Program that takes readable JS code and packs it together for downloading?

[KenFehling]

Hello. I am wondering if there exists a piece of software that takes
multiple .js files that are nicely indented and commented and create
one big tightly packed .js file. I'm hoping the one file would be less
of a burden for the user's browser to download. I guess the final code
output by this hypothetical program could maybe even just be on one
long line unless that would create problems. Maybe there is some kind
of optimal line length for the computer to read. I've seen some sites
with some very unreadable .js files with lines hundreds of characters
long. I figure they must be using some program to make the code that
way before it gets put on the server. Noone would want to work on code
that looked like that. I guess I could easily write a small program to
accomplish this, but I'd rather not reinvent the wheel. Any help with
this would be greatly appreciated.

- Ken

 

[Randy Webb]

(e-mail address removed) said the following on 12/22/2005 10:53 PM:

Hello. I am wondering if there exists a piece of software that takes
multiple .js files that are nicely indented and commented and create
one big tightly packed .js file. I'm hoping the one file would be less
of a burden for the user's browser to download. I guess the final code
output by this hypothetical program could maybe even just be on one
long line unless that would create problems. Maybe there is some kind
of optimal line length for the computer to read. I've seen some sites
with some very unreadable .js files with lines hundreds of characters
long. I figure they must be using some program to make the code that
way before it gets put on the server. Noone would want to work on code
that looked like that. I guess I could easily write a small program to
accomplish this, but I'd rather not reinvent the wheel. Any help with
this would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.crockford.com/javascript/jsmin.html

 

[Matt Kruse]

Hello. I am wondering if there exists a piece of software that takes
multiple .js files that are nicely indented and commented and create
one big tightly packed .js file.

I have written a PHP function which takes JS code and 'compacts' it
on-the-fly to be downloaded to the browser.
I'm far from a PHP expert, but this works for me. You could change to to
also read in additional files and then compact the whole result.
It's also not bullet-proof, since some coding styles will surely break the
output, but it works for me. I always test against the 'compacted' code
output, so if there are any errors introduced by the compacting I can fix
them in the original source.

function js_compact($code) {
// Remove single-line comments
$code = preg_replace('|//.*\n|','',$code);
// Replace tabs with a space
$code = preg_replace('/\t/'," ",$code);
// Remove space at the beginning and end of lines
$code = preg_replace('/\n\s*/',"\n",$code);
$code = preg_replace('/\s*$/','',$code);
// Remove empty lines
$code = preg_replace('/^\s*\n/',"",$code);
$code = preg_replace('/\n\s*\n/',"\n",$code);
// Replace whitespace before { or } or ( or )
$code = preg_replace('/([\S\{\}\(\)])\s*([\{\}\(\)])/',"$1$2",$code);
// Remove /* comments */
$code = preg_replace('|\n*/\*.*\*/\n*|s',"",$code);
// Remove whitepace around { }
$code = preg_replace('|\s*([\{\}])\s*|s',"$1",$code);
// Remove whitespace between commands
$code = preg_replace('|;[\s\n]*|s',";",$code);
// Put each function on its own line
$code =
preg_replace('|([\}\;])(function\s*)(\w+)(\s*)\(|s',"$1\n$2$3$4(",$code);
// Put each prototype function on its own line
$code =
preg_replace('|([\}\;])(\w+\.prototype\.\S+\s*=\s*function)|s',"$1\n$2",$code);
// Put each class function on its own line
$code =
preg_replace('|([\}\;])(\w+\.\S+\s*=\s*function)|s',"$1\n$2",$code);
// Put return this on a new line
$code = preg_replace('|(return\s*this|s',"\n$1",$code);
// Add some nice whitespace at the end
$code = $code . "\n\n";
return $code;
}

 

[Julian Turner]

Hello. I am wondering if there exists a piece of software that takes
multiple .js files that are nicely indented and commented and create
one big tightly packed .js file.

[snip]

Not sure about multiple files, but this is an interesting one:-

<URL:http://dean.edwards.name/packer/>

Julian Turner

 

[zwetan]

Hello,

Hello. I am wondering if there exists a piece of software that takes
multiple .js files that are nicely indented and commented and create
one big tightly packed .js file. I'm hoping the one file would be less
of a burden for the user's browser to download. I guess the final code
output by this hypothetical program could maybe even just be on one
long line unless that would create problems. Maybe there is some kind
of optimal line length for the computer to read. I've seen some sites
with some very unreadable .js files with lines hundreds of characters
long. I figure they must be using some program to make the code that
way before it gets put on the server. Noone would want to work on code
that looked like that. I guess I could easily write a small program to
accomplish this, but I'd rather not reinvent the wheel. Any help with
this would be greatly appreciated.

you can check my build tool Milk (Windows only for now)
http://www.burrrn.com/projects/Milk.html

features:
a.. generate release build from source directory
a.. filter for authorized/ignored extensions
a.. use 1 config file
a.. use 1 build file
a.. can use unlimited additional config files
a.. get the SVN repository last revision
a.. get verbose information about files listing, config files etc.
a.. compile all files into a single file
a.. remove comments based on the comment type
a.. remove unecessary spaces, empty lines, etc.
a.. can tag the files with build info, file name, date stamp
a.. can generate the documentation
a.. can zip all files, developper release files, library release file and
documentation files
a.. can normalize special and private comments
a.. options to modify the comments included in zip files
etc..

if people (I mean more than 1) are really interested in more features
as "all on one single line" I could see into it.

btw, the tool is written in JavaScript and configured by JavaScript config
files

HTH
zwetan


ps: here an output log of the tool

_____ .__.__ __
/ \ |__| | | | __
/ \ / \| | | | |/ /
/ Y \ | |_| < black
\____|__ /__|____/__|_ \ Math
----------\/-------------\/-------------
Milk: Make include list kit v1.0.5
Copyright (c) 2003-2005 zwetan Kjukov
----------------------------------------
[Config file: core2.eden,core2_JS.eden]
----------------------------------------
[Build file: src\build_JS.eden]
----------------------------------------
[Release name: core2 v1.0.0 JS]
----------------------------------------
[releaseFile: core2_v1.0.0_JS]
[Copy files and directories]
from: src\*.*
to: release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\*.*
(ignored extensions: *.txt, *.eden)
----------------------------------------
[Source Entries]
src\build.eden
src\build_AS.eden
src\build_DOC.eden
src\build_JS.eden
src\build_JS56.eden
src\build_JSDB.eden
src\buRRRn
src\buRRRn\core2.as1
src\buRRRn\core2.js
src\buRRRn\core2.js56
src\buRRRn\core2.jsdb
src\buRRRn\core2.txt
src\buRRRn\core2
src\buRRRn\core2\Array.es
src\buRRRn\core2\Boolean.es
src\buRRRn\core2\Date.es
src\buRRRn\core2\Error.es
src\buRRRn\core2\Function.es
src\buRRRn\core2\ICloneable.es
src\buRRRn\core2\IComparable.es
src\buRRRn\core2\IConvertible.es
src\buRRRn\core2\ICopyable.es
src\buRRRn\core2\IEquality.es
src\buRRRn\core2\IFormattable.es
src\buRRRn\core2\ISerializable.es
src\buRRRn\core2\NullObject.es
src\buRRRn\core2\Number.es
src\buRRRn\core2\Object.es
src\buRRRn\core2\String.es
src\buRRRn\core2\_global.es
----------------------------------------
[Release Entries]
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\Array.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\Boolean.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\Date.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\Error.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\Function.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\ICloneable.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\IComparable.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\IConvertible.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\ICopyable.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\IEquality.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\IFormattable.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\ISerializable.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\NullObject.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\Number.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\Object.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\String.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\_global.js
----------------------------------------
[Removing comments]
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\Array.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\Boolean.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\Date.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\Error.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\Function.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\ICloneable.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\IComparable.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\IConvertible.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\ICopyable.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\IEquality.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\IFormattable.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\ISerializable.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\NullObject.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\Number.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\Object.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\String.js
release\dev\core2_v1.0.0_JS\buRRRn\core2\_global.js