node assetmanager with more modules - node.js

Question

I'm trying to set up assetmanager
for my blog that has three modules
default
login
admin
I tried like
assets.json
{
"css": {
"app":{
"public/src/dist/default/css/dist.min.css": [
"public/src/assets/default/css/*.css"
]
},
"login":{
"public/src/dist/login/css/dist.min.css": [
"public/src/assets/default/css/*.css"
]
},
"admin":{
"public/src/dist/admin/css/dist.min.css": [
"public/src/assets/admin/css/*.css"
]
}
}
}
express.js
assetmanager.init({
js: assets.js,
css: assets.css,
debug: (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production'),
webroot: 'public'
});
// Add assets to local variables
app.use(function(req, res, next) {
res.locals({
assets: assetmanager.assets
});
next();
});
console.log(assetmanager.assets);
but console.log(assetmanager.assets);
give me a empty array []
so is there a way to manage assetmanager
with more than one module ?
the best way I found up to now
is like in my controllers:
'use strict';
var assetmanager = require('assetmanager');
exports.render = function(config) {
var assets = require(config.sroot+'/config/assets.json');
assetmanager.init({
js: assets.js.app,
css: assets.css.app,
debug: (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production'),
webroot: 'public'
});
return function(req, res) {
res.render('layouts/default', {appTitle:'ilwebdifabio',assets:assetmanager.assets});
}
};
but it's quite ugly and I have
duplicate code :(
END UP
There is no way to use assetmanager module
in different modules (login,default,admin).
Modules are automatically cached by the Node.js application upon first load. As such, repeated calls to require() - the global method that loads modules - will all result in a reference to the same cached object.
so you end up ie if you use in a module
to the have the dedicate assets in all other module so
I worked it out with :
'use strict';
var _ = require('lodash');
module.exports = function (path,route) {
var env = (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') ? 'production' : null;
var debug = (env !== 'production');
var data = require(path+'/config/assets.json');
var assets = {
css: [],
js: []
};
var getAssets = function (pattern) {
var files = [];
if (_.isArray(pattern)) {
_.each(pattern, function (path) {
files = files.concat(getAssets(path));
});
} else if (_.isString(pattern)) {
var regex = new RegExp('^(//)');
if (regex.test(pattern)) {
// Source is external
//For the / in the template against 404
files.push(pattern.substring(1));
} else {
files.push(pattern);
}
}
return files;
};
var getFiles = function () {
var current = data[route];
_.each(['css', 'js'], function (fileType) {
_.each(current[fileType], function (value, key) {
if (!debug) {
assets[fileType].push(key);
} else {
assets[fileType] = assets[fileType].concat(getAssets(value));
}
});
});
};
var getCurrentAssets = function(){
return assets;
};
getFiles();
return {
getCurrentAssets: getCurrentAssets
};
};
in the controller
var assetmanager = require(config.sroot+'/utils/assetsmanager')(config.sroot,'app');
res.render('layouts/default', {
assets:assetmanager.getCurrentAssets()
});

Answer 1

There is a new version of assetmanager 1.0.0 that I believe accomplishes what you're trying to do more effectively. In the new version you can break apart your assets into groups so that you can support multiple layouts. The github has a complete example here but essentially your asset files ends up looking something like this:
{
"main": {
"css": {
"public/build/css/main.min.css": [
"public/lib/bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.css",
"public/css/**/*.css"
]
},
"js": {
"public/build/js/main.min.js": [
"public/lib/angular/angular.js",
"public/js/**/*.js"
]
}
},
"secondary": {
"css": {
"public/build/css/secondary.min.css": [
"public/css/**/*.css"
]
},
"js": {
"public/build/js/secondary.min.js": [
"public/js/**/*.js"
]
}
}
}
And then in your layouts you just include the group you want. Hopefully that helps out.