Laravel Materials Build Override

This extension allows re-building materials from 3rd party libraries with patch.

For license information check the LICENSE-file.

Installation

The preferred way to install this extension is through composer.

Either run

or add

to the require section of your composer.json.

Usage

This extension allows re-building materials from 3rd party libraries with patch. It might be in handy while using some extension, which is shipped with already compiled JavaScript files, which you need to modify and thus re-compile. For example: extensions for 3rd party CMS like Nova.

We can take froala/nova-froala-field for example. This package is shipped with JavaScript WYSIWYG editor integrated into VueJS component, which are compiled altogether into a single '*.js' file. In case you need to apply custom plugin to the editor, it becomes impossible unless you re-compile the extension with your own changes.

At this stage it might be tempting to simply adjust source files inside 'vendor/froala/nova-froala-field' directory and run NPM build from there. However any manual changes inside the 'vendor' directory will cause you problems in the future. The patch you create in this way can not be tracked by VCS and you will have to re-apply it in case you update the library. Also any changes made to the files in "vendor" directory may cause Composer fail on 'install' or 'update' command.

This package was created to solve the problem. It allows creating new build (compilation) from particular source files under the different path. This task is performed in following steps:

• Copy source files, which are out of VCS control, to the new 'build' directory.

• Append/override copied files using ones from 'override' directory, which may be under VCS control.

• Apply pre-defined patches, like search-replace or JSON modification, to the created files.

• Run the build/compilation over composed 'build' directory files.

Heads up! Actually re-building 3rd party materials in this way is a hack. You should not use it unless you can not achieve your goal using other means.

Application configuration

This extension uses illuminatech/array-factory for configuration. Make sure you are familiar with 'array factory' concept before configuring this extension. Configuration is stored at 'config/override-build.php' file.

You can publish predefined configuration file using following console command:

Inside the configuration file you'll have to define the list of packages you wish to re-build. For our 'Froala' example the configuration may look like following:

Each package specification is an 'array factory' compatible configuration for the \Illuminatech\OverrideBuild\Builder instance. Please refer to \Illuminatech\OverrideBuild\Builder class for more details about particular options.

Once configuration is complete you are able to run re-build using 'override-build' artisan command. This command accepts the package name from the configuration as an argument, specifying which package should be re-built. For example:

Heads up! Remember that this extension will not reconfigure the built package in the way it will use new compiled files. You will have to manually adjust configuration of extension you modifying yourself. For the 'Nova Froala field' example you should adjsut your \App\Providers\NovaServiceProvider in following way:

Overriding files

You would not need to re-build some package without making any modifications to its source. The easiest way to do so is using the 'override' directory. It should repeat the structure of the source directory containing only those files, which should be appended or replaced. In our example for the 'Nova Froala field' the source directory has the following structure:

The override directory structure for it may look like following:

Its application will replace 'resources/js/field.js' file and append 'resources/js/custom-plugins.js'.

While original 'resources/js/field.js' file content looks like following:

The override may contain extra code adding the custom editor plugins defined in 'resources/js/custom-plugins.js' file:

Patching files

While complete overriding of the source file is the most simple way to apply your modifications, it has some significant drawbacks. You will need to copy all original file content into the override and then make your modification, even if changes a single line of code. In case source library upgrades, it may change the file, which you have overridden, in the way build ends with an error with your version. In order to make your changes more persistent \Illuminatech\OverrideBuild\Builder::$patches has been created. Each patch is a PHP object matching \Illuminatech\OverrideBuild\PatchContract, which modifies file content. Following pre-defined patches are available:

• \Illuminatech\OverrideBuild\Patches\Replace - replaces set of strings.

• \Illuminatech\OverrideBuild\Patches\Wrap - wraps an original content into specified string, allowing append/prepend the extra lines.

• \Illuminatech\OverrideBuild\Patches\Json - allows modification into the JSON structure.

Please refer to the particular patch class for more details.

For our 'Nova Froala field' example we can simply patch 'resources/js/field.js', adding an extra line with require('./custom-plugins'); instead of rewriting it as whole.

Build optimization

In order to speed up the building process, 'override-build' checks whether package build already exist before making new one. If build exists and its files modification date is later then modification date of files from 'source' and 'override' directories - no new build will be started. You may enforce build re-creation using --force flag for the command invocation. For example:

Cleanup files

During the building some accessory files, which you may not want to keep, might be generated. Like during our 'Nova Froala field' example building, 'node_modules' directory created with all NPM dependencies stored inside of it. In order to simplify project structure and save disk space you can setup \Illuminatech\OverrideBuild\Builder::$cleanupFiles, listing files and directories, which should be removed after build is complete. For example: