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livereload

node-livereload

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An implementation of the LiveReload server in Node.js. It's an alternative to the graphical http://livereload.com/ application, which monitors files for changes and reloads your web browser.

Example Usage

You can use this by either adding a snippet of code to the bottom of your HTML pages or install the Browser Extensions.

Method 1: Add browser extension

Install the LiveReload browser plugins by visiting http://help.livereload.com/kb/general-use/browser-extensions.

Only Google Chrome supports viewing file:/// URLS, and you have to specifically enable it. If you are using other browsers and want to use file:/// URLs, add the JS code to the page as shown in the next section.

Method 2: Add code to page

Add this code:

<script>
  document.write('<script src="http://' + (location.host || 'localhost').split(':')[0] +
  ':35729/livereload.js?snipver=1"></' + 'script>')
</script> 

Note: If you are using a different port other than 35729 you will need to change the above script.

Running LiveReload

You can run LiveReload two ways:

Option 1: Command line

To use livereload from the command line:

$ npm install -g livereload
$ livereload [path]

Option 2: From within your own project

To use the api within a project:

$ npm install livereload

Then, create a server and fire it up.

var livereload = require('livereload');
var server = livereload.createServer();
server.watch(__dirname + "/public");

You can also use this with a Connect server. Here's an example of a simple server using connect and a few other modules just to give you an idea:

var connect  = require('connect');
var compiler = require('connect-compiler');
var static = require('serve-static');
 
var server = connect();
 
server.use(
  compiler({
      enabled : [ 'coffee', 'uglify' ],
      src     : 'src',
      dest    : 'public'
  })
);
 
server.use(  static(__dirname + '/public'));
 
server.listen(3000);
 
var livereload = require('livereload');
var lrserver = livereload.createServer();
lrserver.watch(__dirname + "/public");

You can then start up the server which will listen on port 3000.

Watching multiple paths:

Passing an array of paths or glob patterns will allow you to watch multiple directories. All directories have the same configuration options.

server.watch([__dirname + "/js", __dirname + "/css"]);

Command line:

$ livereload "path1, path2, path3"

Using the originalPath option:

// server.js 
var server = livereload.createServer({
    originalPath: "http://domain.com"
});
server.watch('/User/Workspace/test');

Then run the server:

$ node server.js

Then, assuming your HTML file has a stylesheet link like this:

<!-- html -->
<head>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://domain.com/css/style.css">
</head>

When /User/Workspace/test/css/style.css is modified, the stylesheet will be reload.

Command-line Options

The commandline options are

  • -p or --port to specify the listening port
  • -d or --debug to show debug messages when the browser reloads.
  • -e or --exts to include additional extentions that you want to observe. Example: -e 'jade,scss'.
  • -x or --exclusions to specify additional exclusion patterns. Example: -x html, images/
  • -u or --usepolling to poll for file system changes. Set this to true to successfully watch files over a network.
  • -w or --wait to add a delay (in miliseconds) between when livereload detects a change to the filesystem and when it notifies the browser

Specify the path when using the options.

$ livereload . -w 1000 -d

API Options

The createServer() method accepts two arguments.

The first are some configuration options, passed as a JavaScript object:

  • https is an optional object of options to be passed to https.createServer (if not provided, http.createServer is used instead)
  • port is the listening port. It defaults to 35729 which is what the LiveReload extensions use currently.
  • exts is an array of extensions you want to observe. The default extensions are html, css, js, png, gif, jpg, php, php5, py, rb, erb, and coffee.
  • applyCSSLive tells LiveReload to reload CSS files in the background instead of refreshing the page. The default for this is true.
  • applyImgLive tells LiveReload to reload image files in the background instead of refreshing the page. The default for this is true. Namely for these extensions: jpg, jpeg, png, gif
  • exclusions lets you specify files to ignore. By default, this includes .git/, .svn/, and .hg/
  • originalPath Set URL you use for development, e.g 'http:/domain.com', then LiveReload will proxy this url to local path.
  • overrideURL lets you specify a different host for CSS files. This lets you edit local CSS files but view a live site. See http://feedback.livereload.com/knowledgebase/articles/86220-preview-css-changes-against-a-live-site-then-uplo for details.
  • usePolling Poll for file system changes. Set this to true to successfully watch files over a network.
  • delay add a delay (in miliseconds) between when livereload detects a change to the filesystem and when it notifies the browser. Useful if the browser is reloading/refreshing before a file has been compiled, for example, by browserify.
  • noListen Pass as true to indicate that the websocket server should not be started automatically. (useful if you want to start it yourself later)

The second argument is an optional callback that will be sent to the LiveReload server and called for the listening event. (ie: when the server is ready to start accepting connections)

Changelog

0.6.2

  • CLI now properly splits extension list. Previous versions appended a blank entry to the list of extensions.
  • CLI now requires extensions to be comma separated instead of space separated.
  • Added extra debugging info (protocol version, watched directory, extensions, and exclusions).
  • Cleaned up some inconsistencies in the code.

0.6.1

  • Fix default exclusions regex

0.6.0

  • Implements LiveReload protocol v7 so browser plugins work again.
  • Removes support for protocol v6
  • Introduces noListen option
  • Introduces optional callback which will be invoked when the LiveReload server is listening

0.5.0

  • Updated ws library
  • Fix issues with exclusions
  • Allow watching multiple paths from CLI
  • Added delay option

0.4.1

  • Remove some bad JS code

0.4.0

  • Rewritten using Chokidar library and ws library
  • Added usePolling option
  • Added support for specifying additional extensions from the CLI

Older version history not kept.

License

Copyright (c) 2010-2016 Brian P. Hogan and Joshua Peek

Released under the MIT license. See LICENSE for details.

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Dependencies (3)

chokidar, opts, ws

Dependents (105)

easygo, digo-livereload, squeezer-cli, neol, mip-cli-test, ui-demo-server, imock-tool, reveal-md-atomized, frullatore, mandi, reveal-md, @mercateo/ws, nimda, silica, mip-cli, vitreum, tool-chain, fe-dev-server, lively-reload, rollup-plugin-livereload, sbt-cli, ng2-jspm-template-libs, rocket-command, bistrohub, express-mincer-spa, broccoli-livereload, express-livereload, easyFe, opine-livereload, @mtscout6/markserv, mdd, lingon-livereload, gil, @dotnetcarpenter/firefund-cli, webpack-watch-livereload-plugin, mkapp, abproxy, miniserv, resite, silky, livefresh, mx-static, generator-pg-zhangzhi, gulp-workspace, livereload-exec, generator-wikismith, proxydevserver, shuss, shooss, fleecy, and more