Custom build

• NPM tasks
• Running your first build

The build process is using Webpack, Babel and as well as npm tasks listed in package.json. During this process, the source located in the src/* directory are transformed into the output files:

• ./dist/handsontable.js
• ./dist/handsontable.css
• ./dist/handsontable.full.js
• ./dist/handsontable.full.css
• ./dist/handsontable.full.min.js
• ./dist/handsontable.full.min.css
• ./dist/languages/*

More info about dist packages can be found here. It is advised that you never modify the above-mentioned files but rather make changes in the src/ directory and then run a proper build. This is especially important if you want to contribute your changes back to Handsontable by making a pull request.

NPM tasks

Currently, the following tasks are available for building Handsontable:

• npm run test - runs several tasks in this order:
  • npm run lint - check if changes applied into source code are valid with our code style (inspired by Airbnb JavaScript Style).
  • npm run test:unit - runs the test suite in node environment. It uses Jest as a test runner.
  • npm run test:types - runs the tests which check if the code follows TypeScript definition.
  • npm run test:walkontable - runs a single build of Walkontable (the Handsontable renderer engine) followed by Jasmine test suite and executes in Puppeteer.
  • npm run test:e2e - runs a single build of Handsontable followed by Jasmine test suite and by using the generated bundle /dist/handsontable.js executes it in Puppeteer.
  • npm run test:production - runs a single build followed by Jasmine test suite and by using generated minified bundle /dist/handsontable.full.min.js executes it in Puppeteer.
• npm run build - runs a single build but without the code quality checking. It internally executes these tasks:
  • npm run build:commonjs - transpiles files into the CommonJS format. These files are published into NPM repository later.
  • npm run build:es - transpiles files into the import/export format. These files are published into NPM repository later.
  • npm run build:umd - creates the bundles (dist/handsontable.js, dist/handsontable.css, dist/handsontable.full.js and dist/handsontable.full.css) which are compatible with UMD (Universal Module Definition).
  • npm run build:umd.min - creates the minified bundles (dist/handsontable.min.js, dist/handsontable.min.css, dist/handsontable.min.full.js and dist/handsontable.min.full.css) which are compatible with UMD (Universal Module Definition).
  • npm run build:languages - creates the bundles containing language sets (i.e. dist/languages/de-DE.js, dist/languages/all.js) which are compatible with UMD (Universal Module Definition). More information about languages can be found here.
  • npm run build:languages.min - creates the minified bundles containing language sets (i.e. dist/languages/de-DE.min.js, dist/languages/all.min.js) which are compatible with UMD (Universal Module Definition). More information about languages can be found here.
• npm run watch - watches for changes in source directory and runs a build when a change is observed. For faster rebuild when a change is observed, the watcher triggers the file-building task without minify.

Running your first build

To run your own build, follow the below steps:

1. Install Node.js (available for Windows, Mac and Linux). This will also install NPM (Node Package Manager) that handles all the dependencies. Handsontable requires Node.js >=10 and npm >=6 for building and testing.
2. Clone the Handsontable repository on your local disk and go to the directory where you cloned it.
3. Run npm install to download all the dependencies defined in package.json. The dependencies will be downloaded into a new directory node_modules, that is ignored by Git.
4. Run npm run build to make your first build!