group-grunt-tasks

Grunt configuration utility: dynamically generates task groups from tagged tasks/targets.

Getting Started

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.

Install the utility with this command:

npm install group-grunt-tasks --save-dev

The "group-grunt-tasks" utility

Easily create dynamic task/target groups like group-after-tests or group-build-css that you can use in different tasks.

Note: The examples in this readme are drawn from our own exprience developing AngularJS with the ngbp boilerplate.

Configuration

You group your tasks/targets directly in your Gruntfile.js file before you invoke grunt.initConfig() by simply decorating your existing targets with the '__groups' property.

The example below uses a grunt-contrib-less configuration:

var config = {
  less: {
    options: {
      // ...
    }
  },
  build_main: {
    __groups: 'build_css',
    src: '<%= path.src %>/main.less',
    dest: '<%= path.build %>/<%= pkg.name %>.css',
    options: {
      sourceMap: true,
      dumpLineNumbers: 'all'
    }
  },
  build_plugins: {
    __groups: 'build_css',
    src: '<%= path.src %>/plugins/plugins.less',
    dest: '<%= path.build %>/plugins/plugins.css'
  },
  dist_main: {
    __groups: 'dist_css',
    // ...
  },
  dist_plugins: {
    __groups: 'dist_css',
    // ...
    options: {
      compress: true
    }
  }
};

You will need to invoke the utlity from your project's Gruntfile.js gruntfile, before you invoke grunt.initConfig():

// declare config, declaring your configuration, including the `__groups` properties.
var config = { /*...*/ };
 
// register group tasks
groups = require('group-grunt-tasks')(grunt, options);
groups.collect(config);
 
grunt.initConfig(config);

The above less configuration naturally results in all the following less targets:

+ less:build_main
+ less:build_plugins
+ less:dist_main
+ less:dist_plugins

But, aditionally, it will also result in the following Grunt tasks being registered:

+ group-build_css = ['less:build_main', 'less:build_plugins']
+ group-dist_css = ['less:dist_main', 'less:dist_main_min']

The advantage of this approach is that if you have an exploding number of less:build_xxx, less:dist_xxx or any other environment or platform variants fot the less tasks, you can now invoke them all at once using the tag alias:

grunt group-build_css

Also, everytime you tag another build_css or dist_css target for tasks like less, concat, uglify, you do not have to update your build and dist tasks ever again because the groups are automatically updated every time Grunt runs.

You can also then reference the dynamically registered group-build_... tasks in your Gruntfile.js gruntfile.

grunt.registerTask('build', [
  // ...
  'group-build_css',
  'group-build_js'
  // ...
]);
 
grunt.registerTask('dist', [
  // ...
  'group-dist_css',
  'group-dist_js',
  // ...
]);

In case you temporarily delete or untag ALL tasks/targets that were tagged with __groups: build_js, the corresponding group-dist_js task will no longer be registered and Grunt will fail to start.

Warning: Task "group-build_js" not found. Use --force to continue.

To prevent this, instead of having to // comment out the offending group in the dist task, you can use the following alias to grunt.registerTask():

// notice the `.groups.` after grunt ;-)
grunt.groups.registerTask('build', [
  // ...
  'group-build_css',
  'group-build_js'
  // ...
]);

The utility will automatically register any task prefixed with group- that does not exist yet. If you execute grunt build now, instead of an error you will get a friendly warning.

Running "group-build_js" task
>> Group task "group-build_js" is empty. To add tasks, tag them with "__groups: group-build_js".

Methods

Constructor(grunt, options)

When requiring the module you need to provide Grunt instance and, optionally, an options object to configure it.

Arguments:

• grunt : Object - Grunt instance.
• options : Object -

Returns:

Object - The module api.

Example:

var options = {
  tag: '__groups', // The property to look for in the tasks/targets.
  prefix: 'tag-'   // Every task generated will be prefixed with 'group-'.
};
var groups = require('group-grunt-tasks')(grunt, options);

+ groups.collect(config)

Collects groups and grouped tasks/targets.

You should call this method before calling grunt.initConfig(config) and before regstering any tasks that may refer to the groups.

You can call the method more than once, and it will register more groups and augment existing ones, thought there is no reason why should do that.

Arguments:

• config : Object - The Grunt configuration object.

Returns:

Array - Collected groups.

Example:

var config = { ... };
groups.collect(config);

+ groups.registerTask(task, subTasks)

Registers the task making sure all the subTasks that are prefixed with opts.prefix exist.

Arguments:

• task : string - Name of the task to register.
• subTasks : String|Array - Name of the grunt tasks to include in the group.

Returns:

Object - Loaded data.

Example:

module.exports = function (grunt) {
  grunt.groups.registerTask('build', [
    'group-build_prepare',
    'group-build_test',
    'group-build_js',
    'group-build_css',
    'group-build_finish',
    'something',       // any non-prefixed task that does not exist will not be registered
    'something-else'   //   and Grunt still abort when starting
  ]};
};

--verbose

If you want to double-check what tag tasks are being generated, use --verbose:

grunt something:something --verbose

...

group-grunt-tasks: collect task/target tagged with "group-".
Registering 3 task(s) with prefix "group".
+ task: group-build_css = [less:examples, less:build_main]
+ task: group-dist_css = [less:dist_main, less:dist_main_min]
+ task: group-examples = [html2js:main, less:examples, ngindex:example]

Gotchas

Order of Grunt setup steps DOES matter

This utility needs to be invoked after loading (at least some) config and before invoking grunt.initConfig().

This utility is best used in conjunction with the load-grunt-tasks utility, the load-grunt-configs utility and the grunt.task.loadTasks() strategy.

The only order that makes sense is:

var loader = require('group-grunt-tasks');
var groups = require('group-grunt-tasks')(grunt);
 
// declare/load your config
var config = { ... };
loader.merge(grunt, '/config/**/*.js', config);
 
// collect groups and register group tasks
groups.collect(config);
 
// init config
grunt.initConfig(config);
 
// load more tasks
grunt.loadTasks('grunt/tasks');

Beware of name collisions

If you are not using the 'prefix' option (see below) you may run into serious problems.

For instance if you tag some task with __groups: ['copy'] this tool will override the existing copy task.

---

Roadmap

• tidy up readme
• test coverage
• check interaction with watch, watch reload and the necessity of regenrating the groups
• investigate how to run tasks in parallel (probably registering a proxy fn per group in Grunt) and benchmark it!

Credits and Acknowlegdments

Special thanks to @JaimeBeneitez for raising the standard on how to setup uniform grunt task configurations across our growing ecosystem of libraries and apps over at EF CTX.

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2014 Andre Torgal

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.