Introduction to Yeoman Generator

Yeoman Generator is a powerful tool that helps developers kickstart new projects, ensuring best practices and consistent, high-quality code. This guide covers dozens of useful API explanations with code snippets to help you get the most out of Yeoman.

Getting Started

To create a new generator, first install Yeoman and create a new folder for your generator:

  npm install -g yo
  mkdir my-generator
  cd my-generator
  yo generator

API Examples

Yeoman provides various APIs to customize the generator behavior:

1. The basic generator structure

  const Generator = require('yeoman-generator');

  module.exports = class extends Generator {
    writing() {
      this.fs.copyTpl(
        this.templatePath('index.html'),
        this.destinationPath('public/index.html'),
        { title: 'My App' }
      );
    }
  };

2. Prompting users

  const Generator = require('yeoman-generator');

  module.exports = class extends Generator {
    prompting() {
      return this.prompt([{
        type    : 'input',
        name    : 'name',
        message : 'Your project name',
        default : this.appname
      }]).then((answers) => {
        this.log('app name', answers.name);
      });
    }
  };

3. Configuration storage

  const Generator = require('yeoman-generator');

  module.exports = class extends Generator {
    initializing() {
      this.config.set('foo', 'bar');
    }

    writing() {
      this.log(this.config.get('foo'));
    }
  };

4. Composing generators

  const Generator = require('yeoman-generator');

  module.exports = class extends Generator {
    initializing() {
      this.composeWith(require.resolve('generator-node/generators/app'), {
        someOption: true
      });
    }
  };

5. Handling file system operations

  const Generator = require('yeoman-generator');

  module.exports = class extends Generator {
    writing() {
      this.fs.write(
        this.destinationPath('file.txt'),
        'Hello World!'
      );
    }
  };

Example App

Here’s an example of a complete Yeoman generator for a simple app:

  const Generator = require('yeoman-generator');

  module.exports = class extends Generator {
    prompting() {
      return this.prompt([{
        type    : 'input',
        name    : 'appname',
        message : 'Your project name',
        default : this.appname
      }]).then((answers) => {
        this.appname = answers.appname;
      });
    }

    writing() {
      const tmpl = this.templatePath('**/*');
      const dest = this.destinationPath();

      const context = { appname: this.appname };

      this.fs.copyTpl(tmpl, dest, context);
    }

    install() {
      this.installDependencies({ bower: false });
    }
  };

This generator prompts for the project name and then scaffolds out a basic directory structure with the necessary files.

Conclusion

By using the Yeoman Generator, you can streamline your project setup process, maintain consistency, and utilize best practices across your projects. The provided API examples and a complete app example will help you get started quickly and effectively.

Keep exploring the Yeoman documentation to uncover more features and capabilities.

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