Pass Parameter to Gulp Task - gulp

Normally we can run gulp task from console via something like gulp mytask. Is there anyway that I can pass in parameter to gulp task? If possible, please show example how it can be done.

It's a feature programs cannot stay without. You can try yargs.
npm install --save-dev yargs
You can use it like this:
gulp mytask --production --test 1234
In the code, for example:
var argv = require('yargs').argv;
var isProduction = (argv.production === undefined) ? false : true;
For your understanding:
> gulp watch
console.log(argv.production === undefined); <-- true
console.log(argv.test === undefined); <-- true
> gulp watch --production
console.log(argv.production === undefined); <-- false
console.log(argv.production); <-- true
console.log(argv.test === undefined); <-- true
console.log(argv.test); <-- undefined
> gulp watch --production --test 1234
console.log(argv.production === undefined); <-- false
console.log(argv.production); <-- true
console.log(argv.test === undefined); <-- false
console.log(argv.test); <-- 1234
Hope you can take it from here.
There's another plugin that you can use, minimist. There's another post where there's good examples for both yargs and minimist: (Is it possible to pass a flag to Gulp to have it run tasks in different ways?)

If you want to avoid adding extra dependencies, I found node's process.argv to be useful:
gulp.task('mytask', function() {
console.log(process.argv);
});
So the following:
gulp mytask --option 123
should display:
[ 'node', 'path/to/gulp.js', 'mytask', '--option', '123']
If you are sure that the desired parameter is in the right position, then the flags aren't needed.** Just use (in this case):
var option = process.argv[4]; //set to '123'
BUT: as the option may not be set, or may be in a different position, I feel that a better idea would be something like:
var option, i = process.argv.indexOf("--option");
if(i>-1) {
option = process.argv[i+1];
}
That way, you can handle variations in multiple options, like:
//task should still find 'option' variable in all cases
gulp mytask --newoption somestuff --option 123
gulp mytask --option 123 --newoption somestuff
gulp mytask --flag --option 123
** Edit: true for node scripts, but gulp interprets anything without a leading "--" as another task name. So using gulp mytask 123 will fail because gulp can't find a task called '123'.

There's an official gulp recipe for this using minimist.
https://github.com/gulpjs/gulp/blob/master/docs/recipes/pass-arguments-from-cli.md
The basics are using minimist to separate the cli arguments and combine them with known options:
var options = minimist(process.argv.slice(2), knownOptions);
Which would parse something like
$ gulp scripts --env development
More complete info in the recipe.

Passing a parameter to gulp can mean a few things:
From the command line to the gulpfile (already exemplified here).
From the main body of the gulpfile.js script to gulp tasks.
From one gulp task to another gulp task.
Here's an approach of passing parameters from the main gulpfile to a gulp task. By moving the task that needs the parameter to it's own module and wrapping it in a function (so a parameter can be passed).:
// ./gulp-tasks/my-neat-task.js file
module.exports = function(opts){
opts.gulp.task('my-neat-task', function(){
console.log( 'the value is ' + opts.value );
});
};
//main gulpfile.js file
//...do some work to figure out a value called val...
var val = 'some value';
//pass that value as a parameter to the 'my-neat-task' gulp task
require('./gulp-tasks/my-neat-task.js')({ gulp: gulp, value: val});
This can come in handy if you have a lot of gulp tasks and want to pass them some handy environmental configs. I'm not sure if it can work between one task and another.

If you want to use environment params and other utils as well such as log, you can use gulp-util
/*
$npm install gulp-util --save-dev
$gulp --varName 123
*/
var util = require('gulp-util');
util.log(util.env.varName);
Update
gulp-util is now deprecated. You can use minimist instead.
var argv = require('minimist')(process.argv.slice(2));
console.dir(argv);

#Ethan's answer would completely work. From my experience, the more node way is to use environment variables. It's a standard way to configure programs deployed on hosting platforms (e.g. Heroku or Dokku).
To pass the parameter from the command line, do it like this:
Development:
gulp dev
Production:
NODE_ENV=production gulp dev
The syntax is different, but very Unix, and it's compatible with Heroku, Dokku, etc.
You can access the variable in your code at process.env.NODE_ENV
MYAPP=something_else gulp dev
would set
process.env.MYAPP === 'something_else'
This answer might give you some other ideas.

Here is my sample how I use it. For the css/less task. Can be applied for all.
var cssTask = function (options) {
var minifyCSS = require('gulp-minify-css'),
less = require('gulp-less'),
src = cssDependencies;
src.push(codePath + '**/*.less');
var run = function () {
var start = Date.now();
console.log('Start building CSS/LESS bundle');
gulp.src(src)
.pipe(gulpif(options.devBuild, plumber({
errorHandler: onError
})))
.pipe(concat('main.css'))
.pipe(less())
.pipe(gulpif(options.minify, minifyCSS()))
.pipe(gulp.dest(buildPath + 'css'))
.pipe(gulpif(options.devBuild, browserSync.reload({stream:true})))
.pipe(notify(function () {
console.log('END CSS/LESS built in ' + (Date.now() - start) + 'ms');
}));
};
run();
if (options.watch) {
gulp.watch(src, run);
}
};
gulp.task('dev', function () {
var options = {
devBuild: true,
minify: false,
watch: false
};
cssTask (options);
});

If you use gulp with yargs, notice the following:
If you have a task 'customer' and wan't to use yargs build in Parameter checking for required commands:
.command("customer <place> [language]","Create a customer directory")
call it with:
gulp customer --customer Bob --place Chicago --language english
yargs will allway throw an error, that there are not enough commands was assigned to the call, even if you have!! —
Give it a try and add only a digit to the command (to make it not equal to the gulp-task name)... and it will work:
.command("customer1 <place> [language]","Create a customer directory")
This is cause of gulp seems to trigger the task, before yargs is able to check for this required Parameter. It cost me surveral hours to figure this out.
Hope this helps you..

Here is another way without extra modules:
I needed to guess the environment from the task name, I have a 'dev' task and a 'prod' task.
When I run gulp prod it should be set to prod environment.
When I run gulp dev or anything else it should be set to dev environment.
For that I just check the running task name:
devEnv = process.argv[process.argv.length-1] !== 'prod';

I know I am late to answer this question but I would like to add something to answer of #Ethan, the highest voted and accepted answer.
We can use yargs to get the command line parameter and with that we can also add our own alias for some parameters like follow.
var args = require('yargs')
.alias('r', 'release')
.alias('d', 'develop')
.default('release', false)
.argv;
Kindly refer this link for more details.
https://github.com/yargs/yargs/blob/HEAD/docs/api.md
Following is use of alias as per given in documentation of yargs. We can also find more yargs function there and can make the command line passing experience even better.
.alias(key, alias)
Set key names as equivalent such that updates to a key will propagate
to aliases and vice-versa.
Optionally .alias() can take an object that maps keys to aliases. Each
key of this object should be the canonical version of the option, and
each value should be a string or an array of strings.

There is certainly a shorter notation, but that was my approach:
gulp.task('check_env', function () {
return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
// gulp --dev
var env = process.argv[3], isDev;
if (env) {
if (env == "--dev") {
log.info("Dev Mode on");
isDev = true;
} else {
log.info("Dev Mode off");
isDev = false;
}
} else {
if (variables.settings.isDev == true) {
isDev = true;
} else {
isDev = false;
}
}
resolve();
});
});
If you want to set the env based to the actual Git branch (master/develop):
gulp.task('set_env', function (cb) {
exec('git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD', function (err, stdout, stderr) {
const git__branch = stdout.replace(/(\r\n|\n|\r)/gm, ""),
regex__feature = new RegExp('feature/feature-*');
if (git__branch == "develop") {
log.info("👨‍💻Develop Branch");
isCompressing = false;
} else if (git__branch == "master") {
log.info("🌎Master Branch");
isCompressing = true;
} else if (regex__feature.test(git__branch) === true){
log.info("✨Feature Branch");
isCompressing = true;
}else{
//TODO: check for other branch
log.warn("Unknown " + git__branch + ", maybe hotfix?");
//isCompressing = variables.settings.isCompressing;
}
log.info(stderr);
cb(err);
});
return;
})
P.s. For the log I added the following:
var log = require('fancy-log');
In Case you need it, thats my default Task:
gulp.task('default',
gulp.series('set_env', gulp.parallel('build_scss', 'minify_js', 'minify_ts', 'minify_html', 'browser_sync_func', 'watch'),
function () {
}));
Suggestions for optimization are welcome.

Just load it into a new object on process .. process.gulp = {} and have the task look there.

Related

gulp : multiple libs for one app

I'm trying to build multiple libs for a single application using gulp.
I have this directory structure
dist/ # expected result
lib1.js
lib2.js
src/
libs/
lib1/
... # js files for lib1
lib2/
... # js files for lib2
wrap/ # wrappers, one per lib
lib1.js
lib2.js
And I wrote this gulp task, using through2 :
gulp.task('build', function() {
var dn = 'azerty'; // whatever
return gulp.src('src/libs/**/*.js')
.pipe(through.obj(function(file, enc, cb) {
// for extracting a lib's dirname
var str = path.dirname(file.path),
parts = str.split('/'),
rev = parts.reverse();
dn = rev[0];
util.log(dn); // al is ok here...
cb();
}))
.pipe(concat(dn + '.js'))
.pipe(wrap({ src : 'src/wrap/' + dn + '.js'}))
.pipe(gulp.dest('dist'));
});
But it doesn't work properly, the value of 'dn' variable seems to be lost at the concat point, this is very strange because 'dn' is a global variable relatively to the task :*
How to work around this ? By using gulp-foreach or something other ?
Regards.
EDIT : this is sadly the same with gulp-foreach... someone has an idea to solve this ?

Gulp ESLinter do not report warnings

I'm using Gulp as part of my build process to run ESLinter,
my build fails due to warnings reported by ESLinter.
I would like to ignore / drop warnings at this stage, reading the docs i've found the quiet flag which should do just that, problem is adding quiet: true to my .eslintrc file doesn't seems to have any effect.
UPDATE:
The solution I've came up with was to read .eslintrc into a variable and expand it with quiet = true
then pass this object to eslint.
var strConfig = fs.readFileSync('./.eslintrc', 'utf8');
var config = JSON.parse(strConfig);
config.quiet = true;
const stream = gulp.src(['LIST_OF_FILES'])
.pipe(eslint(config));
return stream.pipe(eslint.format('junit', function (result) {
fs.writeFile('./output/eslint-out.xml', result);
}))
.pipe(eslint.failAfterError());

Gulp Child Process hangs

I am trying to create a gulp task that updates all the assets in my project by executing a shell script. The problem is that it executes as expected and then just hangs.
'use-strict';
var gulp = require('gulp'),
gutil = require('gulp-util');
exec = require('child_process').exec;
var foreach = require('gulp-foreach');
gulp.task('update-assets', function () {
exec('./update_assets.sh', {cwd: 'assets'}, function(err, stdout, stderr) {
console.log(stdout);
console.log(stderr);
cb(err);
});
});
gulp.task('default', ['update-assets'], function() {
gulp.start('update-assets');
});
This is because of the nature of exec(). What exec() does it allows the command you give it to "take over" the current process. What you can do is instead try something like child_process.spawn . If it is a daemon process.
Take a good look at the Child_Process documentation. I think that this should help you get a good start.
Other options that may be helpful include modifying the script to throw exit codes for Gulp to recognize, or using timeouts to know when a gulp task has terminated.
UPDATE: Alternatively, you could use this, which is what I found worked for me when running a web server.
shell.exec('./update_assets.sh', {async:true} );

Can I set gulp flags as default?

I want to set the flag --silentas default in my gulp tasks. Ist this possible?
https://github.com/gulpjs/gulp/blob/master/docs/CLI.md#flags
The easiest way if you are running a shell is to use alias:
alias gulp 'gulp --silent' (check the specific syntax for you shell type).
If you'd like to take it a step further, in your project go into:
node_modules/gulp/bin
and edit gulp.js
You'd see there the following lines:
var shouldLog = !argv.silent && !simpleTasksFlag;
if (!shouldLog) {
gutil.log = function(){};
}
If you want to categorically disable logging, just change it to:
var shouldLog = false;
If you want to disable it on a per task basis, you can do it by manipulating gulp-util's (gutil in this code) log method:
gulp.task('mySilentTask', function(){
gutil.log = function(){}; // make sure you obtain gutil properly
// task logic here
});
You can set default flags for Gulp by adding a configuration file .gulp.json next to the gulpfile:
{
"flags": {
"silent": true
}
}
See gulp-cli documentation for configuration for more details: https://github.com/gulpjs/gulp-cli#configuration

How to pass a parameter to gulp-watch invoked task

I am trying to pass a parameter to a task that is being invoked by gulp-watch. I need it because I am trying to build a modular framework.
So if a file changes in module 1, the other modules don't need to be rebuild.
And I want just one function to create the concatted & uglified files per module.
This is what I got so far:
//here I need the 'module' parameter
gulp.task('script', function(module) { ... }
gulp.task('watch', function() {
gulp.watch('files/in/module1/*.js', ['script']); //here I want to pass module1
gulp.watch('files/in/module2/*.js', ['script']); //here I want to pass module2
});
A lot of the documentation/examples seems to be outdated (gulp.run(), gulp.start()).
I hope someone can help me out here.
I had the very same issue, searched for a while, and the "cleanest" way I came up with, uses the .on() event handler of gulp.watch(), and the .env property of gulp-util:
var gulp = require('gulp');
$.util = require('gulp-util');
var modules = {
module1: {}, // awesome module1
module2: {} // awesome module2
};
gulp.task('script', function(){
var moduleName = $.util.env.module;
// Exit if the value is missing...
var module = modules[moduleName];
if (!module) {
$.util.log($.util.colors.red('Error'), "Wrong module value!");
return;
}
$.util.log("Executing task on module '" + moduleName + "'");
// Do your task on "module" here.
});
gulp.task('watch', function () {
gulp.watch(['files/in/module1/*.js'], ['script']).on('change', function () {
$.util.env.module = 'module1';
});
gulp.watch(['files/in/module2/*.js'], ['script']).on('change', function () {
$.util.env.module = 'module2';
});
});
gulp-util also comes in handy if you need to pass (global) parameters from the shell:
[emiliano#dev ~]# gulp script --module=module1 --minify
Hope this helps someone else out there!
Regards.
In that i will answer directly the question "How to pass a parameter to gulp-watch invoked task"
My way of doing, and one of the possibility i see, is to use a global variable to pass the value between the two blocks. you set it just before launching the task in the watcher. And in the task, just at the start you pass it to a local variable.
See this answer for more details: https://stackoverflow.com/a/49733123/7668448
In what you want to achieve, you can too use just one watcher over the directory that hold all modules. If so is the structure. Then when a change happen, you can recover the changed file path. From that you can deduce what module does belong to. By getting the Module folder. That way you will not need to add a new watcher for each new module. Which can be nice when there is multiple contributors to the project for example when working on open source. And you do it one time, and don't have to care about adding anything. Just like with the delegation principle, with DOM event handling when there is multiple elements. Even if the chosen structure, doesn't have all the modules in one directory. You can stay pass multiple globs to the one watcher.
gulp.watch(['glob1/**/*.js', 'glob2/**/*.js',...], function(evt) {/*.....*/});
And following the structure you have, you can work your way to deduce what module is.
For the watcher here how i suggest you do it:
watch('./your/allModulesFolder/**/*.js', function (evt) {
rebuildModulWatchEvt = evt; //here you update the global var
gulp.start('rebuildModul'); // you start the task
})
The evt here hold multiple info: cwd, base, state, _contents ...etc And what interest us is path. So evt.path will give you the path of the changed file.
In your task either you do that:
gulp.task('rebuildModul', function() {
let evt = rebuildModulWatchEvt; // at all start you pass it to a local var
let filePath = evt.path; // how you get the changed file path
// your code go here for the rest, following your structure, get the path for the module folder
});
or you use a function :
gulp.task('rebuildModul', function() {
rebuildModulTaskRun(rebuildModulWatchEvt);
});
function rebuilModulTaskRun(evt) {
let filePath = evt.path;
// your code go here for the rest, following your structure, get the path for the module folder
}