TemplGen

Extensible template based file generator

---

TemplGen is a small and extensible template based file generator module that provides a simple API for creating code scaffolding tools.

It borrows some ideas from Nx but it is meant to be used as a building block for creating CLI tools rather than being a full fledged tool itself.

Features

• ESM and CommonJS support
• Support for copying binary files as well as rendering template files
• Variable substitution in file names
• Use EJS (by default) or any other template engine
• Overridable file system methods. You can override the default functions used to create directories, read files, write files, and copy files. That is useful for testing, logging, implementing interactive prompts, etc.

Installation

npm install --save templgen

Usage

import { FileGenerator } from "templgen";

const sourceDirectory = "/source/directory";
const targetDirectory = "/target/directory";
const files = [
  // Will be copied to /target/directory/copy_as_is
  "/source/directory/copy_as_is",
  // Will be rendered with EJS and written to /target/directory/render_with_ejs
  "/source/directory/render_with_ejs.template",
  // Will be copied to /target/directory/subdir/replaced.txt
  "/source/directory/subdir/__variable__.txt",
];
const variables = {
  variable: "replaced",
};

const fileGenerator = new FileGenerator();
await fileGenerator.generate(
  sourceDirectory,
  targetDirectory,
  files,
  variables,
);

See example for a working example.

Advanced Usage

Custom File System Functions

import fs from "node:fs";
import { FileGenerator } from "templgen";

const sourceDirectory = "/source/directory";
const targetDirectory = "/target/directory";
const files = ["/source/directory/render_with_ejs.template"];
const variables = {
  variable: "replaced",
};

const myWriteFile = async (filePath, ...arguments_) => {
  console.log(`Writing file: ${path.relative(targetDirectory, filePath)}`);
  // you can show a prompt here
  return fs.promises.writeFile(filePath, ...arguments_);
};
const myCopyFile = async (sourcePath, destinationPath, ...arguments_) => {
  console.log(
    `Writing file: ${path.relative(targetDirectory, destinationPath)}`,
  );
  // you can show a prompt here
  return fs.promises.copyFile(sourcePath, destinationPath, ...arguments_);
};

const fileGenerator = new FileGenerator({
  writeFile: myWriteFile,
  copyFile: myCopyFile,
  // you can override mkdir and readFile too
});

await fileGenerator.generate(
  sourceDirectory,
  targetDirectory,
  files,
  variables,
);

Custom Template Engine

import Handlebars from "handlebars";
import { FileGenerator } from "templgen";

const sourceDirectory = "/source/directory";
const targetDirectory = "/target/directory";
const files = [
  // Will be rendered with custom template engine and written to /target/directory/render_with_custom
  "/source/directory/render_with_custom.template",
];
const variables = {
  variable: "replaced",
};

const fileGenerator = new FileGenerator({
  render: async (template, variables, paths) => {
    // The paths in the paths object can be used for caching, logging, etc.
    console.log(paths);

    return Handlebars.compile(template)(variables);
  },
});

await fileGenerator.generate(
  sourceDirectory,
  targetDirectory,
  files,
  variables,
);