Excubo.WebCompiler is a dotnet global tool that compiles Scss files (other languages on the road map, see how to contribute).
This project is based on madskristensen/WebCompiler. However, the dependency to node and the node modules have been removed, to facilitate a pure dotnet core implementation. As a benefit, this implementation is cross-platform (x64 linux/win are tested, please help by testing other platforms!).
Excubo.WebCompiler as a nuget package reference to a project (e.g. by installing it via the nuget package manager in Visual Studio). This does not work! Instead, one needs to install it as a dotnet tool. See the "Getting started" section further down on this page.
- Compilation of Scss files
- Dedicated compiler options for each individual file
- Detailed error messages
dotnetcore build pipeline support cross-platform- Minify the compiled output
- Minification options for each language is customizable
- Autoprefix for CSS
Added support for .NET 5. You will most likely only notice that when using webcompiler in a docker context, but that's covered now as well!
There are now two more options:
-o/--output-dirhelps to put files into a different folder. Seewebcompiler -o --helpfor more details.-p/--preservedisablemakes all temporary files disappear (note that this can increase compile time. The default is to keep all temporary files).
- Previously, running e.g.
webcompiler -rwithout specifying a file and/or folder just returned without any message, warning or error. This is now an error. If the intention is to run in the working directory, usewebcompiler -r .. - Now writes to
stderrinstead ofstdoutwhere appropriate. - Bug fixed: Sass files were not recompiled on change, if that change was to the sass file itself rather than one of its dependencies. Now it correctly recompiles for any change to the file itself or any of its dependencies.
The command line interface has been rewritten from scratch to enable sensible defaults without the need to have a configuration file around.
Starting with version 2.0.0, the old compilerconfig.json.defaults is incompatible. A new file can be created with webcompiler --defaults (optional).
Usage:
webcompiler file1 file2 ... [options]
webcompiler [options]
Options:
-c|--config <conf.json> Specify a configuration file for compilation.
-d|--defaults [conf.json] Write a default configuration file (file name is webcompilerconfiguration.json, if none is specified).
-f|--files <files.conf> Specify a list of files that should be compiled.
-h|--help Show command line help.
-m|--minify [disable/enable] Enable/disable minification (default: enabled), ignored if configuration file is provided.
-o|--output-dir <path/to/dir> Specify the output directory, ignored if configuration file is provided.
-p|--preserve [disable/enable] Enable/disable whether to preserve intermediate files (default: enabled).
-r|--recursive Recursively search folders for compilable files (only if any of the provided arguments is a folder).
-z|--zip [disable/enable] Enable/disable gzip (default: enabled), ignored if configuration file is provided.
-a|--autoprefix [disable/enable] Enable/disable autoprefixing (default: enabled), ignored if configuration file is provided.
Recommended default usage: webcompiler -r wwwroot.
Due to the removal of node as a dependency (as opposed to madskristensen/WebCompiler), support for languages other than Scss is not yet available. Please get in touch if you want to contribute to any of the following languages, or if you want to add yet another language.
- LESS
- Stylus
- JSX
- ES6
- (Iced)CoffeeScript
Excubo.Webcompiler is distributed as a nuget package. You can install it in a command line using
dotnet tool install Excubo.WebCompiler --global
webcompiler -r wwwroot
It's also possible to use Excubo.Webcompiler as a local tool (ideal for CI environments)
dotnet new tool-manifest
dotnet tool install Excubo.WebCompiler
dotnet tool restore
dotnet tool webcompiler -h
You can simply call webcompiler with the appropriate options, e.g.
webcompiler -r wwwrootdotnet run tool webcompiler -r wwwrootor can simply call:
dotnet webcompiler -r wwwrootYou can add webcompiler as a Target in your csproj file. This works cross platform:
<Target Name="CompileStaticAssets" AfterTargets="AfterBuild">
<Exec Command="webcompiler -r wwwroot" StandardOutputImportance="high" />
</Target>In this example, webcompiler is executed on the folder wwwroot inside your project folder.
The integration into docker images is as straight-forward as installing the tool and invoking it. However, there's a caveat that some users ran into, which is the use of alpine-based images, such as mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:5.0-alpine. Excubo.WebCompiler will not work on this image, as some fundamental libraries are missing on alpine. The alpine distribution is usually intended to create small resulting images. If this is the goal, the best approach is to perform build/compilation operations in a non-alpine distribution, and then finally copy only the resulting files to an alpine based image intended only for execution. Learn more about it here, in Microsoft's usage for dotnet and here, in the docker documentation about multi-stage-build.
This configuration will not break the build if Excubo.WebCompiler is not installed. This can be helpful, e.g. if compilation is only necessary on the build server.
<Target Name="TestWebCompiler">
<!-- Test if Excubo.WebCompiler is installed (recommended) -->
<Exec Command="webcompiler -h" ContinueOnError="true" StandardOutputImportance="low" StandardErrorImportance="low" LogStandardErrorAsError="false" IgnoreExitCode="true">
<Output TaskParameter="ExitCode" PropertyName="ErrorCode" />
</Exec>
</Target>
<Target Name="CompileStaticAssets" AfterTargets="CoreCompile;TestWebCompiler" Condition="'$(ErrorCode)' == '0'">
<Exec Command="webcompiler -r wwwroot" StandardOutputImportance="high" StandardErrorImportance="high" />
</Target>The first target simply tests whether Excubo.WebCompiler is installed at all. The second target then executes webcompiler recursively on the wwwroot folder, if it is installed.
Using dotnet tool locally is quite simple. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to check if tools already exists (as the help always returns error code 0) without a script.
<Target Name="ToolRestore" BeforeTargets="PreBuildEvent">
<Exec Command="dotnet tool restore" StandardOutputImportance="high" />
</Target>
<Target Name="PreBuild" AfterTargets="ToolRestore">
<Exec Command="dotnet tool run webcompiler -r wwwroot" StandardOutputImportance="high" />
</Target>If you only rely on webcompiler, it may be preferable to use the below PreBuildEvent
<Target Name="ToolRestore" BeforeTargets="PreBuildEvent">
<Exec Command="dotnet tool update excubo.webcompiler" StandardOutputImportance="high" />
</Target>Which will either:
- Do nothing if latest is installed
- Install the latest if either out of date or uninstalled
For automatic compilation whenever the content of source files change, add the following to your csproj:
<ItemGroup>
<!--specify file extensions here as needed-->
<Watch Include="**\*.scss" />
</ItemGroup>Run dotnet watch tool run webcompiler with the appropriate options in a terminal, e.g.
dotnet watch tool run webcompiler -r wwwroot.
If you want to change aspects of the compilation and minification process, create a configuration file, modify it to your needs, and run webcompiler using this config file:
- create config file (default file name: webcompilerconfiguration.json)
webcompiler --defaults
The default configuration is
{
"Minifiers": {
"GZip": true,
"Enabled": true,
"Css": {
"CommentMode": "Important",
"ColorNames": "Hex",
"TermSemicolons": true,
"OutputMode": "SingleLine",
"IndentSize": 2
},
"Javascript": {
"RenameLocals": true,
"PreserveImportantComments": true,
"EvalTreatment": "Ignore",
"TermSemicolons": true,
"OutputMode": "SingleLine",
"IndentSize": 2
}
},
"Autoprefix": {
"Enabled": true,
"ProcessingOptions": {
"Browsers": [
"last 4 versions"
],
"Cascade": true,
"Add": true,
"Remove": true,
"Supports": true,
"Flexbox": "All",
"Grid": "None",
"IgnoreUnknownVersions": false,
"Stats": "",
"SourceMap": true,
"InlineSourceMap": false,
"SourceMapIncludeContents": false,
"OmitSourceMapUrl": false
}
},
"CompilerSettings": {
"Sass": {
"IndentType": "Space",
"IndentWidth": 2,
"OutputStyle": "Nested",
"Precision": 5,
"RelativeUrls": true,
"LineFeed": "Lf",
"SourceMap": false
}
},
"Output": {
"Preserve": true
}
}- change config file
Change anything in the generated config file according to your needs. If you need help with the available settings, please refer to the documentation of LibSassHost or NUglify.
- Make webcompiler use these options
webcompiler -r wwwroot -c webcompilerconfiguration.json
When a compiler error occurs, the tool exits with code 1 and displays the error to the console.
This project is just starting. You can help in many different ways:
-
File bug reports
If you find a bug with the tool itself, please file a bug. If the result of compilation is incorrect, please file a bug with the respective library (see the list of libraries), and only file a bug report here, if the version used is outdated.
-
Implement support for a language
Please submit your pull request for the language that you're implementing. Please make sure that your code is tested.
-
Ask for support of a specific language
If you would like to see support of a specific language, but can't implement it yourself, please search the issues for the language and leave your +1 vote on the issue, or file a new issue with the name of the language.
Excubo.WebCompiler depends on nuget packages for the compilation tasks:
| Language | Library |
|---|---|
| Sass | LibSassHost |
| Autoprefix | AutoprefixHost |
| CSS/JS | NUglify |