7

Looking for a Windows (or cross-platform) JS builder that

  • minifies,
  • runs unit tests
  • runs jshint/jslint
  • can compare to a coding style guide
  • can download external sources
  • can combine multiple JS files into one combine minified file and adjust references to point to the minified file.

GUI or CLI fine. I presume most of those functions would need to be given hints in some make file like input. Open source preferred but certainly not required.

Improve this question
  • The Maven Javascript Extensions can do all of this, but sadly haven't been maintained in a while, and can be a bit of a steep learning curve. – Darth Android Feb 4 '14 at 23:56
  • grunt is often used for these tasks. I don't know a good package that does all out-of-the-box, though. – Olli Feb 5 '14 at 1:25
  • grunt looks great - feel free to do that as an answer. I really don't mind having to configure; yes that is harder for some but I figure if I can write a html/php/ajax/jQuery application I should be able to configure a tool to save me work. – Nick Dickinson-Wilde Feb 5 '14 at 1:28
  • As of voting this as "primarily opinion-based" - that's the feature of recommendations. Almost always recommendations are opinion-based. With requirements listed on this question, it's easy to recommend a good tool for the task. – Olli Feb 9 '14 at 15:34
  • Since no one has done an answer I guess I'll just have to right one up so that it can be not dragging down our answered perecentage... – Nick Dickinson-Wilde Aug 5 '14 at 15:03
1

Grunt is a highly configurable build system. It runs via Node.js and has a multitude of plugins available to do a lot of specific tasks. Individual tasks are highly configurable and writing new tasks is also quite easy.

To go over the requirements:

  • minifies: Yes for JavaScript via the official uglify, for images via the official imagemin, for CSS via the official CSSMin and for HTML also has an official minifier plugin.
  • runs unit tests: Yes multiple different unit testing frameworks have grunt plugins - two popular and officially supported ones are NodeUnit and QUnit
  • runs jshint/jslint: Yes - there is an official jshint integration plugin.
  • can compare to a coding style guide: Yes - via the jscs it is very easy and that plugin also includes a whole ton of presets so is really great.
  • can download external sources: If set up right it can though I haven't ended up needing this.
  • can combine multiple JS files into one combine minified file and adjust the html's links to reference only that file: the Concat official plugin will do this if set up right or see also the UseMin plugin.
Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.