Static Pipeline

Static Pipeline is not another build system or task runner. It is a static assets processing framework and template helper. You can use whatever assets preprocessor you want.

Usage

1. Create a Staticfile.js in your root directory.

2. In Staticfile.js, define tasks by exporting an configuration function:

   var sass = require('node-sass');
   
   module.exports = function(config) {
   
     config.tasks = {
       scss: {
         files: [{
           src: 'source/app.scss',
           dest: 'public/app.css',
         }],
         process: function(pipeline) {
           sass.render({
             file: pipeline.src,
             success: function(results) {
               pipeline.done(results.css);
             }
           });
         }
       }
     };
   
   };

3. Run static-pipeline command line.

Why Use Static Pipeline instead of Gulp or Grunt?

• Build tools and task runners like Gulp and Grunt all depend on their plugins. Plugins prevents you from using the real power of original assets processing tools, e.g. node-sass or browserify. Why bother learning browserify plugin instead of the browserify itself?
• For static assets to bust browser cache, we often append a hash to the asset's url. The process of hashing assets then render template with hashed url is hard to maintain and inflexible.
• Static Pipeline is a framework with which you can use whatever processor you want. It will also save each hash assets url. So you can use them with template helper to provide correct assets' urls.

Install

npm install -g static-pipeline

API

module.exports = function(config) {

  config.tasks = {
    scss: {
      files: [{
        src: 'source/app.scss',
        dest: 'public/app.css',
      }],
      process: function(pipeline) {
        // We are using node-sass to render scss files to css
        sass.render({
          file: pipeline.src,
          success: function(results) {
            // Call done with string to save the string to destination path
            pipeline.done(results.css);
          }
        });
      }
    }
  };

};

Tasks

Assign config.tasks property with an object. In the example above, scss is the task name.

• files|Object[]: is an array of glob definitions. Each glob definition is an object with:
  • src: path to input file, relative to Staticfile.js.
  • dest: relative path to output file.
  • base: (optional) relative base path for src. If defined, src can be a globing pattern (details see node-glob) appended after base, and dest must be a directory. Details see globing example.
  • ext: (optional) a new extension to replace the input file's extension. Ignored if base is not defined.
• process|function: will be called with pipeline object as argument for every src file globed in files definition.
• depends|string[]: (optional) names of other tasks that should run before current one.

pipeline object

pipeline has following properties/methods. They essentially are just helpers to complete the build process.

1. pipeline.src|string: absolve path of input file.
2. pipeline.dest|string: absolve path of output file.
3. pipeline.done|function([path, ][content]): call this function to indicate process is finished. The first argument is the path of output file, if ignored it will use the pipeline.dest as the output path. If called with content string, content will be saved to path so you don't have to save output file manually.
4. pipeline.write|function(path, content): write content to path. Similar to pipeline.done, but doesn't indicate current task is finished.
5. pipeline.hash|function(string) -> Object: call with the content of dest. It return an object. The object has hashedDest property that is new destination path with MD5 hash appended before file extension, and hash property that is the MD5 hash string.
6. pipeline.gitHash|function([string|Array, ]callback): see githash helper.
7. pipeline.setAsset|function(dest, hashedDest): see assets template helper.
8. pipeline.assets|function([url]): see setAsset.

File Globing Examples

Only src and dest

Assume current project root is /home.

{
  src: 'source/app.scss',
  dest: 'public/app.css'
}

Will generate

• src -> /home/source/app.scss, dest -> /home/public/app.css.

Define base and src glob

Assume source directory has file1.scss, file2.scss and partial/file3.scss.

{
  base: 'source',
  src: '**/*.scss',
  dest: 'public'
}

• src -> /home/source/file1.scss, dest -> /home/public/file1.scss
• src -> /home/source/file2.scss, dest -> /home/public/file2.scss
• src -> /home/source/partial/file3.scss, dest -> /home/public/partial/file3.scss

Use ext

Assume source directory has file1.scss, file2.scss and partial/file3.scss.

{
  base: 'source',
  src: '**/*.scss',
  dest: 'public',
  ext: 'css'
}

• src -> /home/source/file1.scss, dest -> /home/public/file1.css
• src -> /home/source/file2.scss, dest -> /home/public/file2.css
• src -> /home/source/partial/file3.scss, dest -> /home/public/partial/file3.css

gitHash helper

Git hash is an alternative to MD5 hash. This helper will obtain the git commit hash for specified file. If an array of files are provided, it will select the lastest git commit hash among provided files.

Signature: function([string|Array, ]callback)

• If called with only callback, it will use current src file to get git commit hash.
• With single path, will use provided path to get git commit hash.
• With array of paths, will get git hash for all the files in array, then select the lastest commit.
• Callback signature function(Error, Object): error will occur if one of the paths has changes that are not committed. Format of object is the same as the return value of pipeline.hash function, which returns an object with hash and hashedDest property.

Assets Template Helper

assets helper

assets only works with absolute urls

The assets helper maps dest to hashedDest when you render template so you when you update your static assets, browser cache is busted.

In your template you can use:

head
  //- Will map `/css/app.css` to `/css/app-202cb962ac59075b964b07152d234b70.css`
  link(rel='stylesheet' href=assets('/css/app.css'))
  //- Will do the same thing for `index.js`
  script(src=assets('/js/index.js'))
body
  .img-container
    //- Can also work on images
    img(src=assets('/img/logo.svg'))

In order to use assets function in template, you have to pass it as locals. For example, if you are using Jade:

var jade = require('jade');

module.exports = function(config) {

  config.tasks = {
    jade: {
      files: [{
        src: 'source/index.jade',
        dest: 'public/index.html',
      }],
      process: function(pipeline) {
        var html = jade.renderFile(pipeline.src, {
          assets: pipeline.assets
        });
        pipeline.done(html);
      }
    }
  };

};

If assets was called directly without any argument. It will return the assetsMap object contains all mappings.

setAsset

Put dest and hashedDest pair into assets map, so next time assets see the url relative to dest it will auto matically translate it into url relative to hashedDest.

Assets Helper Configuration

module.exports = function(config) {

  config.options = {
    assets: {
      useMap: true,
      forceMap: false,
      publicDir: 'public' // required if want to use `assets` helper
      baseUrl: 'http://my-cdn.com'

      // `public/js/index.js` will become
      // `http://my-cdn.com/js/index.js`
      //
      // If baseUrl is not defined, it will become
      // `/js/index.js`
    }
  };

};

• useMap|boolean: default true, if false, assets won't translate any url into hashed url.
• forceMap|boolean: default false, if true, when assets cannot pair url with a hashed url, it will throw AssetNotFoundError. If false, it will return the same url that passed in.
• publicDir|string: required if you want to use assets in your template. When use setAsset, the publicDir portion of dest will be replaced with baseUrl.
• baseUrl|string: default ''.

Other Config

module.exports = function(config) {

  config.options = {
    // Used in development, if true, all hash function will not return hash but
    // the original file name instead
    disableHash: false
  };

};

Express.js Template Helper

var assetMap = require('./assets.json');
var assets = require('static-pipeline/helper-factory')(assetMap, options);

// http://expressjs.com/4x/api.html#app.locals
app.locals.assets = assets;

static-pipeline/helper accepts two arguments.

• assetMap object contains url to hashed url map
• options
  • options.strict=true When true, throw error if url cannot be found in assetMap
  • options.disable=false If true, will return passed in url directly
  • options.baseUrl='' A string prepended before all hashed url