About

AMS - asset management system for nodejs. The goal is to have a flexible and powerful system for dependency management and preprocessing of static files.

What is ams?

• very flexible build tool
• dependency detector to combine files (using @import for css and require('module') for javascript)
• easy extendable preprocessing framework
• enables you to write your js code for the client in the same way as the nodejs server (commonjs modules)

Features

• Expressive API
• Find your files
  • static dependencies detection (looks for commonjs 'require' calls)
  • finder using regexp
• process
  • minify js (using uglifyjs)
  • minify css (using cssmin from yahoo)
  • wrap js with commonjs module definition string (requirejs compatible) for transport
  • add vendor css prefixes (-o, -ms, -moz, -webkit)
  • inline small images in css using base64 data encoding
  • combine css files using @import declaration
  • add host to background image paths and external css (@import), to load it from cdn
  • add your own preprocessor ...
• combine
• write to disk

Installation

npm install ams

API

require ams

var ams = require('ams');

ams.build.create(root)

Create a build instance from passed root path. Returns build Instance. Instance properties are:

• this.root - passed path to the src dir.
• this.options - current options object, contains all options for all methods.
• this.paths - like require.paths.
• this.data - key/value hash of path/contents

Example:

var build = ams.build.create('/path/to/src');

Build#find(options)

Find files to be added to the build instance. Returns build Instance.

Defaults are:

{
    detect: null, // path to the file, where static 'require' dependencies tracking should start from,
    pattern: /\.[\w]+$/, // regexp to match files, is used if detect is not defined
    filter: null, // regexp to filter files, is used if detect is not defined
    rec: true, // recursive search, is used if detect is not defined
    paths: null // like require.paths to resolve deps
}

Example:

build.find();

Build#add(path, [targetDir]);

Add file or files (array) from given path, optionally define the target dir. Returns build Instance.

Example:

build.add('/path/to/file');
// or
build.add(['/path/to/file1', '/path/to/file2']);

Build#process(options)

Run processors over files previously added to the build instance. Returns build Instance.

Defaults are:

{
    uglifyjs: true, // minify javascript using uglifyjs
    cssvendor: true, // add css vendor prefixes like -webkit, -moz etc.
    dataimage: true, // inline small images using data:image base64 encoded data for css and html
    cssimport: true, // parse @import declarations and inline css files
    cssabspath: true, // absolutize paths in css files (relative to the root)
    htmlabspath: true, // absolutize paths in html files (relative to the root)
    cssmin: true, // minify css using js port of yahoos compressor for css
    jstransport: true, // wrap javascript code in commonjs transport proposal, can be used with requirejs later
    texttransport: true // wrap any data into js transport string, f.e. to load html templates using requirejs from cdn
}

You can turn off any processor, add your own, or set any options for every processor.

Example:

build.process({
	uglifyjs: false,
	cssabspath: {
		host: 'http://localhost:8888',
        verbose: true
	}
})

If options is a function, it will be called for each file and act like a custom preprocessor.

Example:

build.process(function(path, data) {
	// `path` is path to the file
	// `data` is contents of the file
	// `this` is reference to build instance
});

Build#combine(options)

Combine all files of current build instance to one, of course without mixing css and js etc. Returns build Instance.

Example:

build.combine({
	js: 'main.js',
	css: 'main.css'
});

Build#cleanup(dir)

Remove all files and dirs from given dir. Returns build Instance.

Example:

build.cleanup('/path/to/dir');

Build.write(dir)

Write proccessed files to disk in passed dir. Returns build Instance.

Example:

build.write('/path/to/public/dir');

Build.end([message])

Write a success message to stdout, pass a message string optionally. Returns build Instance.

Example of complete build script:

var ams = require('ams');

var publ = __dirname + '/public',
    src = __dirname + '/src',
    host = 'http://localhost:8888';

ams.build
	// create a build for the dir
    .create(src)
    // find all files in it
    .find()
    // change processors options
    .process({
        cssabspath: {
            host: host,
            verbose: true
        },
        htmlabspath: {
            host: host,
            verbose: true
        },
        texttransport: false,
        uglifyjs: {
            verbose: true
        }
    })
    // combine all js files
    .combine({
        js: 'main.js'
    })
    // write them to disk
    .write(publ)
    // stdout success message
    .end();