Gulp ASP.NET MVC 4.5.2 Template and Browserify

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. gulpfile.js
3. package.json
4. Other Resources
5. Conclusion

Introduction

This post shows how to use Gulp with an ASP.NET MVC 4.5.2 template and Browserify. Below are some useful references:

• Using Gulp - Microsoft
• Setting up Gulp and Bower for an ASP.NET MVC project in Visual Studio 2013
• How to use Gulp in Visual Studio
• Advanced AngularJS structure with Gulp, Node and Browserify
• Using Grunt/Gulp for Bundling and Minification in ASP.NET
• Migrating From ASP.NET MVC 5 to MVC 6
• Introducing Gulp, Grunt, Bower, and npm support for Visual Studio
• ASP.NET 5: Managing Client-side Dependencies with NPM, Bower and Gulp

gulpfile.js

var gulp = require('gulp');
var connect = require('gulp-connect');
// requires browserify and vinyl-source-stream
var browserify = require('browserify');
var source = require('vinyl-source-stream');
var concat = require('gulp-concat');
//var cssmin = require("gulp-cssmin");
var uglify = require("gulp-uglify");

gulp.task('connect', function () {
    connect.server({
        root: 'public',
        port: 4000
    })
});

gulp.task('browserify.1', function () {
    // Grabs the app.js file
    return browserify('./app/test1/app.js')
        // bundles it and creates a file called main.js
        .bundle()
        .pipe(source('main.js'))
        // saves it the public/js/ directory
        .pipe(gulp.dest('./public/js/'));
});

gulp.task('browserify.2', function () {
    // Single point of entry (make sure not to src ALL your files, browserify will figure it out for you)
    //gulp.src(['./app/test2/app.js'])
    //.pipe(browserify({
    //    insertGlobals: true,
    //    debug: true
    //}))
    //// Bundle to a single file
    //.pipe(concat('bundle.js'))
    //// Output it to our dist folder
    //.pipe(gulp.dest('./public/js/'));

    // Grabs the app.js file
    return browserify('./app/test2/app.js')
        // bundles it and creates a file called main.js
        .bundle()
        .pipe(source('main.2.js'))
        // Bundle to a single file
        //.pipe(concat('bundle.js'))
        // saves it the public/js/ directory
        .pipe(gulp.dest('./public/js/'));
});

gulp.task('browserify.3', function () {
    // Grabs the app.js file
    return browserify('./app/test3/app.js')
        // bundles it and creates a file called main.js
        .bundle()
        .pipe(source('main.3.js'))
        // saves it the public/js/ directory
        .pipe(gulp.dest('./public/js/'));
});

gulp.task("min:js", function () {
    gulp.src(["./public/js/main.2.js"], { base: "." })
        .pipe(concat("./public/js/dist/main.2.js"))
        .pipe(uglify())
        .pipe(gulp.dest("."));

    gulp.src(["./public/js/main.js"], { base: "." })
    .pipe(concat("./public/js/dist/main.js"))
    .pipe(uglify())
    .pipe(gulp.dest("."));

    gulp.src(["./public/js/main.3.js"], { base: "." })
     .pipe(concat("./public/js/dist/main.3.js"))
     .pipe(uglify())
     .pipe(gulp.dest("."));
});

gulp.task("min", ["min:js"]);

// Views task
gulp.task('views', function () {
    //// Get our index.html
    //gulp.src('./app/test2/index.html')
    //// And put it in the dist folder
    //.pipe(gulp.dest('dist/'));

    // Any other view files from app/views
    gulp.src('./app/test2/views/**/*')
    // Will be put in the dist/views folder
    .pipe(gulp.dest('./public/app/test2/views/'));
});

gulp.task('watch', function () {
    gulp.watch('app/**/*.js', ['browserify.2', 'browserify.1', 'views'])
});

gulp.task('default', ['connect', 'watch']);

package.json

{
  "name": "test_angular",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "test",
  "main": "index.js",
  "dependencies": {
    "angular": "^1.5.5",
    "gulp": "^3.9.1"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "angular": "^1.5.5",
    "angular-route": "^1.5.5",
    "browserify": "^13.0.0",
    "gulp-concat": "^2.6.0",
    "gulp-connect": "^3.2.2",
    "gulp-cssmin": "^0.1.7",
    "gulp-uglify": "^1.5.3",
    "vinyl-source-stream": "^1.1.0"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "no git"
  },
  "keywords": [
    "no",
    "keywords"
  ],
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC"
}

Other Resources

• Introduction to Bower, Grunt, and Gulp in Visual Studio
• How to use Gulp in Visual Studio
• ASP.NET - Progressive Enhancement with ASP.NET and React

Conclusion

Using Gulp with ASP.NET MVC 4.5.2 along with Browserify allows you to bundle, minify, and manage your front-end JavaScript modules efficiently. The gulpfile and package.json above provide a working starting point for your project.