Is there a way using npm to treat a file in the project as a node-module without linking it and it having it's own package.json?
Ideally I could just have a sub-module definition within my main app package.json and be able to install things to a specific module that way.
Here's an example
/app
/index.js
/file.js
/action.js
What I'd like
npm set-as-module ./action.js "action"
Then within any file in my project I can call
var action = require("action")
Then when I want to install specific dependancies for action I could do this
npm install underscore --save --sub=action
This this kind of feature exist within NPM? Anything close to it?
This would offer the following perks
Easy to branch out or publish into full module
ability to require with module string instead of path
I created something to do this
https://github.com/reggi/npm-link-file
npm install npm-link-file -g
npm-link-file ./action.js "action"
It does not handle linked dependancies.
Related
Simple question : Is it possible, in a package.json, to reference another package.json, and install its dependencies ?
Thank you.
Yes, this is possible, and this is automatically done by npm install.
If you have pkg-a that depends on pkg-b, including pkg-a in your dependencies will install both pkg-a and pkg-b when running npm install. That is because dependencies are actually references to the package.json of other packages. NPM, upon running install, builds a dependency tree of all the packages that are indirectly required by your current project, and installs all of them in the node_modules directory, and keeps track of them all in package-lock.json.
Good question! but this is not possible as you cannot internally reference one json document from another (json is just a document format, it lacks any ability to process logic, import files etc), npm is configured to run using a single package.json file so your best best would be to put all your dependencies in a single package.json file or split your project into two directories with two separate package.json files, two npm installs etc, if for some reason you require your dependencies to be separate. You could then run your two node projects separately and connect via http if you wish.
The only way that you could come close to doing this would be to write an npm start script in the package.json that cds to another directory with a package.json and runs npm install, this would however only install the dependencies in the second directory node-modules/ folder
I have a react boilerplate that configures a nodejs server for background api calls and a create-react-app for the frontend.
I wanted to create a npm package that would prepare the whole environment when installing.
Eg.: npm i myPackage
This would create all the files and folders based on the structure I have defined, just like cloning the repository...
How could achieve that?
I just need some directions on how to start this, I published an npm package based on my repository and it only downloaded two files but not the whole structure.
Try adding a postinstall script like
"scripts": {
"postinstall": "./executable-script or cp dir/* $INIT_CWD/"
}
into the package.json file. It will run right after the package is installed.
For more documentation read https://docs.npmjs.com/misc/scripts and https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/run-script.
I never used it before, but it would likely solve it for you.
I have created a css folder in my public folder of my project. Is it handy to npm install bulma-start directly in the css folder? Currently project links to Bulma via CDN link but I want to install it on my local machine so the project can run it locally. Can you please recommend the best procedures for installing all dependancies correctly?
Using bulma-start is bit different as compared to working with other npm packages so here are the steps I've followed to work with bulma-start.
Create another folder say temp.
Initiate npm package there by using npm init
Install bulma-start by using npm install bulma-start.
Copy paste all the files inside the node-modules to wherever you want to work with this project.
Again do npm install to install the dependencies of bulma-start i.e. bulma etc.
Feel free to delete temp.
Is it handy to npm install bulma-start directly in the css folder?
bulma-start is a complete package to start working, this includes the whole js, sass, CSS folders and scripts to start working. So bulma-start should be considered as the parent folder of your project.
I use custom built library and then link them between other libraries using 'npm link'. One problem is that,
if I do 'npm install' the links disappear and then I will have to go manually and do the linking.
In order to solve this issue, I am thinking of building a script to do npm link across libraries wherever needed but I am not sure if that will work because we will have to do npm link on the exact path from command line instead of running from a common path from command line.
Example:
I have built a library called, #mycustomlib/ui-components and I use them in other projects.
In order for me to use it, I would have to do the link in the appropriate project folder else I wouldnt be able to import.
Any npm link you've set up will be overwritten when you npm install.
One option to avoid having to relink every time you npm install might be to create a new script in package.json like this:
"scripts": {
"install-local": "npm install && npm link #mycustomlib/ui-components"
}
Then just run npm run install-local.
I've been tasked with removing bower where possible and instead using NPM to install modules. I've done a search of the codebase and the only bower.json files are within NPM node modules. I thought that NPM was an alternative to bower, is this incorrect?
I was expecting to find a bower.json file in the project root. As I haven't does it should like NPM is already being used instead?
You can use NPM as an alternative to bower, yes.
Every module has a bower.json because the module wants to support bower and npm as well. Module managers can write stuff like version number, ignore certain files to download, etc. You don't need to worry about these files.
Your package doesn't have a bower.json - perfect. You don't support bower.