Looking for an easy solution for bundling and vendoring NPM packages?

Question

Looking for an easy solution for bundling and vendoring NPM packages?

Full disclosure: My expertise lies mainly in backend development, and I don't have extensive knowledge in front-end technologies.

I am in the process of creating a Golang web application that does not use a single page application (SPA) architecture. Instead, it generates HTML that is then delivered to the user. As I strive to improve the management and tracking of my JavaScript and CSS dependencies, I am considering transitioning to utilizing NPM with a package.json file rather than manually downloading and integrating CSS and JavaScript libraries. These libraries typically include jquery, bootstrap, and fontawesome. Additionally, I currently have one JavaScript file per page for interactive elements.

Here is an example of how my project is structured:

+ js
  lib.js    -> jquery, bootstrap, fontawesome
  - home    -> specific JS
  - account -> specific JS
  ...
+ css
  theme.css
  custom.css

However, I have not found a straightforward solution that allows me to simply run npm install and generate a minified vendor.js file with all the installed packages. I have explored using webpack (specifically go-webpack), but found it overly complex with terms like tree shaking, bundling, and shimming. Furthermore, webpack requires setting up a development server for local asset serving, implementing special chunk handling, and referencing global libraries in every JavaScript file to prevent them from being removed during optimization.

Is there a more straightforward way to streamline the process from a package.json file to a consolidated, minified asset bundle?

javascript npm webpack

Answer 1

Answer №1

In Summary: Don't get lost in the details - Start by getting a basic setup of your webpack.config.js working before delving into advanced concepts like tree shaking and chunking.

Using a bundler like Webpack or Parcel is essential to bundle all your JavaScript assets into a single file. It's important not to overwhelm yourself initially with features like:

webpack-dev-server
Tree Shaking
Chunking

These are advanced concepts... It might be better to start by creating a simple JavaScript bundle (or per-page bundle) for your application. This is less complex and involves setting entry points for key files in your application:

Application's JavaScript index (to load JavaScript used by your app)
CSS index (should ideally load root styles for the app)

Then configure loaders and plugins for your assets, like MiniCssExtractPlugin and file-loader, to handle them. Once everything works, add the generated bundle in a <script> tag in your main html page, instead of immediately setting up a webpack-dev-server. To create new bundles, customize commands in the package.json file, such as:

"scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
    "build": "webpack -p --progress --config webpack.config.js",
    "dev-build": "webpack --progress -d --config webpack.config.js",
    "watch": "webpack --progress -d --config webpack.config.js --watch"
  },

Focus on getting everything working before optimizing for performance, like chunking and tree shaking. Check out tutorials like Intro to Webpack and Full Stack Web application. The second tutorial may be outdated, but the principles are valuable for setting up build configurations without using create-react-app for a react project.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

In Summary: Don't get lost in the details - Start by getting a basic setup of your webpack.config.js working before delving into advanced concepts like tree shaking and chunking.

Using a bundler like Webpack or Parcel is essential to bundle all your JavaScript assets into a single file. It's important not to overwhelm yourself initially with features like:

webpack-dev-server
Tree Shaking
Chunking

These are advanced concepts... It might be better to start by creating a simple JavaScript bundle (or per-page bundle) for your application. This is less complex and involves setting entry points for key files in your application:

Application's JavaScript index (to load JavaScript used by your app)
CSS index (should ideally load root styles for the app)

Then configure loaders and plugins for your assets, like MiniCssExtractPlugin and file-loader, to handle them. Once everything works, add the generated bundle in a <script> tag in your main html page, instead of immediately setting up a webpack-dev-server. To create new bundles, customize commands in the package.json file, such as:

"scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
    "build": "webpack -p --progress --config webpack.config.js",
    "dev-build": "webpack --progress -d --config webpack.config.js",
    "watch": "webpack --progress -d --config webpack.config.js --watch"
  },

Focus on getting everything working before optimizing for performance, like chunking and tree shaking. Check out tutorials like Intro to Webpack and Full Stack Web application. The second tutorial may be outdated, but the principles are valuable for setting up build configurations without using create-react-app for a react project.

Hope this helps!

Looking for an easy solution for bundling and vendoring NPM packages?

Answer №1

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