This is yet another library to use livereload very easily for express/node.js-based development. It is express middleware which provides both a livereload server and a javascript client. It is designed to be used with node-dev so that restarting a server process is also possible.
The major features of this library include:
- using livereload (PROTOCOL 7) server code from the original author,
- using livereload.js client code from the original author,
- using fs.watch() to check file changes instantly,
- allowing to automatically restart server code (if invoked with node-dev), and
- all-in-one package to enable with at least one-line code.
$ npm install easy-livereload node-dev
Minimal configuration:
app.use(require('easy-livereload')());
Typical configuration:
var path = require('path');
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
if (app.get('env') === 'development') {
app.use(require('easy-livereload')({
watchDirs: [
path.join(__dirname, 'public'),
path.join(__dirname, 'views')
],
checkFunc: function(file) {
return /\.(css|js|jade)$/.test(file);
},
renameFunc: function(file) {
return file.replace(/\.jade$/, '.html');
},
port: process.env.LIVERELOAD_PORT || 35729
}));
}
Example scripts entry in package.json:
"scripts": {
"start": "env NODE_ENV=production node app.js",
"start-dev": "env NODE_ENV=development node-dev app.js"
}