Bunny Assets Builder 0.1.6 (Alpha)

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Node scripts and custom CLI made easy

Forget about huge Webpack configs and many dependencies. Just run node build all -p to build your production project.

Why Bunny Assets Builder?

• Only one dependency instead of many;
• Just install and it works;
• Easily extendable and configurable;
• Many times faster then Gulp or Webpack;
• No learning curve;
• Use the flexibility of Node.js scripts instead of Gulp/Webpack;
• Write own Node CLI;
• Can be used in Laravel projects replacing laravel elixir.
• Use ES6/ES7, Future CSS today without installing and configuring a lot of complicated tools!

Assets Builder is an Object-Oriented JavaScript API allowing writing custom Node.js scripts and own CLI easily. To add new cmd just do:

CLI.registerCmd('hello', 'Say hello', [], () => {
  console.log('Hello, world!');
})

and you may use now new command by running node build hello;

By defaults Assets Builder allows building modern web projects out of the box:

• Transpile ES6 to ES5 using Babel and Rollup;
• Transpile Future CSS (CSS4) with PostCSS and CSSNext;
• Compress, minify assets for production by adding -p flag;

Coming soon:

• Many projects don't have documentation because there are no easy way to add it to existing projects. With Bunny Assets Builder you will be able to generate projects docs from .md files with GitHub syntax highlighting.
• SVG today is a general practice used in any application. Building SVG sprite is a painful work, soon it will be changed;

Installation

1. npm install assets-builder --save;
2. Create file in the project root - build.js;
3. Import assets-builder, init and run it. You may add custom commands between init() and run().

 
const CLI = require('assets-builder');
 
CLI.init();
 
CLI.run();
 

Configuration

By default Bunny Assets Builder uses Laravel PHP framework's folder structure and is compatible with manifest/elixir function. It can be used instead of laravel elixir.

module.exports = {
 
  srcPath: 'resources/assets',
  buildPath: 'public/build',
 
  srcPathJs: 'resources/assets/js',
  buildPathJs: 'public/build',
 
  srcPathCss: 'resources/assets/css',
  buildPathCss: 'public/build',
 
  versionManifestPath: 'public/build/rev-manifest.json',
 
  allCmds: [
    'css',
    'js',
    'version app.css app.js',
  ],
 
};

Version Manifest file is a JSON file generated with node build version which can be used by an application to get versioned file path (with random hash added at the end). For example, in Laravel having this rev-manifest.json: {"app.js":"app-quovy03k4.js","app.css":"app-lobywqy2g.css"} calling elixir('app.js') from view would return app-quovy03k4.js.

allCmds is an array of commands which should be executed in defined order using node build all or node build all -p.

Extending and injecting custom Config

1. Create folder for Node scripts, for example, node_scripts;
2. Create Config.js
3. Import original Config, change it and export new one:

const BaseConfig = require('assets-builder/node_scripts/config');
 
module.exports = Object.assign({}, BaseConfig, {
 
  srcPath: 'test_scripts',
  buildPath: 'test_scripts/build',
 
  srcPathJs: 'test_scripts',
  buildPathJs: 'test_scripts/build',
 
  srcPathCss: 'test_scripts',
  buildPathCss: 'test_scripts/build',
 
  versionManifestPath: 'test_scripts/build/rev-manifest.json',
 
});

Now in main build.js replace config:

const CLI = require('assets-builder');
const ProjectConfig = require('./node_scripts/config'); // add this
 
CLI.Config = ProjectConfig; // add this
 
CLI.init();
 
CLI.run();

Usage

Type node build to view the list of available commands.

List of global flags can be used in any command:

• -p - will execute a command in Production mode, for example, to minify JS and CSS, and to remove comments.

List of default commands:

If no argument specified JS will use app, CSS will use app and Version will use app.js app.css.

node build css index -p - will, for example, bundle index.css file in the CLI.Config.srcPathCss and save it to CLI.Config.buildPathCss/index.css.

Version command will copy files from Config.CLI.buildPath directory.

Custom commands

To create simple custom command use CLI.registerCmd(name, description, [params in description], callback)

callback will be called with params: (args, isProduction, Config) when command executed in Terminal.

In build.js register new cmd after init() and before run():

const CLI = require('assets-builder');
 
CLI.init();
 
CLI.registerCmd('hi', 'My first command', [], (args, isProduction, Config) => {
   console.log('My 1st cmd :)');
});
 
CLI.run();

Custom "all" command (Sequence of commands)

CLI.registerAllCmd('css-admin', 'Bundle and version admin CSS', [], [
  'css admin',
  'version admin.css'
]);

Custom Node scripts

For more complicated commands it is recommended to write Node scripts and store them in a single directory, for example, node_scripts.

Last argument in CLI.registerCmd() may accept also an object which has run() method which will accept same 3 arguments as callback.

For example, let's create a simple node script:

// node_scripts/hello.js
 
const colors = require('colors/safe');
 
const Hello = {
  srcPath: '',
  buildPath: '',
  isProduction: false,
 
  run(args, isProduction, Config) {
    this.srcPath = Config.srcPathJs;
    this.buildPath = Config.buildPathJs;
    this.isProduction = isProduction;
 
    const name = args.length === 0 ? 'Mev-Rael' : args[0];
 
    return this.sayHello(name);
  },
 
  sayHello(name) {
    console.log(colors.green(`Hello, ${name}`);
  }
};

and register our new script in build.js:

// build.js
 
const CLI = require('./node_scripts/cli');
const Hello = require('./node_scripts/hello');
 
CLI.init();
 
CLI.registerCmd('hello', 'Say hello', ['<name>'], Hello);
 
CLI.run();
 

Now node build hello will print Hello, Mev-Rael or node build hello John will print Hello, John.

Node scripts are much more flexible then any Gulp or Webpack plugins. Storing each script in separate file will make your build process maintanable and enjoyable.