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27 lines
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ReStructuredText
27 lines
2.0 KiB
ReStructuredText
=======================
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Front End Build Process
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=======================
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This page documents additional information that may be useful when developing new features for Zulip that require front-end changes. For a more general overview, see the new feature tutorial. The code style documentation also has relevant information about how Zulip's code is structured.
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Primary build process
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=====================
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Most of the exisiting JS in Zulip is written in IIFE-wrapped modules, one per file in the `static/js` directory. When running Zulip in development mode each file is loaded seperately. In production mode (and when creating a release tarball) JavaScript files are concatenated and minified.
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If you add a new JavaScript file it needs to be specified in the `JS_SPECS` dictionary defined in `zproject/settings.py` to be included in the concatenated file.
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Webpack/CommonJS modules
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========================
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New JS written for Zulip can be written as CommonJS modules (bundled using `webpack <https://webpack.github.io/>`_, though this will taken care of automatically whenever ``run-dev.py`` is running). (CommonJS is the same module format that Node uses, so see `the Node documentation <https://nodejs.org/docs/latest/api/modules.html>` for more information on the syntax.)
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Benefits of using CommonJS modules over the `IIFE <http://benalman.com/news/2010/11/immediately-invoked-function-expression/>`_ module approach:
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* namespacing/module boilerplate will be added automatically in the bundling process
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* dependencies between modules are more explicit and easier to trace
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* no separate list of JS files needs to be maintained for concatenation and minification
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* third-party libraries can be more easily installed/versioned using npm
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* running the same code in the browser and in Node for testing is simplified (as both environments use the same module syntax)
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The entry point file for the bundle generated by webpack is ``static/js/src/main.js``. Any modules you add will need to be required from this file (or one of its dependencies) in order to be included in the script bundle.
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