Sails.js + RequireJS configuration - backbone.js

Having all kinds of problems getting Sails to work with RequireJS, mainly because I can't find any definitive source on the best way to do this. There are several posts out there that discuss this, but they are older and all do things differently. Would really love to see the Creators enlighten the community on the proper way to do this given the changes to the Sails application structure, linker process etc. in the latter versions (.0.9.9, ,0.10)
So, first question would be...if I am planning on using an AMD/RequireJS + Backbone approach for my client-side code, and want to use the R.js Optimizer in grunt to build my production JS file and resolve all the nested dependencies automatically (rather than have to list them out manually), should I not create the application with the --linker option and manually manage the grunt build process myself?
Also, where in the directory structure should the "vendor" directory be placed that contains all the dependent JS libs like Underscore, jQuery, Backbone etc. reside?

I decided this problem:
Install the plugin for grunt-requirejs
wrote config to run build in a folder /tasks/config/requirejs.js
Example:
module.exports = function(grunt) {
grunt.config.set('requirejs', {
dev: {
options: {
baseUrl: "assets/",
name: 'main',
optimize: "uglify2",//'none',//"uglify2",
//wrap: true,
paths: {
// Major libraries
jquery: '../vendor/jquery',
underscore: '../vendor/underscore',
backbone: '../vendor/backbone',
// Require.js plugins
},
removeCombined: true,
inlineText: true,
useStrict: true,
out: "build/main.js",
waitSeconds: 200
},
}
});
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-requirejs');
};
added to autostart in tasks/register/compileAssets.js
Example:
module.exports = function (grunt) {
grunt.registerTask('compileAssets', [
'clean:dev',
'jst:dev',
'less:dev',
'copy:dev',
'coffee:dev',
'requirejs:dev'
]);
};
You also have to adjust just grunt at yourself and do not be afraid to change anything. At design time, better to store scripts in the Assets folder because it is convenient.

For others having the same problem, a quick but only partial fix is to disable the script injection by removing the following from layout.ejs:
<!-- SCRIPTS -->
<!-- SCRIPTS END -->
Then just place direct links to your require.js file:
<script src="/linker/js/components/requirejs/require.js"></script>
I say this is only a partial fix because the GruntFile will need need to implement a require task in order to concatenate the files correctly.

Related

Angular graphs: grunt-angular-architecture-graph and grunt-angular-modules-graph

I wanted to do an Angular graph for my current project in StackMEAN, and I found this solutions:
https://www.npmjs.com/package/grunt-angular-modules-graph
https://www.npmjs.com/package/grunt-angular-architecture-graph
But, I don't understand how it works, and how I can configured it correctly.
Which is the Gruntfile.js? It's the Gruntfile.js that is inside my node_modules/grunt-angular-architecture-graph? Or another?
I'm not sure about how to modificated that file:
grunt.initConfig({
'modules-graph': {
options: {
// Task-specific options go here.
},
your_target: {
files: {
'destination-file.dot': ['src/*.js']
}
},
},
});
What is exactly destination-file.dot? Where is it located? And what is ['src/*.js']? Is it my code source? What happens if I got my source into folders?
In the other hand, I don't know how to run Grunt task, or if they are
automatically done when I do "npm install".
Also, is there solution more easy to do a Angular graph?
First of all I don't know if you're really using MEAN.JS, or another mean stack project. If you're using the latest MEAN.JS I believe it now uses only Gulp instead of Grunt. Eitherway if you see a file named gruntfile.js in your project root directory, then you're good to go.
Since grunt-angular-modules-graph advises to use grunt-angular-architecture-graph instead, I'll give some instructions regarding it.
As stated in grunt-angular-architecture-graph docs, you just have to enable its task in your project's gruntfile.js file with this line:
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-angular-architecture-graph');
Then add the following code block, where you must set the path for all your js files (related with Angular):
angular_architecture_graph: {
diagram: {
files: {
// "PATH/TO/OUTPUT/FILES": ["PATH/TO/YOUR/FILES/*.js"]
"architecture": [
"<%= projectConfig.app %>/<%= projectConfig.project %>/**/*.js"
]
}
}
}
Then you have to register the task:
grunt.registerTask('diagram', ['angular_architecture_graph']);
After this configuration you can use Grunt to run the task by going to your project root directory (where your gruntfile.js is located) and do the following command in the console:
grunt diagram
If everything is set correctly the task should be executed.
For more information regarding Grunt and how to create and register task, I suggest reading the official Grunt documentation.

How to keep Grunt dom_munger from stripping your CDN dependencies?

I have an object, Plaid, that is provided by a drop-in module from Plaid, called Plaid Link. Locally, the code works perfectly in my AngularJS front-end.
The module is loaded via my AngularJS app's index.html file, right next to all of the other script tags loaded for my application.
Index.html
<script src="https://cdn.plaid.com/link/stable/link-initialize.js"></script>
Here is the code where Plaid is called: (from an AngularJS controller)
$scope.addAccount = function(bankChosen) {
$log.debug("Plaid object: ", Plaid);
var linkHandler = Plaid.create({ // the troublesome line
env: 'tartan',
clientName: 'Example Project',
key: 'test_key',
product: 'connect',
onSuccess: function(public_token) {
Restangular.one('plaid').customPOST(
{
public_token: public_token,
user_id: $scope.currentUser.id,
institution_code: bankChosen
},
'addAccount'
);
},
onExit: function() {
$state.go('dashboard.successState');
},
});
linkHandler.open(bankChosen);
};
However, when I push to the production environment, currently hosted on Heroku, it gives the javascript error ReferenceError: Plaid is not defined when it tries to load. It is breaking error when deployed to production.
What could be causing this module to be unavailable during production?
The script that loads the CDN could be getting stripped away by a standard grunt task that does that sort of thing? Or maybe I am supposed to be loading the module from the CDN in some other way in a production-environment setting? I really don't know...
Update: I found one thing that might be stripping the loaded module
From the Grunt dom-munger docs
Use this task to read and transform your HTML documents. Typical use cases include:
Read the references from your script or link tags and pass those to
concat,uglify, etc automatically.
2. Update HTML to remove script
references or anything that is not intended for your production
builds.
Add, update, or remove any DOM elements for any reason.
dom_munger is part of my application's build process, which happens when it is deployed (!). Grunt is the likely culprit here.
Does anybody know how to load the script tag above, with dom_munger as still part of my app's grunt build step?
The problem was that during the build step Grunt strips away the script tags in my application. So I had to append the tag back on to my body tag using dom_munger's update --> options --> append option.
...only then could I get the CDN script to be linked to properly after the app was built using grunt build.
The line looks like this in my Gruntfile.
--> The key added line is this one
{selector:'body',html:'<script src="https://cdn.plaid.com/link/stable/link-initialize.js"></script>'},
dom_munger:{
[.....]
update: {
options: {
append: [
{selector:'body',html:'<script src="https://cdn.plaid.com/link/stable/link-initialize.js"></script>'},
]
},
src:'index.html',
dest: 'dist/index.html'
}
Quite the mysterious error for me. I hope this helps somebody else out at some point!

How can I pre load a template in Angular UI router?

I am using Angular UI router. I have many template calls like this:
var access = {
name: 'access',
templateUrl: 'app/access/partials/a1.html',
};
The page served by Access depends on the :content.
Is there a way that I could combine all these HTML files into one and pre-load the files so every action didn't involve another request? I realized I can put my HTML directly inside the template but can I combine the HTML from multiple templates into one file and have it all pre-loaded so it's ready when needed?
Is there a way that I could combine all these HTML files into one and pre-load the files so every action didn't involve another request?
Yes, by using html2js;
or, to be exact, a grunt/gulp plugin called, respectively, grunt-html2js / gulp-html2js
HOW IT WORKS
According to this grunt-html2js tutorial:
" html2js is a plugin (...) that parses all template files in your application and creates a javascript file that populates the $templateCache.
This is very useful trick to reduce the number of request your app needs to make to start the application.
It can also minify the html snippets saving some bandwitdh as well."
----------
According to the grunt-html2s Github repository:
"html2js converts a group of templates to JavaScript and assembles them into an Angular module that primes the cache directly when the module is loaded.
You can concatenate this module with your main application code so that Angular does not need to make any additional server requests to initialize the application."
----------
And according to me :)
What I like about html2js is that you don't need to change any of your angular code, but just configure gruntfile.js / gulpfile.js.
Your templateUrl files will then automagically be available in $templateCache.
So it does exactly what you wished for:
Combine all your templates into a module;
Write the JavaScript source for the module;
All you need to do is to specify the module as a dependency in your code.
Once the module is loaded, all your templates are available in the cache: no request needed!
EXAMPLES OF GRUNT / GULP CONFIG
grunt.initConfig({
html2js: {
options: {
base: 'app',
module: 'templates',
htmlmin: {
... many available options: see GitHub repo ...
}
},
main: {
src: ['app/**/*.html'],
dest: 'templates.js'
},
},
})
then just use the templates module as a dependency:
angular.module('myApp', [ 'templates']);
----------
Here is an example from the gulp-html2js GitHub repository:
gulp.task('scripts', function() {
gulp.src('fixtures/*.html')
.pipe(html2js({
outputModuleName: 'template-test',
useStrict: true
}))
.pipe(concat('template.js'))
.pipe(gulp.dest('./'))
})
TESTING
What's more, html2js is also a very good tool to test directives that use the templateUrl property.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
I came accross html2js after reading Joel Hooks' (Egghead instructor) book about automation, which I strongly recommend.
Watch a dedicated video about html2js in the pro section of the EggHead website.
Testing directives using the templateUrl property with Karma and karma-ng-html2js-preprocessor
NOTE
Technically, you could just use ng-html2js, without using Gulp or Grub; you could then use a command line like the following:
ng-html2js inputFile [outputFile] [-m moduleName] [--module-var ngModule]
However, as you would need to run the above command for each templateUrl file, Gulp/Grub automation seems to be a more efficient way to go.
DISCLAIMER
I have no particular interest or shares in the book/websites/tools I mentioned.
Note: I should also add, you also add this file to your html page:
<script src="path/to/templates.js"></script>
Why not use ng-include in your main html file to load all html's at once.
Something like this...
<div ng-repeat="template in templates">
<ng-include src="template.url"></ng-include>
</div>
So here templates is an array of objects which contains all the url's the other templates which you want to load at once in your main.html file.
Easy. Create them all as ng-template blocks:
<script type="text/ng-template" id="app/access/partials/a1.html">
Content of the template.
</script>
There is already a grunt-angular-templates grunt plugin specific to this angular task only. i have been using it for a while now. this plugin automatically caches your HTML templates using $templateCache in one file which you can add in your application.
grunt-angular-templates - https://www.npmjs.com/package/grunt-angular-templates
Use,
yourApp.run(['$templateCache', function($templateCache) {
$templateCache.removeAll();
}])
Your problem pointed in this site too,
http://javahow.net/questions/27321315/using-angulars-ui-router-how-can-we-make-sure-the-new-version-of-the-html-part

Minifying ExtJs

We have an extjs application where the structure we laid out doesn't exactly match the structure Sencha recommends. In our structure we don't have an app.js but we do have a js where we mention the autoload and launch function, example as below along with the folder structure.
What we are looking is to minify all the JS files in admin folder and create one JS to be used in production, we tried looking at the Sencha CMD but of no luck. Can some one please point us for the exact steps for minifying our application for production use.
Ext.Loader.setConfig({
enabled: true,
paths: {
'Admin': '../../script/js/ace/admin',
'Ext.ux': '../../script/js/ext4/ux'
}
});
Ext.require('Admin.view.Administration');
Ext.application({
name: 'Admin',
appFolder: '../../script/js/ace/admin',
launch: function()
{
Ext.QuickTips.init();
var me = this;
Ext.create('Admin.view.Administration', {
renderTo: 'contentPanel'
});
}
});
We tried Cmd by generating JSB3 file, I know its deprecated in 4.2.1 but with the structure we have we felt that was the only option.
we tried the below command, but no jsb3 file got generated
sencha build admin.jsb3 <path to the admin js folder>
Thanks in advance, any pointers are really appreciated.
I posted this in Sencha forum, but I am expecting a much simpler option then they have provided.
Edit
we have multiple apps, and in most cases we try to use the js from other app folders.
For example in the below image we have utilities and admin apps, from utilities app we use SourceStore and the autoloader is defined as below to access the required
Ext.Loader.setConfig({
enabled: true,
paths: {
'Admin': '../../script/js/ace/admin',
'Utilities': '../../script/js/ace/utilities',
'Ext.ux': '../../script/js/ext4/ux'
}
});
If you let Sencha CMD to generate a skeleton application for you and then merge your existing code with it, then it will be really easy.
Otherwise you can try the old JSBuilder from Sencha as well.
I'd highly recommend checking out grunt with the grunt_sencha_dependencies plugin. Here's a tutorial.
At a high level, what you do is:
1) Run the sencha_dependencies plugin to generate a list of dependencies.
2) Pass the outputs to the uglify plugin to concat and minify the javascript.
3) Use grunt's copy task to replace to update your index.html with the minified output.
edit: I've dealt with Sencha CMD and it is awful. I would not wish it on my worst enemy. Grunt is just way easier.
I recommend you using JAWR. Basically you define in the jawr.properties file your bundles, and say which file or folder belongs to which bundle. A bundle is actually a bunch of JS files that are minified into another single one and can be requested separately in your servlets/JSP files. Besides, you can define dependencies between bundles (which by default are independent), so that when you include a bundle, other bundles are automatically included in your page. To include a bundle you use the special tag <jwr> in your servlet. Besides, you can enable the debug mode, so that when you develop, you can debug your code.
How it works: you add a servlet to your web.xml file to be loaded on start-up, which is also the stage when these bundles are generated (transparent to you).
Some tips:
Check this tutorial
Because in ExtJS the order in which the files are used is important, you should consider it when you define your bundles.
If you are willing to give Sencha CMD another shot, you could try using the sencha compile command.
sencha compile --classpath=folders-your-using,separated-by-commas concatenate --yui --output-file=output.js
--classpath is the folders you want to include.
--yui is the compressor
--output-file is the name of the javascript output.
I would recommend reading the sencha cmd guides. They can be a little intense, but sencha command packs so many tools in it that it probably deserves to be: http://docs.sencha.com/cmd/5.x/advanced_cmd/cmd_reference.html

Backbone.Marionette - Grunt Browserify - "require is not defined"

I'm using grunt-browserify and running into two issues in particular. The task is up and running successfully with the following config options. The variable jsFilesToConcat represents all of the javascript files for a Backbone.js + Marionette.js application, the main application defintion, the front-end utility assets (e.g. Bootstrap plugins), and all JS associated with the project. Is this the wrong approach? The thought was to load the entire 250k JS application (and all it's dependencies) at one time.
I want to offer the disclaimer that this is new territory for me, so I think my intended use case is available with the options already available with the plugin, but I'm confused by two errors:
1) Backbone not defined - which means that the script is in fact loading, however, when I inspect the call stack in Chrome Dev Tools it shows only the anonymous self-invoking function. So I'm not clear on how to pass the Backbone object to Marionette in order for it to be extended at load time.
2) require is not defined - error on the line where I'm declaring var SampleApp = require('SampleApp'). Do I need to do something special within my grunt config, or node.js server.js config to expose the require function?
3) Is the javascript executing asynchronously within itself, is this part of the browserify intended behavior that I'm not properly handling? I think since I'm wrapping alot of JS utilities in a global wrapper to protect namespacing, that's the reason some functions are not available, but I'm not clear on why that would affect require.
// uses grunt-browserify task
browserify: {
developmentJs: {
options: {
debug: true,
alias: ["./js/app.dev.js:SampleApp"],
},
src: [
'<%= pkg.jsFilesToConcat %>'
],
dest: 'public-dev/js/app.dev.js'
}
}
and then in the index.html of my single-page Marionette app, I have.
(function ($) {
$(document).ready( function() {
var sampleApp = require('SampleApp');
console.log( SampleApp );
});
})(jQuery);
Well for starters, the src attribute in your grunt file doesn't need to reference all of the files in your application. It only needs an entry point. So normally I have something similar to your anonymous self executing function in an index.js file, and set my src configuration option to ["./index.js"]. When browserify looks at that file, it will check for calls to require and grab all of the required dependencies.
That said, browserify will generate a file with an internal definition of require. The require function is not globally available on the page, nor are the dependencies that you include with require. You can use them in your application, but that doesn't make them available in the page. So if you are getting a Backbone is not defined error, the first thing I would check is that you have installed backbone via npm (npm install backbone --save).
Once everything is set up you should just have to include your compiled script on the page, and let your anonymous self executing function (which should now be in a file that grunt-browserify is processing) do the work to kick off your application.

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