New build process

[chris-steele]

UPDATE

A new build process has been created to:

• use rollup as the bundler rather than requirejs
• fully utilise ES6 and beyond
• be backwards compatible with existing code base
• pave the way to use React (N.B. already tested working)
• compile sources in situ rather than copying them
• watch sources and compile on change
• no longer need to restart backend stack when working on UI
• cache bundler output for faster builds

Much of this work has been inspired by the Adapt framework.

See https://github.com/adapt-security/adapt-authoring-ui/tree/new-build-process (N.B. this is based off RC2)

Use Grunt to improve UI workflow

If the development focus is only on UI code we can avoid restarting the npm start command by using a variety of Grunt tasks.

Assume that:

• packages under development are kept in a workspace (e.g. local_adapt_modules)
• packages use a common name for their UI plugins (e.g. ui-plugin)

A further assumption is that bundling/transpiling is not required because js sources are used directly in the browser; the only compilation is of less and hbs files.

Setup watch on:

• adapt-authoring-ui/app
• */ui-plugin

Note that the npm start command would need to be restarted if:

• backend code is modified (i.e. code outside of ui-plugin)
• a new package is added for development

~Note~

Additional work is currently being done to achieve similar goals that will:

• not require the use of Grunt
• provide the ability to use React to develop UI components

[chris-steele]

N.B. @joe-allen-89 @taylortom I've created this issue to formalise the work and have pushed the code to grunt-demo

[chris-steele]

@joe-allen-89 @taylortom updated this issue to describe the New Way™

Any and all feedback/help welcome