EJS Site Generator

A simple tool that generate the HTML files based on the EJS template and the data for the static site.

Usage

$ejs-site-generator -h
Usage: index [options]

Options:
  -V, --version   output the version number
  -views <dir>    The directory for the views (default: "./views")
  -data <dir>     The directory for the data (default: "./data")
  -out <dir>      The directory for the outputs (default: "./out")
  -statics <dir>  The directory for the static files which will copied on the end of the build (default: "./statics")
  -base <dir>     The base directory for the execution (default: "./")
  -h, --help      display help for command

Directory structure of the view folder

Name	Description
`default.ejs`	The default view that it should the engine load if the `_viewParam.view` value is missing inside the data files
`<name>.ejs`	The views for the file
`<name>.ejs.json`	The default value assignments for the file

Alert: If a view inherit another view, all key present in the parent json file must be also present in the view's json file or it will causes some undefined symbol errors. The json inheriting is work in progress

Directory structure of the data folder

The engine accept four type of files:

.json files which only contains the data file that the template require
.ejs or .html files which contain the html code to be directly included inside the template. This require the template to support it by include the file specified by the _external.ejs_include variable. The metadata required by the template could be provided through the <filename>.json under the same directory.
.idtl files which have both html code and its metadata combined together. See IDTL.md on the guideline on using it.
.jst files which serve as the template for the JavaScript files. The engine's working directory always at the root directory when it is executed.

API exported by the engine

Name	Description
`_external._path.data(name)`	Return the resolved path for the path provided relative to the data directory
`_external._path.base(name)`	Return the resolved path for the path provided relative to the base directory
`_external._path.views(name)`	Return the resolved path for the path provided relative to the views directory

Special key in the JSON metadata

The _viewParam key allows the developer to specify the behavior of the compiler

{
  "_viewParam":{
    "ignore": true|false,
    "view":"default"
  }
}

Name	Type	Description
`ignore`	All	The compiler should ignore this file from being processed
`view`	Data pages only	The name of view that compiler will use while building the html for the data

Runtime Variables

This contain a list of the variables which will be defined by the engine if not defined by the page

Name	Description
`build_time`	The JavaScript `Date` Object which represent the timestamp that the build is started
`page_unit_name`	The name of the page which usually taken from the filename
`page_unit_path`	Similar with the `page_unit_name` but provided in full path
`Interops`	Handle to the imported copy of the `plugin.js` inside the build directory is it is found

Plugin support

The generator supports custom plugin by placing a plugin.js on the base directory. Its exports will be imported as Interops from the template.

Build hooks

Within the same file the developers can specify their build hooks to catch events.

Name	Description
`hooks.build_start()`	The build is begin
`hooks.build_done()`	The build is finished
`hooks.new_page(path)`	A new page has been generated

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