microgen

micro-generator for individual files, easy like sunday morning

Yet another generator; how's it different?

• any file, anywhere on disk can be a template
  • no need to install templates (like heavy weight project generators)
• easiest way to fill in templates, using simple handlebars placeholders
• no data files required (like other handlebars cli's)
  • you'll be prompted to fill in the data at runtime

Installation

$ npm install microgen # --global

Usage

$ microgen --help
Usage: microgen <template-file> [output-file]
Options:
-h, --help show usage help
-p, --pipe pipe output to stdout, instead of writing to file
output-file if not specified, it will be $PWD/<template-file>*if<template-file> has an ".hbs" extension,
it will be removed from the output-file name

How does it work?

A microgen template is any file that can have handlebars placeholders. Microgen will scan the template for placeholders and prompt you to fill in a value for each one.

Supported placeholders:

• Variable {{some-value}}
• Block {{#some-boolean}}something{{else}}something else{{/some-boolean}}
  • {{^}} is the same as {{else}}
  • You can use string literals, e.g. {{#"Are you happy"}}great{{/"Are you happy"}}
• Comment {{!some string to display when prompting}}
  • {{!--x--}} is the same as {{!x}}
  • {{!}} just adds a newline to the display

For example, say you have a package.jsontemplate file:

{{!==LettheGoodTimesRoll==}}{"name": "{{name}}","repository": "{{owner}}/{{name}}","description": "{{description}}",{{!}}{{#"Include Dependencies"}}"dependencies": {{{#assert-dotenv}}"assert-dotenv": "3.0.0",{{/assert-dotenv}}{{!}}{{#"UseaCLIHelper[meow,inquirer,commander]"}}{{#meow}}"meow": "^3.0.0",{{else}}{{#inquirer}}"inquirer": "^1.0.2",{{^}}{{#commander}}"commander": "^2.9.0",{{/commander}}{{/inquirer}}{{/meow}}{{/"Use a CLI Helper [meow, inquirer, commander]"}}}{{/"IncludeDependencies"}}
}

Microgen will prompt you like so:

== Let the Good Times Roll ==
name: smile
owner: busterc
description: writes :) to stdout
Include Dependencies (Y/n): y
assert-dotenv (Y/n): y
Use a CLI Helper [meow, inquirer, commander] (Y/n): y
meow (Y/n): n
inquirer (Y/n): n
commander (Y/n): y

...and the resulting output file will contain:

{
"name": "smile",
"repository": "busterc/smile",
"description": "writes :) to stdout",
"dependencies": {
"assert-dotenv": "3.0.0",
"commander": "^2.9.0",
}
}

Respect

microgen was inspired by khaos

If you need heavy weight project scaffolding generators, then look into plop and yo

License

ISC © Buster Collings