kaidez's personal project scaffolding tool

v.0.0.1

kdz is a Node build tool I created for scaffolding out my projects.

Review the actual code in the heavily-commented kdz.js files as well as the JS files in config/...also heavily-commented.

Before you install

kdz is not available as a downloadable npm module so if you want to install it, you will need to clone this repo to your machine first. Therefore, please note the following:

• This tool has been tested on Unix-like systems only. Testing it on Windows machines is listed in the todo section.

• There shouldn't be an npm tool or module called kdz already installed on your machine. So you should be able to install it with no issues but just to be sure, run which kdz in your terminal. If it doesn't say the file is installed somewhere, you're ok. If it does, PLEASE LET ME KNOW ASAP!!

• This tool downloads files from a pre-defined root link in kdz.js that points to my GitHub repo. If you want to change that link, you would have to change the githubRoot variable in config/dlFiles.js.

• I'm assuming that you have Node/npm installed on the machine to which you're downloading this tool. If not, please get Node & npm.

How it works

kdz uses a small set of commands and options to scaffold a basic web application based on the methods and tricks I commonly use for web development. It creates files & folders and also downloads specific files from this repo.

How to install

1. Open a terminal window and clone this repository somewhere on your local machine:

    git clone https://github.com/kaidez/kdz.git
   

2. Navigate to the repo in your terminal and install it...you may need to do this using sudo:

    npm install -g
   

From here, run kdz app whenever you want from whatever folder you want.

Commands

app

Running kdz app scaffolds out a single-page-application (SPA) by performing the following steps:

• a build folder is created with css and js subdirectories.
• a coffee folder is created and includes a main.coffee file.
• a css-build folder is created with an imports subdirectory.
• and empty image-min folder is created (images that need to be minified go here)
• bower.json, .bowerrc and STYLEGUIDE.md files are downloaded from the source-shared-files directory.
• SPA-like Gruntfile.js, gulpfile.js and package.json files are downloaded from the source-spa directory.

dt

If the --test flag is attached to kdz app, a test-build folder is created, then a test scaffold is created in that folder. kdz dt is a quick way of deleting test-build.

Options

-w, --wordpress

Scaffolds out a WordPress-like project. It performs almost the same tasks as kdz app with the following differences:

• The build folder and its subdirectories are not created.
• The Gruntfile.js, gulpfile.js and package.json files that are downloaded are more geared toward WordPress development and downloaded from source-wordpress.
• A functions.php file is downloaded.

-g, --gitignore

Downloads a .gitignore file from source-spa to the root folder. If the -w option is passed, .gitignore will be WordPress-specific and downloaded from the source-wordpress folder.

-l, --less

Downloads LESS files from source-spa to css-build and css-build/imports If the -w option is passed, the LESS files will be WordPress-specific and downloaded from the source-wordpress folder.

-s, --scss

Downloads Sass files from source-spa to css-build and css-build/imports If the -w option is passed, the Sass files will be WordPress-specific and downloaded from the source-wordpress folder.

-t, --test

Creates a folder called test-build and creates a test scaffold. test-build is listed as "non-commitable" in .gitignore.

General Notes

kdz uses an older version of the download module, which is used to download files from my GitHub repo. This is because it currently causes errors when used with the download-status module, which is displays a progress bar for an individual download....read more about this here. I'll watch for if/when this is fixed, then update it.

To get help

Type either kdz or kdz --help in your terminal. The following will be outputted:

Usage: kdz [options] [command]


Commands:

 app   scaffold a basic web application
 dt    delete "test-build" folder

Options:

-h, --help       output usage information
-V, --version    output the version number
-w, --wordpress  create a WordPress project
-g, --gitignore  download ".gitignore" file
-l, --less       download LESS files in "css-build"
-s, --scss       download Sass files in "css-build"
-t, --test       do a test scaffold in "test-build"

TODO/WISH-LIST

kdz is still new so there are some things I'd still like/want to do:

• See how the promises can be made to work better.
• The folder-existence check isn't accurate...make it more accurate.
• Create specific commands for both the LESS and Sass downloads...don't make them work with just an option.
• Perform error handling when flags are passed improperly.
• See how templates can be used.
• Rewrite kdz.js in Coffeescript.
• Test on Windows machines.
• See if pointing to GitHub files with the GitHub API is better than pointing to them directly.
• See if a reusable function can be created for tasks related to fs.open().
• Add prompt functionality so things like package.json can be customized.