Load Grunt Task Options

Loads structured grunt tasks option files.

Structuring Grunt tasks

Using a build system to automate repetitive tasks can simplify a developer's work-flow. If you are using Grunt, then you might be aware that a Gruntfile grows wildly really fast, making it hard to maintain.

The following is an example of a simple Grunt setup.

There is a generic Gruntfile that loads all grunt tasks declared as dependencies in the package.json file. Next, it will load custom tasks located under the tasks directory.

Each custom task should be in a separated JavaScript file. As a convention the filename should match the task name declared within.

Next, all task configuration options should be placed in their own JavaScript file inside the tasks/options directory. The filename must match the task it references. For example, the grunt-contrib-cssmin expects a cssmin options object so its corresponding file should be named cssmin.js

The structure project should look something like this:

.
├── Gruntfile.js
├── app
├── package.json
├── tasks
│   ├── build.js
│   ├── dist.js
│   ├── options
│   │   ├── cssmin.js
│   │   ├── ...
│   │   ├── gconfig.js
│   │   └── usemin.js
│   └── test.js
└── tests

Gruntfile.js

module.exports = function (grunt) {
  'use strict';  
  // load all grunt tasks
  require('matchdep').filterDev('grunt-*').forEach(grunt.loadNpmTasks);

  // Time how long tasks take.
  require('time-grunt')(grunt);

  /*
   * Default values.
   */
  var config = {
    app: 'app',
    dist: 'dist',
    test: 'tests'
  };
  
  var options = {};
  options.config = config;

  /*
   * Load configuration files.
   * Each file will be mapped to a property
   * in options object.
   */
  var loadConfigs = require('load-grunt-task-options');

  /**
   * Extend the default options object with
   * the loaded task options. 
   */
  grunt.util._.extend(options, loadConfigs('./tasks/options/'));  
  
  /**
   * We have a tasks directory with all
   * our custom tasks.
   */
  grunt.loadTasks('tasks');

  /**
   * Finally, run grunt with 
   * loaded options.
   */
  grunt.initConfig(options);
};

tasks/build.js

/**
 * Serve grunt task
 * @param  {Object} grunt Grunt instance
 */
module.exports = function(grunt) {
  /**
   * Define `build` task alias:
   */
  grunt.registerTask('build', [
    'clean:dist',
    'gconfig:dist',
    'version',
    'copy:build',
    'copy:gconf'
  ]);
};

tasks/options/cssmin.js

module.exports = {
  dist: {
    files: {
      '<%= config.dist %>/css/main.css': [
        '.tmp/css/{,*/}*.css',
        '<%= config.app %>/css/{,*/}*.css'
      ]
    }
  }
};

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.

License

Copyright (c) 2014 goliatone
Licensed under the MIT license.