gulp-imports

Gulp-Imports 0.0.3

A gulp plugin to make file imports/includes easy.

WARNING - this is still alphaware - I still need to add tests and examples for more than just JavaScript & HTML imports.

The Basic Idea

I loved Anvil.js - it's by far the best CoC approach to JavaScript/web asset builds that I've ever seen. I want the same "import" syntax for projects of mine using Gulp, that I had with Anvil.js.

For example, consider the following files:

file1.js

var file1 = function() {
    console.log("I'm a function from file1.js");
};

//import("subdir1/file2.js");

//import("subdir2/file4.js");

subdir1/file2.js

var file2 = function() {
    console.log("I'm a function from file2.js");
};

//import("subdir1a/file3.js");

subdir1/subdir1a/file3.js

var file3 = function() {
    console.log("I'm a function from file3.js");
};

subdir2/file4.js

var file4 = function() {
   console.log("I'm a function from file4.js");
};

Each of the above files is using an //imports("pathToFile"); approach to include the contents of the imported file inline where the import comment existed. This plugin supports nested import statements, and allows you to reference the files relatively from the file doing the importing.

Running a gulpfile like this:

var gulp = require('gulp');
var gulpImports = require('gulp-imports');

gulp.task('imports', function() {
    gulp.src(['file1.js'])
        .pipe(gulpImports())
        .pipe(gulp.dest('./result'));
});

gulp.task('default', function() {
    gulp.run('imports');
});

would result in the following combined output:

var file1 = function() {
    console.log("I'm a function from file1.js");
};

var file2 = function() {
    console.log("I'm a function from file2.js");
};

var file2a = function() {
    console.log("I'm a function from file2a.js");
};

var file3 = function() {
    console.log("I'm a function from file3.js");
};

var file4 = function() {
   console.log("I'm a function from file4.js");
};

Yay for combining files via includes that don't make your IDE barf.

Disclaimers

I'm sure there's a better way to do this - so if you know of one, tell me, or submit a PR :-)

In the meantime, I'll be trying to think of how to improve this to the point where I can bring myself to encourage others to use it.

License

It's MIT. Have fun.