gulp-task-file-loader

Loading gulp tasks from module files and using JSON to describe dependencies.

usage

1. Install the package npm install --save-dev gulp-task-file-loader.

2. Create a tasks directory and put some task file into it. A task file is a node.js module, which contains a gulp task.

   e.g. tasks/copy-files.js

   var gulp = require("gulp");
   module.exports = function () {
       return gulp.src("src/*")
           .pipe(gulp.dest("dest"));
   };

   or tasks/clean.js

   var del = require("del");
   module.exports = function () {
       return del(["dest"]);
   };

3. Create a gulpfile.js in the project root which loads the tasks using a glob pattern.

   var loader = require("gulp-task-file-loader");
   loader("tasks/*");

   And that's all, your tasks will be loaded! :-)

   The non-javascript files will be automatically filtered out so you don't have to worry about them.

   If you want to use the glob with options, e.g. glob.sync(pattern, options), then you have to pass an array as first parameter.

   loader(["tasks/**/*.js", {debug: true, strict: true}]);

4. When your tasks are dependent on each other you can create a dependency descriptor JSON file.

   e.g. tasks/deps.json

   {
       "copy-files": ["clean"]
   }

   In this case the copy-files task is dependent on the clean task, since it has to wait until the old files are deleted from the dest directory before copying the new files to it.

   You can load this JSON file by passing the file name to the loader.

   loader("tasks/*.js", "tasks/deps.json");

   or you can use a javascript object instead of a JSON file if that's what you prefer

   loader("tasks/*.js", {
       "copy-files": ["clean"]
   });

   When you have a root task, which only concerns about pulling in dependencies, then you don't have to create a dummy task file. Adding the task to the dependencies is enough.

   e.g. by gulp build

   loader("tasks/*.js", {
       "build": ["copy-files"],
       "copy-files": ["clean"]
   });

5. Enjoy! :P

testing

I was lazy to write tests. Sorry for that! Maybe I'll do it later. (or not) xD

limitations

The only limitation currently that the task name generation is hardcoded var name = path.basename(file, ext);. Which means that you cannot have two files with the same basename, because that would cause a task name duplication error. For example if you have a pattern like tasks/**/*.js and you have task files like tasks/clean.js and tasks/subtask/clean.js, then the clean task name would be used twice. If you have a better strategy to generate task names, then please contribute!

contribution

If you have any ideas about further enhancements, then please open an issue or send a pull request!

license

MIT - 2015 J�nszky L�szl� Lajos