Not sure if you are in the same boat as I, but I could not find any good resource out there that pulled this all together. So here is a step-by-step tutorial for creating a Node.js app from scratch, adding in Grunt and then Node-Sass. Yeah, try and find good docs on Node-Sass alone :(
Hope this is of help!
npm init
- create a clean node project- NOTE: be sure to add
"private": true,
to thepackage.json
so that your project is not globally distributed as a npm app
npm install --save express
- install the Express package and save to yourpackage.json
file
npm install --save-dev grunt
- install the Grunt package and save to yourpackage.json
file
mkdir public
- at the root of the project, crate a new 'public' directorymkdir public/stylesheets
- create stylesheets directory within the public directory
-
touch app.js
- create the core application.js
file -
add the following
// set variables for environment var express = require('express'); var app = express(); var path = require('path'); // Set server port app.listen(4000); console.log('server is running');
npm install --save ejs
- to install ejs -- or --npm install --save jade
- to install jademkdir views
- create views directory for template viewstouch views/something.ejs
- create any view file -- or --touch views/something.jade
- create any view file
-
add the following above setting the server port
// views as directory for all template files app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views')); app.set('view engine', 'jade'); // use either jade or ejs // instruct express to server up static assets app.use(express.static('public'));
-
NOTE: ALL routes need to come BEFORE
app.listen(4000);
-
update
app.js
to reflect template being used per the route -
mkdir views
where all view templates will live -
touch views/index.jade
- create base index file -
Open
app.js
and crate root route that points to that template file// set routes app.get('/', function(req, res) { res.render('index'); });
-
Just before the
</body>
in your template file, be sure to add in the script for LiveReload<script src="//localhost:35729/livereload.js"></scrip>
npm install --save-dev grunt-sass
- install grunt-sass
mkdir sass
- create Sass directory in the root of the project
-
touch gruntfile.js
- create a new Gruntfile in the root of your project, add the following code to the empty filemodule.exports = function(grunt) { grunt.initConfig ({ sass: { dist: { files: { 'public/stylesheets/style.css' : 'sass/style.scss' } } } grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-sass'); grunt.registerTask('default', ['sass']); };
-
npm install grunt-contrib-watch --save-dev
- install Grunt watcher and save as a Dev resource -
Add the following to the Gruntfile within the
grunt.initConfig
-
Add the
livereload: true
option so that LiveReload will work on your projectwatch: { source: { files: ['sass/**/*.scss'], tasks: ['sass'], options: { livereload: true, // needed to run LiveReload } } }
|- node_modules/
|- public/
|--- stylesheets/
|- sass/
|- views/
Now that you have a bare bones project set up, we need to get things running. Typically I will be running three terminal windows/tabs for this.
- user terminal for file navigation
- run Node server
$ node app.js
- run grunt server
$ grunt watch
Now you should be able to navigate to http://localhost:4000/
and see your project running.
For this project I choose to use Thoughtbot's Bourbon library.
While this library is a Ruby Gem, this does not place a Ruby dependency on your project. The Gem installs a version of the Sass mixin library directly into your project.
Before installing the library, update your file structure to contain a lib/
directory within your sass/
directory.
|- node_modules/
|- public/
|--- stylesheets/
|- sass/
|--- lib/
|- views/
$ gem install bourbon
orsudo gem install bourbon
(if you are not running RVM)$ cd sass/lib
change directories to the new Sass lib directorybourbon install
to install the library- Open the
style.scss
file and add@import "lib/bourbon/bourbon";
Within the sass/
directory, we need to install a foundational directory framework to start constructing our site. I recommend the following:
|- _buttons.scss
|- _config.scss
|- _forms.scss
|- _modules.scss
|- _reset.scss
|- _typography.scss
|- _vendors.scss
|- application.scss
|- buttons/
|- colors/
|- forms/
|- layouts/
|- lib/
|- modules/
|- ui_patterns/
|- vendors/
In our application.scss
file, we need to import a few files to get this started.
// App Config - this is where most of your magic will happen
// ---------------------------------------------------------
@import "config"; // Editing the config file sets the theme for the project
// Import core Sass libraries
// ---------------------------------------------------------
@import "lib/bourbon/bourbon";
// Standard CSS reset stuff here
// ---------------------------------------------------------
@import "reset";
The reset I have included in this project is a modified version of Eric Meyer's reset plus some ideas from the HTML5 reset project. Additionally I have updated this reset to be more Sass driven using variables.
Next add the individual Sass files that will make up the base, module, vendor and layout portions of the project
// Base
@import "typography";
@import "forms";
@import "buttons";
// UI Patterns and Modules
// State is addressed within the component code itself
@import "ui_patterns/manifest";
@import "modules/manifest";
// Vendor specific styles / modules
@import "vendors/manifest";
// Layouts
@import "layouts/manifest";
This will complete the initial set up of the bare bones project. From here you will be able to customize the Sass to fit the design of your project.
NOTE: When you say 'Get the app started' you say touch app.js, you should make it clear that during the init process you recommend to change the default index.js to app.js ;)