grunt-replace-from-json

Replace content in files from json file.

Reason

I use json files to assistent with tasks in my development environment. For example, in an angular project, I need a list of files that a loader needs to asyncrously load, and I want to use that same list of files to run a build script. I may have an external application to update this list, which it's easier for me to update a json file. I then use this json file as a focal point to update various files in my dev environment.

Getting Started

This plugin requires Grunt ~0.4.5

If you haven't used Grunt before, be sure to check out the Getting Started guide, as it explains how to create a Gruntfile as well as install and use Grunt plugins. Once you're familiar with that process, you may install this plugin with this command:

npm install grunt-replace-from-json --save-dev

Once the plugin has been installed, it may be enabled inside your Gruntfile with this line of JavaScript:

grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-replace-from-json');

The "replace_from_json" task

Overview - Angular example

For a demo implementation, see the project builder angular seed app: https://github.com/project-builder/angular-seed.git

Set up a json file that contains the content you want to replace in files:

src
  |_ projectBuilder.json // <- source content
  |_ app.js // <- destination content

In root directory of each of your projects, place a projectBuilder.json file. Inside this file, place a node that has an array of modules that need to be added to your app.js file. The contents look like this, for example:

{
    "ngAppDepModules-seedApp": [
            "ngRoute",
            "seedApp.view1",
            "seedApp.view2",
            "seedApp.version"
        ]
}

In your project's Gruntfile, add a task named replaceFromJson to the data object passed into grunt.initConfig().

grunt.initConfig({
  replaceFromJson: {
    seedApp: {
        cwd: "src/",
        start: '@@NG_APP_DEP_MODULE_START@@',
        end: '@@NG_APP_DEP_MODULE_END@@',
        commaDelimited: true
        src: 'projectBuilder-seedApp.json',
        srcId: 'ngAppDepModules-seedApp',
        dest: 'app.js'
    }
  },
});

Note, you may pass in your own iterator function:

replaceFromJson: {
    seedApp: {
        cwd: "src/",
        start: '@@NG_APP_DEP_MODULE_START@@',
        end: '@@NG_APP_DEP_MODULE_END@@',
        func: arrayToCommaDelimetedString, // iterator function from projectBuilder/utils.js
        src: 'projectBuilder-seedApp.json',
        delimiter: '\n',
        wrapWithQuotes: false,
        srcId: 'ngAppDepModules-seedApp',
        dest: 'app.js'
    }
  },

In your apps dependencies, wrap your modules with the //@@NG_APP_DEP_MODULE_START@@ and //@@NG_APP_DEP_MODULE_END@@ comments:

angular.module('seedApp', [ //@@NG_APP_DEP_MODULE_START@@

//@@NG_APP_DEP_MODULE_END@@

])

API

cwd - current working directory

The source directory containing your source json and target files.

start - Start string for a regex search

A regex is generated to find the content to replace in your destination file. This string is the start of what the regex searches.

end - End string for a regex search

A regex is generated to find the content to replace in your destination file. This string is the end of what the regex searches.

func = Function to manupilate content from json file.

Needs to take one argument that receives the content of the json file. Needs to return the content in the proper format to replace the content in your target files.

In the angular seed example, takes an array from the json file, and reformats the array into a comma delimited string.

src - source json file.

Can also take a path path/to/source.json relative to cwd.

srcId - node in json file to read

func - a parsing function

Custom function you create to turn your json data into what ever you need.

commaDelimited - parse an array to a comma delimited strings

Sample input ['a', 'b', 'c'] to 'a', 'b', 'c'

delimiter - add a delimiter in replacement string

sample param: delimiter: "\n" Sample input ['a', 'b', 'c'] to a\n b\n c

wrapWithQuotes - wrap each item with quotes

sample params:

delimiter: "\n".
wrapWithQuotes: true

Sample input ['a', 'b', 'c'] to 'a'\n 'b'\n 'c'

dest - destination file to update

Can also take a path path/to/dest.json relative to cwd.

Contributing

In lieu of a formal styleguide, take care to maintain the existing coding style. Add unit tests for any new or changed functionality. Lint and test your code using Grunt.

Release History

Version 0.0.7 -- Changed peerDependencies to dependencies. Version 0.0.5 -- Added commaDelimited option that turns arrays into comma delimited strings.