preprocess

Preprocess HTML, JavaScript, and other files with directives based off custom or ENV configuration

Configuration

Install via npm:

$ npm install --save preprocess

What does it look like?

  <title>Your App</title>

  
  
  



  
  <h1>Debugging mode -  </h1>
  
  <p>
  
  </p>

var configValue = '/* @echo FOO */' || 'default value';

// @ifdef DEBUG
someDebuggingCall()
// @endif

Directive syntax

Basic example

The most basic usage is for files that only have two states, non-processed and processed. In this case, your @exclude directives are removed after preprocessing

    
    <header>You're on dev!</header>
    

After build

All directives

• @if VAR='value' / @endif This will include the enclosed block if your test passes
• @ifdef VAR / @endif This will include the enclosed block if VAR is defined (typeof !== 'undefined')
• @ifndef VAR / @endif This will include the enclosed block if VAR is not defined (typeof === 'undefined')
• @include This will include the source from an external file. If the included source ends with a newline then the following line will be space indented to the level the @include was found.
• @include-static Works the same way as @include but doesn't process the included file recursively. Is useful if a large file has to be included and the recursive processing is not necessary or would otherwise take too long.
• @extend file.html / @endextend This will use the source from the external file indicated with the @extend tag to wrap the enclosed block.
• @extendable This tag is used to indicate the location in a file referenced using @extend where the block enclosed by @extend will be populated.
• @exclude / @endexclude This will remove the enclosed block upon processing
• @echo VAR This will include the environment variable VAR into your source
• @foreach $VAR in ARR / @endfor This will repeat the enclosed block for each value in the Array or Object in ARR. Each value in ARR can be interpolated into the resulting content with $VAR.
• @exec FUNCTION([param1, param2...]) This will execute the environment FUNCTION with its parameters and echo the result into your source. The parameter could be a string or a reference to another environment variable.

Extended html Syntax

This is useful for more fine grained control of your files over multiple environment configurations. You have access to simple tests of any variable within the context (or ENV, if not supplied)

    
    <header>You're on dev!</header>
    

    
    
    

    

    

With a NODE_ENV set to production and 0xDEADBEEF in COMMIT_HASH this will be built to look like

With NODE_ENV not set or set to dev and nothing in COMMIT_HASH, the built file will be

    <header>You're on dev!</header>

    

    

You can also have conditional blocks that are hidden by default by using the fictional !> end tag instead of --> after your condition:

JavaScript, CSS, C, Java Syntax

Extended syntax below, but will work without specifying a test

normalFunction();
//@exclude
superExpensiveDebugFunction()
//@endexclude

anotherFunction('/* @echo USERNAME */');

Built with a NODE_ENV of production :

normalFunction();

anotherFunction('jsoverson');

Like HTML, you can have conditional blocks that are hidden by default by ending the directive with a ** instead of */

angular.module('myModule', ['dep1'
    , 'dep2'
    /* @if NODE_ENV='production' **
    , 'prod_dep'
    /* @endif */
    /* @exclude **
    , 'debug_dep'
    /* @endexclude */
]);

Note: Hidden by default blocks only work with block comments (/* */) but not with line comments (//).

CSS example

body {
/* @if NODE_ENV=='development' */
  background-color: red;
/* @endif */

}
// @include util.css

(CSS preprocessing supports single line comment style directives)

Shell, PHP

#!/bin/bash

# @include util.sh

API

preprocess(source[, context[, options]]) -> preprocessedSource

Preprocesses a source provided as a string and returns the preprocessed source.

source

Type: String (mandatory)

The source to preprocess.

context

Type: Object Default: process.env

The context that contains the variables that are used in the source. For @extend variants and @include the additional context property src is available inside of files to be included that contains the current file name. This property is also available in the context of the source file if one of the preprocessFile*() API variants are used.

options

Type: Object

The options object allows to pass additional options to preprocess. Available options are:

options.fileNotFoundSilentFail

Type: Boolean Default: false

When using @include variants and @extend, preprocess will by default throw an exception in case an included file can't be found. Set this option to true to instruct preprocess to fail silently and instead of throwing to write a message inside of the preprocessed file that an included file could not be found.

options.srcDir

Type: String Default: process.cwd()

The directory where to look for files included via @include variants and @extend.

options.srcEol

Type: String Default: EOL of source string or os.EOL if source string contains multiple different or no EOLs.

The end of line (EOL) character to use for the preprocessed result. May be one of:

• \r\n - Windows
• \n - Linux/OSX/Unix
• \r - legacy Mac

options.type

Type: String Default: html

The syntax type of source string to preprocess. There are 3 main syntax variants:

• html, aliases: xml
• js, aliases: javascript, jsx, json, c, cc, cpp, cs, csharp, java, less, sass, scss, css, php, ts, tsx, peg, pegjs, jade, styl
• coffee, aliases: bash, shell, sh

preprocessFile(srcFile, destFile[, context[, callback[, options]]])

Preprocesses a sourceFile and saves the result to destFile. Simple wrapper around fs.readFile() and fs.writeFile().

srcFile

Type: String (mandatory)

The path to the source file to preprocess.

destFile

Type: String (mandatory)

The path to the destination file where the preprocessed result shall be saved.

context

See context attribute description of preprocess() function.

callback

Type: function(err)

The callback function that is called upon error or completion. Receives an error if something goes wrong as first parameter.

options

See options attribute description of preprocess() function. Differs only in that the default srcDir value is set to the path of the provided source file instead of process.cwd() and the default type is derived from source file extension.

preprocessFileSync(srcFile, destFile[, context[, options]])

Preprocesses a sourceFile and saves the result to destFile. Simple wrapper around fs.readFileSync() and fs.writeFileSync().

srcFile

Type: String (mandatory)

The path to the source file to preprocess.

destFile

Type: String (mandatory)

The path to the destination file where the preprocessed result shall be saved.

context

See context attribute description of preprocess() function.

options

See options attribute description of preprocess() function. Differs only in that the default srcDir value is set to the path of the provided source file instead of process.cwd() and the default type is derived from source file extension.

Usage Examples

var pp = require('preprocess');

var text = 'Hi, I am ';

pp.preprocess(text);
// -> Hi, I am jsoverson

pp.preprocess(text, {USERNAME : "Bob"});
// -> Hi, I am Bob

// specify the format to use for the directives as the third parameter
pp.preprocess(text, {USERNAME : "Bob"}, {type: 'html'});
// -> Hi, I am Bob

// Preprocess files asynchronously
pp.preprocessFile(src, dest, context, callback, options);

// Preprocess files synchronously
pp.preprocessFileSync(src, dest, context, options);

Contributing

In lieu of a formal styleguide, take care to maintain the existing coding style. Add unit tests for any new or changed functionality. Lint and test your code using jshint

Release History

• 3.1.0

  • Added .jsx file extension as an alias for js (@BendingBender, #79)
  • Added .tsx file extension as an alias for js (@rosendi, #100)
  • Bumped XRegExp to v3

• 3.0.1/2 Fixes for backward compatibility and regex cleanups (thanks to @anseki for suggestions, #77)

• 3.0.0

  Breaking changes:

  • If a file requested by @include or @extend can not be found, preprocess will now throw by default with a possibility to opt in to the legacy behavior via the fileNotFoundSilentFail option (@BendingBender, #35).
  • Fixed multiple issues with newlines (@BendingBender, #8), this may result in output that differs from earlier versions.
  • The srcDir option was moved to the options object and now defaults to process.cwd instead of throwing by default (@BendingBender, #68)

  New functionality:

  • All block directives (ones that have a start and an end token, like @if/@endif) are now processed recursively (@Frizi, #61)
  • Added hidden by default configuration blocks for js (@mallowigi, #40) and html (@Frizi, #66)

  Fixes:

  • fixed @exec in files included via @include and @extend (@BendingBender, #58)
  • changed @extend and @exclude html regex so that directives may appear more than once in one line (@BendingBender, #36)
  • fixed multiple issues with coffescript syntax (@BendingBender, #39)
  • fixed @if and @foreach to not require trailing whitespace (@BendingBender, #74)

• 2.3.1 Fixed @echo and @exec directives to allow - and * characters, fixed @exec with multiple params (@BendingBender, #21, #45, #51, #54).

• 2.3.0 Added support for @include-static (@BendingBender)

• 2.2.0 Added support for @foreach and @extend (@orionstein)

• 2.1.1 Added support for .styl files via js regex (@nsonnad)

• 2.1.0 Added automatic support for numerous formats, merged @exec, hidden by default html tags, added simple directives

• 2.0.0 Added ability to echo strings, added conditional comments, removed lodash, merged 17, 13, 15, 16

• 1.2.0 Added processing for hash-style comments (@marsch). Added more file aliases.

• 1.1.0 Added deep inclusion, fixed sequential ifs

• 1.0.1 Fixed multiple inline echo statements

• 1.0.0 Pulled from grunt-preprocess to stand alone

License

Copyright Jarrod Overson

Written by Jarrod Overson

Licensed under the Apache 2.0 license.