lite-server & gulp about lite-server

[cgmartin]

@nelsonomuto fyi, a recent change in lite-server 2.2.0 now allows you to require('lite-server'); from your gulpfile and use its API instead of having to go through exec. This offers some additional flexibility for those who might want to get a reference to browsersync itself from lite-server (additional watchers, events, etc.) or may need to wait until browsersync has initialized via a callback.

https://github.com/johnpapa/lite-server/blob/master/package.json#L5
https://github.com/johnpapa/lite-server/blob/master/index.js

[cgmartin]

@kkasaei just use browsersync directly with gulp. lite-server is a small configuration wrapper around browsersync and isn't meant for gulp integration. Copy lite-server's configuration and use with your browsersync config in your custom gulp file.

[johnpapa]

lite-server is meant to get you started. it helps those who want to write angular and not worry about a node server, until they have time to create the server they want. node, asp.net, java, whatever.

once you decide to write server code, it is time to put lite-server aside and use a real server.

[nelsonomuto]

@kkasaei here is an example of using gulp and lite server for your reference: https://github.com/nelsonomuto/lite-server-gulp

[MarkusTischendorf]

@t3dodson I was able to start the lite-server from my gulpscript as follows:

const gulp = require("gulp");
const lite = require("lite-server");

const BS_CONFIG_FILE = "config/lite-server/bs-config.json";

gulp.task("start:dev:serve", () => {
    lite.server({ argv: ["", "", "-c", BS_CONFIG_FILE]}, () =>
    {
        console.log("Lite-server running..")
    });
});

Defining the argv property is not very nice. I'm not sure if there is a better possibility.

[nelsonomuto]

you can still easily integrate gulp with lite-server and leverage less by having a gulp watch on the css file @johnpapa. This way you can take advantage of the browser-sync you get out of the box with lite server.

Just thought it would be worth it to call out, it only added 3 lines of code to my gulpfile to execute lite server as a child process.

Here is my gulpfile

Good job by the way, lite server is a great tool.

[mikeerickson]

@kkasaei Why do you need gulp interaction? lite-server is a simple webserver that you start and it does its thing.

More information here

[kkasaei]

@mikeerickson , My concern is about testing. so lets say with browser-sync and gulp you define a task like this:

gulp.task('serve-specs', function() {
browserSync.init({
notify: false,
port: 8081,
server: {
baseDir: ["test", "app"],
routes: {
'/bower_components': 'bower_components'
}
}
});

gulp.watch(['app/**/*.*'])
    .on('change', browserSync.reload);

});

So how should I approach the same thing with lite-server?

cheers

[kkasaei]

@cgmartin Thanks. I'll check it and get back to you.

[nelsonomuto]

we would use gulp to transpile our less files for example

[johnpapa]

good point @nelsonomuto :)

[t3dodson]

@cgmartin Is there any docs available on how one would start to integrate gulp with lite-server?