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---
# Grunt task for running an Express Server that works great with LiveReload + Watch/Regarde
This is an open source project. Just code.
### Node Version Requirement
```
>=7.8.0
```
### Built on Node
```
v8.1.2
```
The ```async``` and ```await``` keywords are required.
Install NodeJs:
https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/
# Description
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Simple grunt task for running an Express server that works great with LiveReload + Watch/Regarde
## Getting Started
This plugin requires Grunt `>=1.0.0`
If you haven't used [Grunt](http://gruntjs.com/) before, be sure to check out the [Getting Started](http://gruntjs.com/getting-started) guide, as it explains how to create a [Gruntfile](http://gruntjs.com/sample-gruntfile) as well as install and use Grunt plugins. Once you're familiar with that process, you may install this plugin with this command:
```shell
npm install grunt-p3x-express --save-dev
```
Once the plugin has been installed, it may be enabled inside your Gruntfile with this line of JavaScript:
```js
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-p3x-express');
```
## The `express` task
### Setup
In your project's Gruntfile, you can create one or multiple servers:
```js
grunt.initConfig({
express: {
options: {
// Override defaults here
},
dev: {
options: {
script: 'path/to/dev/server.js'
}
},
prod: {
options: {
script: 'path/to/prod/server.js',
node_env: 'production'
}
},
test: {
options: {
script: 'path/to/test/server.js'
}
}
}
});
```
You can override the default `options` either in the root of the `express` config
or within each individual server task.
### Default `options`
```js
express: {
options: {
// Override the command used to start the server.
// (do not use 'coffee' here, the server will not be able to restart
// see below at opts for coffee-script support)
cmd: process.argv[0],
// Will turn into: `node OPT1 OPT2 ... OPTN path/to/server.js ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGN`
// (e.g. opts: ['node_modules/coffee-script/bin/coffee'] will correctly parse coffee-script)
opts: [ ],
args: [ ],
// Setting to `false` will effectively just run `node path/to/server.js`
background: true,
// Called when the spawned server throws errors
fallback: function() {},
// Override node env's PORT
port: 3000,
// Override node env's NODE_ENV
node_env: undefined,
// Enable Node's --harmony flag
harmony: false,
// Consider the server to be "running" after an explicit delay (in milliseconds)
// (e.g. when server has no initial output)
delay: 0,
// Regular expression that matches server output to indicate it is "running"
output: ".+",
// Set --debug (true | false | integer from 1024 to 65535, has precedence over breakOnFirstLine)
debug: false,
// Set --debug-brk (true | false | integer from 1024 to 65535)
breakOnFirstLine: false,
// Object with properties `out` and `err` both will take a path to a log file and
// append the output of the server. Make sure the folders exist.
logs: undefined
}
}
```
### Usage
By default, unless `delay` or `output` has been customized,
**the server is considered "running" once any output is logged to the console**,
upon which control is passed back to grunt.
Typically, this is:
> Express server listening on port 3000
If your server doesn't log anything, the express task will never finish and **none** of the following tasks, after it, will be executed. For example - if you have a development task like this one:
```javascript
grunt.registerTask('rebuild', ['clean', 'browserify:scripts', 'stylus', 'copy:images']);
grunt.registerTask('dev', ['rebuild', 'express', 'watch']);
```
If you run the dev task and your server doesn't log anything, **'watch' will never be started**.
This can easily be avoided, if you log something, when server is created like that:
```javascript
var server = http.createServer( app ).listen( PORT, function() {
console.log('Express server listening on port ' + PORT);
} );
```
If you log output *before* the server is running, either set `delay` or `output` to indicate
when the server has officially started.
#### Starting the server
If you have a server defined named `dev`, you can start the server by running `express:dev`. The server only runs as long as grunt is running. Once grunt's tasks have completed, the web server stops.
#### Stopping the server
Similarly, if you start the `dev` server with `express:dev`, you can stop the server
with `express:dev:stop`.
#### With [grunt-contrib-watch](https://github.com/gruntjs/grunt-contrib-watch)
```js
grunt.initConfig({
watch: {
express: {
files: [ '**/*.js' ],
tasks: [ 'express:dev' ],
options: {
spawn: false // for grunt-contrib-watch v0.5.0+, "nospawn: true" for lower versions. Without this option specified express won't be reloaded
}
}
}
});
grunt.registerTask('server', [ 'express:dev', 'watch' ])
```
**Important:** Note that the `spawn: false` options only need be applied to the watch target regarding the express task.
You may have other watch targets that use `spawn: true`, which is useful, for example, to reload CSS and not LESS changes.
```js
watch: {
options: {
livereload: true
},
express: {
files: [ '**/*.js' ],
tasks: [ 'express:dev' ],
options: {
spawn: false
}
},
less: {
files: ["public/**/*.less"],
tasks: ["less"],
options: {
livereload: false
}
},
public: {
files: ["public/**/*.css", "public/**/*.js"]
}
}
```
## Release History
### Old version
https://github.com/ericclemmons/grunt-express-server
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---
[**GRUNT-P3X-EXPRESS**](https://pages.corifeus.tk/grunt-p3x-express) Build v1.0.21-21
[Corifeus](http://www.corifeus.tk) by [Patrik Laszlo](http://patrikx3.tk)
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