Compile your LESS stylesheets using JSON and underscore.
npm install styles~0.4.0
shell
npm install assemble-styles --save-dev
`
Once the plugin has been installed, it may be enabled inside your Gruntfile with this line of JavaScript:
`js
grunt.loadNpmTasks('assemble-styles');
`
This plugin was designed to work with Grunt 0.4.x. If you're still using grunt v0.3.x it's strongly recommended that you upgrade, but in case you can't please use v0.3.2.
Styles task
_Run this task with the grunt styles command._
Task targets, files and options may be specified according to the grunt Configuring tasks guide.
$3
#### requires
Type: String|Array
Default: empty string
Specified files will be prepended to the beginning of src files, _not_ to the concatenated output. This feature is useful for "inlining" globaly-required LESS files, such as variables.less and mixins.less, so that _they do not need to be referenced with @import statements inside any individual files_.
#### concat
Type: Boolean
Default: true
Concatenate all source files by default. If you change the value to false, all source files will compile into individual files.
#### paths
Type: String|Array
Default: Directory of input file.
Specifies directories to scan for @import directives when parsing. Default value is the directory of the source, which is probably what you want. In other words, the paths option allows you to specify paths for your @import statements in the styles task, as an alternative to specifying a path on every @import statement that appears throughout your LESS files. So instead of doing this:
` css
@import "path/to/my/less/files/mixins/mixins.less";
@import "path/to/my/less/files/bootstrap.less";
@import "path/to/my/custom/less/files/somewhere/else/custom.less";
`
you can do this:
` css
@import "mixins.less";
@import "bootstrap.less";
@import "custom.less";
`
#### compress
Type: Boolean
Default: False
Compress output by removing some whitespaces.
#### yuicompress
Type: Boolean
Default: False
Compress output using cssmin.js
#### optimization
Type: Integer
Default: null
Set the parser's optimization level. The lower the number, the less nodes it will create in the tree. This could matter for debugging, or if you want to access the individual nodes in the tree.
#### strictImports
Type: Boolean
Default: False
Force evaluation of imports.
#### dumpLineNumbers
Type: String
Default: false
Configures -sass-debug-info support.
Accepts following values: comments, mediaquery, all.
$3
#### Default Options
In your project's Gruntfile, add a section named styles to the data object passed into grunt.initConfig().
`js
grunt.initConfig({
styles: {
options: {},
files: {
'path/to/result.css': ['path/to/source.less']
}
}
})
`
#### Custom Options
In this example, the paths and requires options are used:
`js
styles: {
development: {
options: {
paths: ['src/less/files/'],
requires: [
'src/less/variables.less',
'src/less/mixins.less'
]
},
files: {
'dest/compiled.css': ['src/source.less']
}
},
production: {
options: {
paths: ['assets/css'],
yuicompress: true
},
files: {
'dest/compiled.css': ['src/less/source.less']
}
}
}
`
#### Twitter Bootstrap
> Pick and choose which Bootstrap components you want to "bundle" or exclude.
A common (unjustified) complaint about Bootstrap is that it's bloated or has too many "extras", which really means: _"it's too much work to comment out or remove the @import statements I'm not using"_.
Well, lazy people rejoice! Because assemble-styles makes it easier than squeeze cheeze to customize Bootstrap.
(See bootstrap.json).
` js
styles: {
// Global task options. These can also be set for each target.
options: {
paths: ['<%= bootstrap.base %>'],
requires: '<%= bootstrap.less.globals %>'
},
// Compile bootstrap.less
bootstrap: {
src: '<%= bootstrap.lib %>',
dest: 'examples/css/bootstrap.css'
},
// Compile LESS "bundles" specified in ./examples/bootstrap.json
core: {
src: '<%= bootstrap.less.core %>',
dest: 'examples/css/core.css'
},
common: {
src: '<%= bootstrap.less.common %>',
dest: 'examples/css/common.css'
},
nav: {
src: '<%= bootstrap.less.nav %>',
dest: 'examples/css/nav.css'
},
zindex: {
src: '<%= bootstrap.less.zindex %>',
dest: 'examples/css/zindex.css'
},
misc: {
src: '<%= bootstrap.less.misc %>',
dest: 'examples/css/misc.css'
},
utilities: {
src: '<%= bootstrap.less.util %>',
dest: 'examples/css/utilities.css'
},
// Compile a single component
single: {
options: {concat: false },
src: '<%= bootstrap.less.alerts %>',
dest: 'examples/css/single'
},
// Compile LESS files individually
individual: {
options: {
concat: false
},
src: '<%= bootstrap.less.all %>',
dest: 'examples/css/individual'
},
// Compile LESS files individually, using minimatch pattern
each: {
options: {
concat: false
},
src: ['examples/less/bootstrap/*/.less'],
dest: 'examples/css/individual'
},
// bootstrap.less is ignored
ignored: {
options: {
concat: false
},
src: ['<%= bootstrap.less.core %>', '!examples/less/bootstrap/bootstrap.less'],
dest: 'examples/css/individual'
}
},
`
About
assemble-styles is a gruntplugin for compiling LESS to CSS, but with a twist that you won't find in other similar plugins. This plugin makes it much easier to maintain libraries of LESS components and themes, by leveraging JSON and underscore templates to enable you to define LESS "packages" or "bundles" using external configuration files.
The plugin is quite simple to use, and it demonstrates good conventions for managing your LESS components. But the best part is that you can easily switch back and forth between:
* compiling your LESS components _individually_, o
* concatentating all of your LESS files into a _singe file_
The best part is that your LESS projects will be easier to maintain.
Contributing
In lieu of a formal styleguide, take care to maintain the existing coding style. Add unit tests for any new or changed functionality. Lint and test your code using Grunt.
Credit
assemble-styles, and some of the documentation on this page, is derived from grunt-contrib-less, authored by Tyler Kellen. The plugin was modified to concat` LESS files first, and then compile them into CSS files. This allows for prepending globally required LESS files, and it also adds the ability to build out individual CSS files, rathers than building a single conctatenated file.