I have created this seed to follow a guide/walkthrough I am writing at the time of this seed creation. As such, it is an iterative approach, with each minor release bringing in a new feature.
If the current master branch is a bit more robust or complex than you need, simply walk back in time to peel away the complexity!
Things start with the first official release at v0.5.0, as that was the first time all of the "automation" pieces were in place. Each minor release focuses on covering these primary automation capabilities
- Automated linting
- Automated Testing
- Automatic builds
Each minor version therefore adds a major project dependency into the mix, and refactors the scripts
in the package.json to meet those automation goals.
- v0.5.0 - Basic React
- v0.6.0 - Focused on testing React, adds live-reload and crash recovery on automation errors
- v0.7.- - Support for a UI Framework (material-ui)
This section is relevant only for the current release branch. Commands may change between minor versions, as complexity is added in each version.
Do everything in one shot: To start up a development server, and simultaneosly initiate watching and build/test automation, use:
npm run start:dev
This automatically calls both the npm start and npm run watch commands simultaneously. The start command
first cleans out the /project/build directory, and then browserifies javascript, compiles less, and copies
static files to this same (./build) directory.
It then starts a server on http://localhost:7654, enables livereloading, and then opens your default
browser and loads the project into it.
After you're done developing, hit ctrl + c to stop any active processes, and then when you have your prompt
back, (or if you receive a EADDRINUSE error when running the start command,) run:
npm stop
This will search for any silent processes like livereload or watch and end them, so they can be started
back up on the configured ports.
Testing and Linting will automatically run on each save, of a ./src or ./test file if you have run any version
of the start or watch commands. However, if you want to run testing manually, simply type into the command line:
npm test
This will first lint, and then execute tests. If you wish only to lint, enter:
npm run lint
Over the last several years, there has been an explosion in javascript development,
thanks in large part to the automation tools that are just one npm install away.
However projects, as they always do, get more and more complex, and I started
finding myself spending most of my time trying to figure out how to configure grunt
in some complicated way.
When gulp arrived on the scene, I rejoiced!, for streams are a more native approach for node and builds, and automation via javascript meant scripting away the complexity. However, I found myself wresting with gulp's particular method of implementing streaming, and additonally grew frustrated with the constant blacklisting of helpful plugins.
It's important to stick to the "standards" as much as possible to ensure compatibility, and gulp was making it difficult to find enough plugins adhering to those standards.
Late last year, Keith Cirkel published a blog post that shared these same struggles, and presented a "new" option - using npm scripts. At first I scoffed, like many others in the community. Eventually though, I listened, pondered, and came to my senses.
NPM, being native to both node and iojs, utilizes the system shell, enabling a world of possibilities that don't come easily with grunt/gulp/etc...
- Application state can be manipulated and monitored more effectively by 3rd party system tools
- Less build dependencies, which is a big thing with more complex projects
- Scriptable! Just like gulp, you can write a task in javascript and call it with npm
- Plugins galore! Since npm runs tasks on node, any module in the registry becomes a potential plugin
Copyright (c) Brian Vanderbusch, Normal Gravity Development
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.