Generating separate CSS file for prod build.

coryhouse · Feb 1, 2016 · 7a5fbd3 · 7a5fbd3
1 parent 3a665db
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diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -97,11 +97,22 @@ Unfortunately, scripts in package.json can't be commented inline because the JSO
 Webpack serves your app in memory when you run `npm start`. No physical files are written. However, the web root is /src, so you can reference files under /src in index.html. When the app is built using `npm run build`, physical files are written to /dist and the app is served from /dist.
 
 ###How is Sass being converted into CSS and landing in the browser?
-Magic! Okay, more specifically: Webpack handles it like this:
+Magic! Okay, more specifically, we're handling it differently in dev (`npm start`) vs prod (`npm run build`)
+
+When you run `npm start`:
  1. The sass-loader compiles Sass into CSS
  2. Webpack bundles the compiled CSS into bundle.js. Sounds odd, but it works! 
- 3. Loads styles into the &lt;head&gt; of index.html via JavaScript. This is why you don't see a stylesheet reference in index.html. In fact, if you disable JavaScript in your browser, you'll see the styles don't load either. This process is performed for both dev (`npm start`) and production (`npm run build`). Oh, and since we're generating source maps, you can even see the original Sass source in [compatible browsers](http://thesassway.com/intermediate/using-source-maps-with-sass).
+ 3. bundle.js contains code that loads styles into the &lt;head&gt; of index.html via JavaScript. This is why you don't see a stylesheet reference in index.html. In fact, if you disable JavaScript in your browser, you'll see the styles don't load either.
 
+The approach above supports hot reloading, which is great for development. However, it also create a flash of unstyled content on load because you have to wait for the JavaScript to parse and load styles before they're applied. So for the production build, we use a different approach:
+
+When you run `npm run build`:
+ 1. The sass-loader compiles Sass into CSS
+ 2. The [extract-text-webpack-plugin](https://github.com/webpack/extract-text-webpack-plugin) extracts the compiled Sass into styles.css
+ 3. buildHtml.js adds a reference to the stylesheet to the head of index.html.
+
+For both of the above methods, a separate sourcemap is generated for debugging Sass in [compatible browsers](http://thesassway.com/intermediate/using-source-maps-with-sass).
+
 ###I don't like the magic you just described above. I simply want to use a CSS file.
 No problem. Reference your CSS file in index.html, and add a step to the build process to copy your CSS file over to the same relative location /dist as part of the build step. But be forwarned, you lose style hot reloading with this approach.
 

diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "react-slingshot",
-  "version": "1.0.3",
+  "version": "1.1.0",
   "description": "Starter kit for creating apps with React and Redux",
   "scripts": {
     "prestart": "npm run remove-dist",
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
     "eslint": "1.10.3",
     "eslint-loader": "1.2.0",
     "eslint-plugin-react": "3.15.0",
+    "extract-text-webpack-plugin": "1.0.1",
     "file-loader": "0.8.5",
     "mocha": "2.3.4",
     "node-sass": "3.4.2",

diff --git a/tools/buildHtml.js b/tools/buildHtml.js
@@ -14,22 +14,19 @@ var useTrackJs = true; //If you choose not to use TrackJS, just set this to fals
 var trackJsToken = ''; //If you choose to use TrackJS, insert your unique token here. To get a token, go to https://trackjs.com
 
 fs.readFile('src/index.html', 'utf8', function (err,data) {
-  if (err) {
-    return console.log(err);
-  }
+  if (err) return console.log(err);
 
-  var trackJsCode = '';
+  var $ = cheerio.load(data);
 
-  if (useTrackJs) {
-    if (trackJsToken) {
-      trackJsCode = "<!-- BEGIN TRACKJS Note: This should be the first <script> on the page per https://my.trackjs.com/install --><script>window._trackJs = { token: '" + trackJsToken + "' };</script><script src=https://d2zah9y47r7bi2.cloudfront.net/releases/current/tracker.js></script><!-- END TRACKJS -->";
-    } else {
-      console.log('To track JavaScript errors, sign up for a free trial at TrackJS.com and enter your token in /tools/build.html on line 10.'.yellow);
-    }
-  }
+  //since a separate spreadsheet is only utilized for the production build, need to dynamically add this here.
+  $('head').prepend('<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">');
 
-  var $ = cheerio.load(data);
-  $('head').prepend(trackJsCode); //add TrackJS tracking code to the top of <head>
+  if (useTrackJs && trackJsToken) {
+    var trackJsCode = "<!-- BEGIN TRACKJS Note: This should be the first <script> on the page per https://my.trackjs.com/install --><script>window._trackJs = { token: '" + trackJsToken + "' };</script><script src=https://d2zah9y47r7bi2.cloudfront.net/releases/current/tracker.js></script><!-- END TRACKJS -->";
+    $('head').prepend(trackJsCode); //add TrackJS tracking code to the top of <head>
+  } else {
+    if (useTrackJs) console.log('To track JavaScript errors, sign up for a free trial at TrackJS.com and enter your token in /tools/build.html.'.yellow);
+  }
 
   fs.writeFile('dist/index.html', $.html(), 'utf8', function (err) {
     if (err) return console.log(err);

diff --git a/webpack.config.js b/webpack.config.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 // file generates a webpack config for the environment passed to the getConfig method.
 var webpack = require('webpack');
 var path = require('path');
+var ExtractTextPlugin = require("extract-text-webpack-plugin");
 
 var getPlugins = function(env) {
   var GLOBALS = {
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@ var getPlugins = function(env) {
 
   switch(env) {
     case 'production':
+      plugins.push(new ExtractTextPlugin('styles.css'));
       plugins.push(new webpack.optimize.DedupePlugin());
       plugins.push(new webpack.optimize.UglifyJsPlugin({minimize: true, sourceMap: true}));
       break;
@@ -40,19 +42,25 @@ var getEntry = function(env) {
   return entry;
 };
 
-var getLoaders = function () {
-  return [
-    {
-      test: /\.js$/,
+var getLoaders = function (env) {
+  var loaders = [{test: /\.js$/, include: path.join(__dirname, 'src'), loaders: ['babel', 'eslint']}];
+
+  if (env == 'production') {
+    //generate separate physical stylesheet for production build using ExtractTextPlugin. This provides separate caching and avoids a flash of unstyled content on load.
+    loaders.push({
+      test: /(\.css|\.scss)$/,
       include: path.join(__dirname, 'src'),
-      loaders: ['babel', 'eslint']
-    },
-    {
+      loader: ExtractTextPlugin.extract("css?sourceMap!sass?sourceMap")
+    });
+  } else {
+    loaders.push({
       test: /(\.css|\.scss)$/,
       include: path.join(__dirname, 'src'),
       loaders: ['style', 'css?sourceMap', 'sass?sourceMap']
-    }
-  ]
+    });
+  }
+
+  return loaders;
 };
 
 module.exports = function getConfig(env) {
@@ -69,7 +77,7 @@ module.exports = function getConfig(env) {
     },
     plugins: getPlugins(env),
     module: {
-      loaders: getLoaders()
+      loaders: getLoaders(env)
     }
   };
 };