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---
# Grunt Express Server updated with additional options v1.1.104-208
This is an open source project. Just code. If you like this code, please add a star in GitHub and you really like, you can donate as well. Thanks you so much!
Right now, Travis is giving errors (quota errors with parallel builds), though Scrutinizer is working 100% - building, code quality, coverage.
Given, I have my own server, with dynamic IP address, it could happen that the server for about max 5 minutes can not be reachable for the dynamic DNS or very rarely I backup with Clonzilla the SSD or something with the electricity (too much hoovering or cleaning - but I worked on it, so should not happen again), but for some reason, it is not reachable please hang on for 5-30 minutes and it will be back for sure.
All my domains (patrikx3.com and corifeus.com) could have errors right now, since I am developing in my free time and you can catch glitches, but usually it is stable (imagine updating everything always, which is weird).
### Node Version Requirement
```
>=8.9.0
```
### Built on Node
```
v9.3.0
```
The ```async``` and ```await``` keywords are required.
Install NodeJs:
https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/
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# Description
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Simple grunt task for running an Express server that works great with LiveReload + Watch/Regarde.
It works with the latest Node and some additional options.
## 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',
env: {
'NODE_MODE': 'cluster'
}
}
},
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,
// Merge the process environment of this option
env: {},
// 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,
env: {
'NODE_MODE': 'cluster'
}
}
},
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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---
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[//]: #@corifeus-footer:end