grunt-extend

Extends JavaScript Objects and JSON files with other JSON files, and writes them to a new JSON file

Getting Started

This plugin requires Grunt ~0.4.1

If you haven't used Grunt before, be sure to check out the Getting Started guide, as it explains how to create a Gruntfile as well as install and use Grunt plugins. Once you're familiar with that process, you may install this plugin with this command:

npm install grunt-extend --save-dev

Once the plugin has been installed, it may be enabled inside your Gruntfile with this line of JavaScript:

grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-extend');

The "extend" task

This task extends JavaScript Objects and JSON files with other JSON files, using Lo-Dash _.extend() and _.merge() internally. Once the final object is created, the resulting object is written to a new JSON file.

Possible uses include:

• projects that generate multiple clients
• projects that share configuration values across multiple clients
• sharing base configuration values across environments

Overview

In your project's Gruntfile, add a section named extend to the data object passed into grunt.initConfig().

grunt.initConfig({
  extend: {
    options: {
      // Task-specific options go here.
    },
    your_target: {
      // Target-specific file lists and/or options go here.
    },
  },
})

Options

options.defaults

Type: Object Default value: {}

A JavaScript Object used as the base object in the extension chain. Setting options.defaults as a property of the task will make all of the targets share the same default options. Setting options.defaults inside a target will override the task's default options for that target.

Usage Examples

Generate an empty JSON file

The basic usage example is using an empty object as the default options and write it to a JSON file:

grunt.initConfig({
  extend: {
    options: {
      defaults: {}
    },
    empty: {
      files: {
        'tmp/config-empty.json': []
      }
    }
  }
});

Generate a JSON file from default options

This example uses the default options specified in options.defaults and writes them to a JSON file:

grunt.initConfig({
  extend: {
    options: {
      defaults: {
        coffee: true,
        options: ['a', 'b', 'c']
      }
    },
    defaultConfig: {
      files: {
        'tmp/config-default.json': []
      }
    }
  }
});

Extend the default options using one or more JSON files

It is possible to extend the default options with one or more JSON files, and write the results to a new JSON file:

grunt.initConfig({
  extend: {
    options: {
      defaults: {
        coffee: true,
        options: ['a', 'b', 'c']
      }
    },
    extendedConfig: {
      files: {
        'tmp/config-base.json': ['.config-base.json']
      }
    }
  }
});

Multiple targets

Extend is a mult-task, so you can specify multiple targets. Default options can be overridden in individual targets:

grunt.initConfig({
  extend: {
    options: {
      defaults: {
        coffee: true,
        options: ['a', 'b', 'c']
      }
    },
    empty: {
      options: {
        defaults: {}
      },
      files: {
        'tmp/config-empty.json': []
      }
    },
    defaultConfig: {
      files: {
        'tmp/config-default.json': []
      }
    },
    extendedConfig: {
      files: {
        'tmp/config-base.json': ['.config-base.json']
      }
    },
    multipleExtensions: {
      files: {
        'tmp/config-local.json': ['.config-base.json', '.config-local.json']
      }
    }
  }
});

Single target and multiple files

It is also possible to generate multiple files using a single target:

grunt.initConfig({
  extend: {
    options: {
      defaults: {
        coffee: true,
        options: ['a', 'b', 'c']
      }
    },
    allEnvironments: {
      files: {
        'tmp/config-default.json': [],
        'tmp/config-base.json': ['.config-base.json'],
        'tmp/config-local.json': ['.config-base.json', '.config-local.json']
      }
    }
  }
});

Deep extend

In order to extend and object deeply, add deep to the targets options:

grunt.initConfig({
  extend: {
    options: {
      deep: true,
      defaults: {
        coffee: true,
        options: ['a', 'b', 'c']
      }
    },
    extendedConfig: {
      files: {
        'tmp/config-base.json': ['.config-base.json']
      }
    }
  }
});

Contributing

In lieu of a formal styleguide, take care to maintain the existing coding style. Add unit tests for any new or changed functionality. Lint and test your code using Grunt.

Release History

• 2013-09-38 v0.4.2 Fixing error in documentation.
• 2013-08-13   v0.4.1   Removing jQuery as a dependency.
• 2013-08-07   v0.3.0   Support for deep extends.
• 2013-08-03   v0.2.1   Initial release.
• 2013-08-03   v0.2.0   Initial release.