grunt server fails on Windows 7

[HarveyKandola]

Guys, have tried to invoke grunt server on TWO different Windows 7 machines but seem to come up against the same issue:

Running "bgShell:runNode" (bgShell) task

Running "handlebars:compile" (handlebars) task
File "app/templates/compiledTemplates.js" created.

Running "rendr_stitch:compile" (rendr_stitch) task
>> '.' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
>> operable program or batch file.
>> Error: Command failed: '.' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
>> operable program or batch file.
Warning: F:\rendr-app-template\node_modules\grunt-rendr-stitch\tmp\bundle\app\app.js isn't in the require path 
Use --force to continue.

Works fine on the MAC.

[jlubawy]

I am having the same issue on Windows 8 (although I suspect it is broken in all versions of Windows).

Warning: F:\rendr-app-template\node_modules\grunt-rendr-stitch\tmp\bundle\app\app.js isn't in the require path. Use --force to continue.

This warning is caused by an issue with the stitch node module used in the grunt-rendr-stitch task.

Currently stitch does not have support for Windows file path separators (\\ rather than /) but there are multiple pull requests and open issues asking for that support.

None of these requests have been addressed in over a year so in the meantime this commit should fix the problem and allow you to run grunt server (it did for me). Once you have run this CTRL+C out and run node index.js to start the server on port 3030 (I don't know if it works this way on Unix machines but the README shows that grunt server starts the server as well).

>> '.' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

I pretty sure I narrowed this issue down to the same stitch.js file but I can't seem to pin it down completely. Good news is that if you use the fix for the warning above this error doesn't seem to have any negative affects and you can still run the app on Windows.

Since this is only an app example I would recommend not using stitch on Windows (or using Unix) for the time being. That said I'll try to keep investigating this last issue and get back to you if I find anything interesting.

[HarveyKandola]

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond with a solution.

Just hope 'stitch' can be updated with your patch.

[spikebrehm]

Alright, I updated grunt-rendr-stitch to point to the forked version of Stitch with the Windows fix, and I updated this repo to point to it. I haven't tested it on Windows yet; can you give a whirl?

[jlubawy]

Just tested it and it works perfect on Windows now (minus the annoying second error but at least it is usable now).

Thanks @spikebrehm!

[spikebrehm]

@jlubawy just merged in a PR that should fix that second warning - want to give it a try?

[jlubawy]

Thank you that fixed the error.

Just FYI, I did run across another issue when I tried installing rendr on a Windows machine (see rendrjs/rendr#34).