Install:

$ npm install from-template --save-dev

Usage:

$ from-template [my-package]

Where my-package is either a local template (see below), or the name of an NPM package that exposes templates.

You can also pass options to avoid the prompt:

$ from-template [my-package] --name=Something

Creating local templates

The structure of local templates from your project root:

├── .templates
│   └── my-template-name
│       ├── _template
│       │   └── src
│       │       └── nameOfFile.js
│       └── from-template.js
├── package.json
...

You can see an example in the examples repository

You can have as many template folders under .templates, you can also override installed templates, include them, and change their configuration if required.

from-template.js examples

Here are a few examples of possible from-template.js configurations. You can see them in action in the examples repository.

If you want to try them out yourself, you can clone this repository, run lerna bootstrap. Then go into: packages/demo-project and start running any of the npm scripts (see package.json) to generate some components.

Asking for user input

module.exports = async function({ ask, packageJson, targetProject }) {  
  return { 
    /** The first argument can be used in the args (e.g. --name=SomeName) */
    name: await ask.input('name', 'Components name:')
  };
};

Asking for user yes/no choice

module.exports = async function({ ask, packageJson, targetProject }) {
  /** The first argument can be used in the args (e.g. --pure) */
  const type = await ask.bool('pure', 'Pure component?');

  return { 
    type: type ? 'Component' : 'PureComponent'
  };
};

Multiple template directories

module.exports = async function({ ask, packageJson, targetProject }) {
  const esVersion = await ask.choice('esVersion', 'Which version of JavaScript?', ['es5', 'es6']);

  return { 
    _template: esVersion, // es5 or es6
  };
};

This would require a folder structure like:

_template
├── es5
│   └── src
│       └── choiceA.js
└── es6
    └── src
        └── choiceB.js

Note: These examples use Node 8's async in these examples. Longer configurations could use Promise.all instead of async/await.

JSON Configuration

Instead of using javascript for configuration, you can also specify a JSON file. This is less flexible, but arguably quicker to develop. The file lives in the root of the project in the same place as the JS counter part.

Full example:

from-template.json

{
  "name": {
    "$input": {
      "message": "What is the name of the component?"
    }
  },
  "type": {
    "$choice": {
      "message": "What is its type?",
      "choices": ["choiceA", "choiceB"]
    }
  },
  "isSomething": {
    "$bool": {
      "message": "A simple yes or no:",
      "$true": "Its true!",
      "$false": "Its false!"
    }
  }
}

Creating vendor packages

In order to create a vendor package, you need the same structure as the local templates, but with a package.json. You need this repository as a dependency and the _template and from-template.js files in your "files" key in package json. See the examples folder for some examples.

Once you have published your package, the usage is exactly the same:

$ from-template [npm-name-of-package]

ask API

When creating configurations you get passed a wrapper around enquire.js that will populate default parameters from the CLI call.

This will prompt the user for one of several choices you pass in.

ask.choice(name: String, message: String, choices: String[]): String

ask.bool is a simple yes/no choice for the user, returning a boolean.

ask.bool(name: String, message: String, [ defaultValue: String ]): Boolean

ask.input will as the user for a line of text, returning a string

ask.input(name: String, message: Sting, [ defaultValue: String ]): String