gulp - connect

Gulp plugin to run a webserver (with LiveReload)

Install

npm can help us to install the plugin.

PS C:\study\gulp> npm install --save-dev gulp-connect
gulp-connect@2.2. node_modules\gulp-connect
├── connect-livereload@0.3.
├── event-stream@3.1. (duplexer@0.1., from@0.1., stream-combiner@0.0., pause-stream@0.0., map-stream@0.1., split@0.2., through@2.3.)
├── tiny-lr@0.0. (debug@0.8., qs@0.5., faye-websocket@0.4., noptify@0.0.)
├── gulp-util@2.2. (lodash._reinterpolate@2.4., minimist@0.2., vinyl@0.2., through2@0.5., chalk@0.5., multipipe@0.1., dateformat@1.0., lodash.template@2.4.)
└── connect@2.17. (parseurl@1.0., response-time@1.0., cookie@0.1., cookie-signature@1.0., fresh@0.2., debug@0.8., connect-timeout@1.1., vhost@1.0., qs@0.6., bytes@1.0., basic-auth-connect@1.0., on-headers@0.0., serve-favicon@2.0., errorhandler@1.0., morgan@1.1., cookie-parser@1.1., pause@0.0., type-is@1.2., method-override@1.0., compression@1.0., body-parser@1.2., express-session@1.2., csurf@1.2., serve-index@1.0., serve-static@1.1., multiparty@.
2.0)

you can saw the connect-livereload already contained.

Usage

we get a connect object, it help us to serve static web server. default, the web server root is the location of gulpfile.js.

create a js file, named to gulpfile.js, it is the specification name for gulp.

var  gulp = require('gulp'),
  connect = require('gulp-connect');

gulp.task('connect', function() {
  //
  connect.server();
});

gulp.task('default', ['connect']);

open browser that your favorited, locate to http://localhost:8080/

default, it support ditionary browser, so you should saw the dictionary.

LiveReload

you should use watch feature with livereload, so you will create watch task for it.

in watch task, when file changed, watch task trigger specification task, in below, it is html task.

var gulp = require('gulp'),
  connect = require('gulp-connect');

gulp.task('connect', function() {
  connect.server({
    root: 'app',
    livereload: true
  });
});

gulp.task('html', function () {
  gulp.src('./app/*.html')
    .pipe(connect.reload());
});

gulp.task('watch', function () {
  gulp.watch(['./app/*.html'], ['html']);
});

gulp.task('default', ['connect', 'watch']);

in html task, we reload  target files.

Start and stop server

connect.server start the web server, connect.serverClose to close a web server.

gulp.task('jenkins-tests', function() {
  connect.server({
    port: 8888
  });
  // run some headless tests with phantomjs
  // when process exits:
  connect.serverClose();
});

Multiple server

var gulp = require('gulp'),
  stylus = require('gulp-stylus'),
  connect = require('gulp-connect');

gulp.task('connectDev', function () {
  connect.server({
    root: ['app', 'tmp'],
    port: 8000,
    livereload: true
  });
});

gulp.task('connectDist', function () {
  connect.server({
    root: 'dist',
    port: 8001,
    livereload: true
  });
});

gulp.task('html', function () {
  gulp.src('./app/*.html')
    .pipe(connect.reload());
});

gulp.task('stylus', function () {
  gulp.src('./app/stylus/*.styl')
    .pipe(stylus())
    .pipe(gulp.dest('./app/css'))
    .pipe(connect.reload());
});

gulp.task('watch', function () {
  gulp.watch(['./app/*.html'], ['html']);
  gulp.watch(['./app/stylus/*.styl'], ['stylus']);
});

gulp.task('default', ['connectDist', 'connectDev', 'watch']);

API

options.root

Type: Array or String Default: Directory with gulpfile

The root path

options.port

Type: Number Default: 8080

The connect webserver port

options.host

Type: String Default: localhost

options.https

Type: Boolean Default: false

options.livereload

Type: Object or Boolean Default: false

options.livereload.port

Type: Number Default: 35729

options.fallback

Type: String Default: undefined

Fallback file (e.g. index.html)

options.middleware

Type: Function Default: []

gulp.task('connect', function() {
  connect.server({
    root: "app",
    middleware: function(connect, opt) {
      return [
        // ...
      ]
    }
  });
});

Contributors

AveVlad and schickling