newer not working properly with watch

[tschaub]

hello,

It seems that the first time newer runs from the watch, it calls grunt.config.set([name, [target], config). here config has the newer files. After that, in all repeat runs, grunt.config.get([name, target]) gets the above set config with only the newer files. Now, if I change any other files that affect this particular task, newer won't pick it up. Please let me know if you need me to send an example grunt config.

Thanks,

Nachiket

[tschaub]

To use grunt-newer and grunt-contrib-watch together, you should prepend the tasks that you watch with newer instead of prepending watch itself with newer. Here is an example configuration:

  var srcFiles = 'src/**/*.js';

  grunt.initConfig({
    jshint: {
      all: {
        src: srcFiles
      }
    },
    watch: {
      all: {
        files: srcFiles,
        tasks: ['newer:jshint:all']
      }
    }
  });

  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-jshint');
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch');
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-newer');

Above, the watch:all target is configured to watch all src/**/*.js. When a file that matches that pattern changes, jshint:all is configured to run with just the modified files. But the watch:all target configuration is not changed.

Is this similar to what you are trying to accomplish?

[johnyb]

We just ran into (may be another) problem with watch and newer. Our config looked something like:

  grunt.initConfig({
    jshint: {
      all: {
        src: ['Gruntfile.js', 'apps/**/*.js']
      }
    },
    watch: {
      all: {
        files: ['<%= jshint.all.src %>'],
        tasks: ['newer:jshint:all']
      }
    }
  });

  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-jshint');
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch');
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-newer');

So basically the same as yours, but without the use of an external variable, but use of the internal grunt templating system. Any hint on how to fix this? (For now, we might stick with the extra variable, but we’d like to avoid it.)

[tschaub]

@johnyb can you provide more detail on the issue that you're seeing with this config? I'm seeing the same behavior when I use a variable or the template syntax. And you can grunt --verbose watch:all for additional output on the file configuration before each task is run.

[tschaub]

Ok, I've been able to reproduce this with a new task that composes the above tasks:

    grunt.registerTask('lint-then-watch', ['newer:jshint', 'watch']);

To support template syntax for the files configuration in this case, the jshint:all configuration would have to be reset after a successful run. I can work up a fix for this.

[johnyb]

I’m very new to grunt (we just started porting a larger app this week), so I’m not quite sure what exactly is happening. Anyway, thanks for taking a look! :)

[tschaub]

Released as grunt-newer@0.5.3. Please open another issue if you find issues with that version.

[johnyb]

Works like a charm, now :) 🙇