Support socket.io and auto-restart when server script is modified about grunt-contrib-connect

[sindresorhus]

See grunt-contrib-livereload

[blai]

@sindresorhus I already looked at grunt-contrib-livereload, but I could not get that to work along with socket.io, nor does it support restarting the express/connect server when one of the server script is changed. Or am I missing how that could be done? Are there any examples for restarting server (not refreshing the browser page) using grunt-contrib-livereload? I aim to solve two issues: https://github.com/yeoman/express-stack/issues/7 and https://github.com/yeoman/express-stack/issues/15

[sindresorhus]

Restarting express is very specific and shouldn't be in a generic task. If you only need to restart express you could create a simple task to do it and have it triggered with grunt-contrib-watch.

[blai]

@sindresorhus your suggestion should work for the requirement of restarting express upon changes to server scripts Although grunt-contrib-connect is not ideal for all cases, since setting glob expression to watch files based on path is more cumbersome than automatically watching all active modules in Node.js memory. In practice, this feature is used more in a dev only environment and something "just work" without much config fits better (or at least it seems).
But what about socket.io integration, do you have any example that can make socket.io work with grunt-contrib-connect? I tried a few ways but did not find a solution on any of the routes.

[sindresorhus]

I still don't see why you insist on socket.io when grunt-contrib-livereload will do the same thing?

[blai]

@sindresorhus ah... sorry to mix up the two issues. socket.io integration was a separate problem from the live-reloading. The use case is I have an express/socket.io serving from a single server instance, just like the sample shows in http://socket.io/#how-to-use. I tried to set it up so when I run grunt connect, both express and socket.io would be served based on my connect task's configuration. I struggled a few days and still cannot get the socket.io to work. Was hoping you can shed some lights on me.

[sindresorhus]

Sorry, no idea, never used socket.io