Just like to provide an alternative suggestion to the merges/ directory and
here everyone's thoughts.
While doing client work at Nitobi, each of our build scripts had similar
functionality to merging platform-specific web assets. Below, I'll describe
what I've experienced and make a suggestion on an improvement.
1. Separate Merges Directory
app
|__ merges/
| |__ android/
|__ www/
In the above structure, the android/ directory is a mirror of the www/
directory. When a file exists in the android/ directory, it will replace
the file in the www/.
I believe this is how the merges/ directory in `cordova-cli` works.
I've experienced two main problems with this approach:
- difficult to keep track of what files are replaced, since you need to
cross-reference between directories
- too easy to start developing in the merges/android/ directory instead of
www/
2. Unified Merges Approach
app
|__ www/
|__ index.html
|__ myfile.js
|__ myfile.android.js
|__ myfolder/
|__ myfolder.android/
I've had much greater success with this approach.
When a file ends with a dot platform (optional extension) name (e.g.
myfile.android.js), it will be renamed to remove the platform name (e.g.
myfile.js). This will work on both files and directories.
This makes it extremely easy to keep track of what files and directories
are generic or platform specific. I haven't actually noticed any downside
to this approach and I used it for 2 years.
Thoughts?
Michael
