS.
3. Run npm install in the cloned/forked repository.
4. Run npm run build to build it.

This will build the loader in 'build/loader' directory. There will be three versions:

• loader.js - release version (no traces)
• loader-min.js - same as loader.js but minified
• loader-debug.js - debug version with console traces (quite verbose)

Both versions have minified versions too.

How to run the demo?

1. The default configuration and the demo require a combo loader that is automatically started and listens to port 3000.
2. Run demo script: npm run demo.
3. Open a browser, for example Chrome and load http://localhost:8080/. 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',
	};
});

/**
 * There is another way to define META. Liferay Config Generator recognizes both.
 * It is up to you to choose one.
 */
META: ({
	condition: {
		test: function() {
			return true;
		},
		trigger: 'nate',
	},
	path: 'nate.js',
});

Transpile the above using Babel to AMD syntax. If you transpile using Babel, be sure you added the option for generating module IDs, or you use Liferay AMD modules config generator, which will generate the module name in "define" function, if not already available.

Loading modules

Use require method:

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

Mapping paths

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

__CONFIG__.paths = {
    '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"

The Loader also supports an * as key in the paths configuration. The value should be a function, which will receive the module as an argument and the returned value will be used as a path for this module. The * has lower precedence than a specific key for a given module. Example:

__CONFIG__ = {
	paths: {
		'*': function(module) {
			return 'https://rawgit.com/bkardell/gaps/master/' + module + '.js';
		},
	},
};

Mapping module names

You can map module names. Example:

__CONFIG__.maps = {
    'liferay': 'liferay@1.0.0',
    'liferay2': 'liferay@1.0.0'
};

Mapping a module will change its name in order to match the value, specified in the map. Examples:

require('liferay/html/js/autocomplete'...)

Under the hood, it will be the same as if the user specified:

require('liferay@1.0.0y/html/js/autocomplete'...)

Module mapping works in module dependencies too:

define('liferay@2.0.0', ['exports', 'liferay/test.js'], function (__exports__, liferay) {
    'use strict';

    function log(text) {
        console.log('liferay@2.0.0 says', text);
    }

    __exports__.log = log;
});

The module 'liferay/test.js' in the dependencies will be transparently changed to:

'liferay@1.0.0/test.js'

The Loader also supports an * as key in the maps configuration. The value should be a function, which will receive the module as an argument and the returned value will be used as the new module name. The * has lower precedence than a specific key for a given module. Example:

__CONFIG__ = {
	maps: {
		'*': function(module) {
			if (module.indexOf('@') === -1) {
				module += '@1.0';
			}

			return module;
		},
	},
};

Passing default URL parameters

Arbitrary URL parameters might be added to each module request. The parameter will be added to all kind of requests - for modules with external or absolute path, anonymous and in case of combined modules. To achieve that, you may specify the parameters in defaultURLParams configuration property:

{
    'url': 'http://localhost:3000/modules?',
    'defaultURLParams': {
        'languageId': 'en_US'
    }
}

In this case, languageId with value 'en_US' will be added to each module request and the result might look like this: http://localhost:3000/modules?/base/foo.js&/base/bar.js&languageId=en_US

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 separate project, called Liferay AMD modules config generator. You may use it to generate the configuration file automatically.

Here is an example usage:

$ lfr-cfgen -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.

Reporting errors caused mismatched anonymous modules

By default mismatched anonymous modules will be reported by throwing an exception. This is configurable and there is a property:

// By default, `reportMismatchedAnonymousModules` is not set and
// in this case the loader will throw an exception

// Throw an exception
__CONFIG__.reportMismatchedAnonymousModules = 'exception';

// Log the error using console.log
__CONFIG__.reportMismatchedAnonymousModules = 'log';

// Log the error using console.info
__CONFIG__.reportMismatchedAnonymousModules = 'info';

// Log the error using console.warn
__CONFIG__.reportMismatchedAnonymousModules = 'warn';

// Log the error using console.error
__CONFIG__.reportMismatchedAnonymousModules = 'error';

// Ignore the error
__CONFIG__.reportMismatchedAnonymousModules = 'off';

Namespacing the Loader

Setting namespace property of the config to a value as a string will expose the Loader to this variable, instead directly to window. For example, if namespace is set to "VM", the Loader will be available as window.VM.Loader.

Exposing Loader globally

Setting exposeGlobal property of the config will expose the Loader to the window, among with the define and require functions. By default the value of this property is true. For example, there will be window.Loader, window.require and window.define methods in case exposeGlobal is unset or set to true. Otherwise, these will be undefined.

Ignoring module versions

Setting ignoreModuleVersion property of the config will ignore the @major.minor.path version qualifier in a module name to allow for a more lenient module name match in scenarios where undisclosed security vulnerabilities can lead to a security leak if versions are exposed to the loader configuration.