gradle-nodejs

Here you can see a very simple way how to use nodejs and gradle together without any plugins.

Install NodeJs

• Add a repository

repositories {
    // For example: https://nodejs.org/dist/v10.16.3/node-v10.16.3-linux-x64.tar.xz
    ivy {
        url 'https://nodejs.org/dist/'
        patternLayout {
            //This maps to the pattern: [organisation]:[module]:[revision]:[classifier]@[ext]
            artifact '/v[revision]/[organisation]-v[revision]-[module].[ext]'
        }
        metadataSources {
            artifact()
            ignoreGradleMetadataRedirection()
        }
    }
}

• Add a new configuration and a dependency

configurations {
    nodejs
}

dependencies {
    // to be able to download nodejs as a dependency
    nodejs group: 'node', name: project.'nodejs.platform', version: project.'nodejs.version', ext: 'tar.xz'
}

Note: the version of NodeJs you can specify in the gradle.properties

• A task for installing NodeJs

def nodeJsHome = file("$projectDir/node-v${project.'nodejs.version'}-${project.'nodejs.platform'}")

task installNodeJs() {
   group = 'NodeJs'
   description = 'Install NodeJs'

   onlyIf {
       !nodeJsHome.exists()
   }

   doLast {
       println "NodeJs: ${project.'nodejs.version'} will be installed..."
       def dist = project.configurations.nodejs.files[0]
       exec {
           commandLine 'tar', '-xf', dist.path, '-C', projectDir
       }
   }
}

Subprojects and node tasks

The code below shows how you can add new tasks into subprojects:

subprojects {
    // going through {node|npm|npx}
    fileTree(file("$nodeJsHome/bin")).files.each { f ->
        // creates a new task under sub-projects
        task "${f.name}"(dependsOn: parent.tasks['installNodeJs']) {
            group 'NodeJs'
            description "To be able to use: ${f.path}"

            doLast {
                def options = new Scanner(System.in).nextLine().split(' ')
                println ">> Executing: ${f.path}"
                println ">> Options $options"
                println ">> Working Dir: $projectDir"
                exec {
                    workingDir projectDir
                    executable f.path
                    args options
                    errorOutput = System.out
                    ignoreExitValue = true
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Standard Input

The main trick is to pass the arguments through standard input.

def options = new Scanner(System.in).nextLine().split(' ')
exec {
    executable ...
    args options
    ...
}

After that you will have the following tasks:

• installNodeJs - Install NodeJs
• node - To be able to use: /gradle-nodejs/node-v10.16.3-linux-x64/bin/node
• npm - To be able to use: /gradle-nodejs/node-v10.16.3-linux-x64/bin/npm
• npx - To be able to use: /gradle-nodejs/node-v10.16.3-linux-x64/bin/npx

How to use

The following examples will show how you will be able to use that:

node <options>

• node --help ./gradlew nodejs-projectA:node <<<--help

npm <options>

• npm -v ./gradlew nodejs-projectB:npm <<<-v
• npm install --save-dev webpack ./gradlew nodejs-projectA:npm <<<'install --save-dev webpack'

npx <options>

• npx webpack --colors ./gradlew nodejs-projectB:npx <<<'webpack --colors'