resources-manifest-webpack-plugin

Webpack plugin that generates a resources-manifest.json on the fly with the filenames you want to cache & updates the service worker's code so that the browser reloads it.

Motivation

Recently I wanted to add offline support for a personal project. I rejected any solution which does all the work, since I wanted to have full control over the service worker's code - in other words to write it myself.

So, I ran into a problem: how do I know which assets to cache if webpack keeps changing their names via hashes?

That's why I wrote this plugin, which creates a resources-manifest.json file with the filenames of the assets I want to cache. Also, it updates the service worker file so that the browser reloads it, thus giving users the latest version.

Installation

 
$ npm install resources-manifest-webpack-plugin --save-dev
 

Usage

In order to use this plugin, add it to your webpack config.

const  ResourcesManifestPlugin = require("resources-manifest-webpack-plugin");
 
module.exports  = {
  plugins: [new  ResourcesManifestPlugin()]
};

API

new ResourcesManifestPlugin({ [match], [swPath], [maxSize], [versionHandler] });

match

Type: RegExp or Object

Default: /\.(js|css)$/

RegExp

The resulted file will contain a list of names which match the RegExp.

resources-manifest.json

["0.bundle.js","1.cdea1276.css","1.bundle.js","bundle.js"]

Object

Instead of putting all the filenames in one array you can also split them up and apply different cache policies to each category. For example, if you'd like to create the following resources-manifest.json file:

{
  "SOURCE_CODE": ["bundle.js", "0.bundle.js", "1.cdea1276.css"],
  "OTHER_ASSETS" : ["assets/logo.jpg"]
}

just pass an Object whose values are RegExp's and the keys are the properties from above.

// webpack.config.js
 
module.exports  = {
  plugins: [new  ResourcesManifestPlugin({
    match: {
      "SOURCE_CODE": /\.(js|css)$/,
      "OTHER_ASSETS": /\.jpeg?$/
    }
  })]
};

swPath

Type: string

Default: 'service-worker.js'

The path to the Service Worker file. By default it will look in the root of your project for a file named service-worker.js.

// webpack.config.js
 
const { resolve } = require('path');
module.exports  = {
  plugins: [new  ResourcesManifestPlugin({
    swPath: resolve(__dirname, 'static/service-worker.js')
  })]
};

maxSize

Type: number

Default: Infinity

Filter just those assets which are under the specified size in kilobytes.

module.exports  = {
  plugins: [new  ResourcesManifestPlugin({
    maxSize: 5000 // 5MB
  })]
};

versionHandler

Type: String or Function

Default: INCREMENT

Changing just the resources-manifest.json file, doesn't update the SW in the browser. In order to do this we need to change at least 1 byte in it's code. This plugin helps with that too. With every build, it will search your service worker for the declaration of a constant named VERSION and will modify it's value. This small change is enough for the browser to notice the change!

The default strategy is INCREMENT, meaning we add +1 to VERSION. But, you can change this by providing a custom Function which we'll run when setting the new value. The Function will receive one parameter, the content of the generated resources-manifest.json file, so either Array|Object.

1. INCREMENT: from this

// service-worker.js
 
const  VERSION  =  1;
self.addEventListener("install", event  => {
    // ...
});

to this:

// service-worker.js
 
const  VERSION  =  2;
self.addEventListener("install", event  => {
    // ...
});

1. By providing a custom Function you can do more advanced stuff, like generating a unique VERSION based on the names of the matched files. If the names are the same, the SW will not be updated.

// webpack.config.js
const md5 = require('md5');
 
module.exports  = {
  plugins: [new  ResourcesManifestPlugin({
     match: {
      TO_CACHE: /app.+\.(js|css)$/
    },
    versionHandler(resourcesManifest) {
      return `"${md5(resourcesManifest.TO_CACHE.join(' '))}"`;
    }
  })]
};

PS:

• the rest of the service worker code remains unchanged

• the const VERSION declaration can be anywhere in the file, not necessarily at the top. (although I recommend putting it at the top)

• this: const /* random comment */ VERSION = 5; will not work so please don't put comments there.

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Coded with ❤ by Pava