grunt-tmplt

Share values between different file types.

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-tmplt --save-dev

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

grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-tmplt');

The "tmplt" task

Overview

Run this task with the grunt tmplt command. The src property will use the Grunt glob pattern to specify files that should be included.

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

grunt.initConfig({
  tmplt: {
    options: {
      // Task-specific options go here.
    },
    your_target: {
      // Target-specific file lists and/or options go here.
      src: []
    },
  },
});

Options

options.ext

Type: String Default value: 'tmplt'

File extension that is used to find your template files. To template a javascript file you'll then name it nameOfJavascriptFile.tmplt.js, a less file nameOfLessFile.tmplt.less and so on.

options.tmpltsrc

Type: String Default value: '.tmpltsrc.json'

JSON source file for your templating data

files

files.src

Grunt glob pattern to specify files that should be included

files.flatten

Type: Boolean Default value: false

files.dest

Usage Examples

Setup in grunt

...

  tmplt: {
  	colors: {
    	options: {
    		//template data for any file specified in src
      		tmpltsrc: "globals/colours.json"
    	},
    	files: {
    		//will run tmplt on any *.tmplt.less and *.tmplt.js in the assets folder
    		src: ["assets/**/*.less", "assets/**/.js"],
    		flatten: true, //Remove all path parts from generated dest paths.
    		dest: 'build/' // Destination path prefix.
    	}
  	}
  },
...

Store the data you want to share between files in colours.json

{
    "colorPrimary": "#222",
    "colorSecondary": "#fff"
}

Use the data in a javascript file name a file nameOfJavascriptFile.tmplt.js

...

var colorPrimary = "<%= colorPrimary %>";
var colorSecondary = "<%= colorSecondary %>";

...

and then in a less file called nameOfLessFile.tmplt.less

...

.button{
    color: <%= colorPrimary %>;
    background-color: <%= colorSecondary %>;
}
...

Running the tmplt task will then create a javascript file called nameOfJavascriptFile.js

...

var colorPrimary = "#222";
var colorSecondary = "#fff";

...

and a less file nameOfLessFile.less

...

.button{
    color: #222;
    background-color: #fff;
}
...

Use with watch

It makes sense to use the tmplt task togheter with a watch task. The setup for using tmplt with grunt-contrib-watch could look something like this:

...

watch: {
    configFiles: {
        files: {
            src: ['Gruntfile.js']
        },
        options: {
            reload: true,
            spawn: true
        }
    },
    less: {
        files: {
            src: ['**/*.less', '!**/*.tmplt.less']
        },
        tasks: ['less'],
        options: {
            livereload: true
        }
    },
    js: {
        files: {
            src: ['assets/scripts/*.js', '!**/*.tmplt.js']
        },
        options: {
            livereload: true
        }
    },            
    tmpltLess: {
        files: {
            src: ['assets/styles/**/*.tmplt.less', "globals/**/*.json"]
        },
        tasks: ['tmplt']
    },
    tmpltJs: {
        files: {
            src: ['assets/scripts/*.tmplt.js', "globals/**/*.json"]
        },
        tasks: ['tmplt'] 
    }                        
},

...

Any changes to the data in the json file or a template file now will generate the js and less files automatically.

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

v0.1.0

• Initial release