mermin

Simple merger/minifier/compiler/resource manager for cluster/express.

Installation

$ npm install mermin

Dependencies

Mermin depends on the following libraries:

• async
• csso
• less
• uglify-js

Types

Mermin supports three types/extensions by default: js, css, and less. Types are used as key names to build the mermin config object.

Basic usage

Mermin is simple to use. Load mermin, extend, instantiate, and add the middleware to connect/express.

Load

var mermin = require('mermin');

Extend

Mermin can be extended to support other file types by using the extend method. The extend method takes as arguments a string for the file extension, and a function for the processor. The input processor function takes as arguments a string for the merged data, a string for the write path, and a boolean for minify.

mermin.extend('css', function (data, write_path, minify) {
    if (minify) {
        var final_output = csso.justDoIt(data);
        fs.writeFileSync(write_path, final_output);
    }
    else {
        fs.writeFileSync(write_path, data);
    }
});

Configuration Template:

var merminConfig = {
    'js' : {
        'project_1' : [
            '/js/project_1/file_1.js',
            ..,
            '/js/project_1/file_n.js'
        ],
        ..,
        'project_m' : [
            '/js/project_m/file_1.js',
            ..,
            '/js/project_m/file_n.js'
        ]
    },
    'css' : {
        'project_1' : [
            '/css/project_1/file_1.css',
            ..,
            '/css/project_m/file_n.css'
        ],
        ..,
        'project_m' : [
            '/css/project_m/file_1.css',
            ..,
            '/css/project_m/file_n.css'
        ]
    },   
    'project_1' : {
        'js' : [
            '/project_1/js/file_1.js',
            ..,
            '/project_1/js/file_n.js'
        ],
        'css' : [
            '/project_1/css/file_1.css',
            ..,
            '/project_1/css/file_n.css'
        ]
    },
    ..,
    'project_m' : {
        'js' : [
            '/project_m/js/file_1.js',
            ..,
            '/project_m/js/file_n.js'
        ],
        'css' : [
            '/project_m/css/file_1.css',
            ..,
            '/project_m/css/file_n.css'
        ]
    }
};

Categories/projects and types can be inter-exchanged when defining the config object.

Instantiate

var resources = new mermin({
    path : __dirname + '/public/',
    config : merminConfig,
    merge : true,
    minify : true,
    name : 'resources',
    watch : true
});

• path : An absolute directory path that will be a prefix to paths defined in the config object
• config : An object specifying the paths to files
• merge : A boolean specifying if contents should be merged
• minify : A boolean specifying if the contents should be minified (only if merge is true)
• name : A string specifying the name of the variable in the middleware/template
• watch : A boolean specifying if merged files should automatically be re-merged on change

Middleware

app.use(resources.middleware);

The 'resources' (or 'mermin' by default) variable is now accessible through your template engine of choice.

Example when using jade/haml:

- each url in resources.css.project_1
    link(rel='stylesheet', href=url)
- each url in resources.js.project_1
    script(src=url)

Example when using ejs:

<% for (url in resources.css.project_1) { %>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="<%= resources.css.project_1[url] %>">
<% } %>
<% for (url in resources.js.project_1) { %>
    <script src="<%= resources.js.project_1[url] %>"></script> 
<% } %>

Extended Use Cases

Content Grouping

It is possible to use mermin to group together static content, such as images.

var mermin = require('mermin');
 
mermin.extend('images', function (data, write_path, minify) {
    // types will not be recognized unless we extend mermin
});
 
var mediaConfig = {
    'images' : {
        'headers' : [
            '/images/headers/header_1.jpg',
            ...
            '/images/headers/header_2.jpg'
        ],
        'background' : [
            '/images/background.jpg'
        ]
    }
};
 
var media = new mermin({
    path : __dirname + '/public/',
    config : mediaConfig,
    merge : false,
    minify : false,
    name : 'media'
});
 
app.use(media.middleware);

Example when using jade/haml:

img(src=media.images.headers[0]);
img(src=media.images.background[0]);

File Output

The output directory for each subgroup (of type and group/project) is the directory of the first item for each subgroup, or the first item if it is a directory. Mermin will traverse the config object synchronously via depth-first exhaustion. The format of the file names will be [project].merged.[type]. Files available as resources on the internet will be skipped in the merge process, but will be accessible via the helper.

License

Copyright (c) 2012 Alex Ahn, https://github.com/alexahn

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.