This article explains how to leverage the existing .NET SPA template to work with npm workspaces. explanation on what npm workspaces are is not addressed in this article. for any one who is new to npm workspaces its recommended to check npm official documentation. npm workspaces is a nice way of organizing code but at the time being in order to use workspaces in .NET some customization are required, which will be explained in the following sections of this article.
Content
Creating .NET project
.NET project with react can be created by running the following command
dotnet new react -n SampleApp
Setting up SPA
Once the SampleApp
project is created by default it will contain ClientApp
directory, which is where the SPA(in this case React App) resides. as the default SPA template doesn't fit the required scenario delete everything inside ClientApp
directory.
To setup workspaces open terminal inside the ClientApp
directory first run the following command
npm init -y
Running this command will generate package.json
file which will contain the workspace information. for this example I want to create four workspaces named
- @clientapp/table : contains React app that displays information in tabular format
- @clientapp/card : contains React app that displays information in card
- @clientapp/config : contains shared configurations(eg. tsconfig)
- @clientapp/core : contains shared components and functionalities
The ClientApp
will now look like the following
Now package.json
inside ClientApp
have to be updated to configure the workspaces as shown bellow:
{
"name": "@clientapp/root",
"version": "1.0.0",
"private": true,
"scripts": {
"start:table": "npm run start -w @clientapp/table",
"start:card": "npm run start -w @clientapp/card",
"build:table": "npm run build -w @clientapp/table",
"build:card": "npm run build -w @clientapp/card"
},
"workspaces": [
"workspaces/*/**"
]
}
To create the two applications inside ClientApp\workspaces\apps
directory run the following commands consecutively
- @clientapp/table
npx create-react-app table --template typescript
updated name
field inside ClientApp\workspaces\apps\table\package.json
to
"name": "@clientapp/table"
- @clientapp/card
npx create-react-app card --template typescript
updated name
field inside ClientApp\workspaces\apps\card\package.json
to
"name": "@clientapp/card"
changes for both apps
By default in both @clientapp/table
& @clientapp/card
we will not be able to use the typescript libraries from other workspaces. in order to support typescript I will use craco
instead of react-scripts
. the changes in this section must be applied in both @clientapp/table
& @clientapp/card
.
Install craco
as dev dependency
npm install craco --save-dev
Create file name craco.config.js
const path = require("path");
const { getLoader, loaderByName } = require("craco");
const packages = [];
/**
* add the typescript workspaces this project is dependent up on
*/
packages.push(path.join(__dirname, "../../libs/core"));
module.exports = {
webpack: {
configure: (webpackConfig, { env, paths }) => {
/**
* Overriding the output directory of build to fit with default configuration of .NET wrapper
*/
paths.appBuild = webpackConfig.output.path = path.resolve('../../../build');
const { isFound, match } = getLoader(webpackConfig, loaderByName("babel-loader"));
if (isFound) {
const include = Array.isArray(match.loader.include)
? match.loader.include
: [match.loader.include];
match.loader.include = include.concat(packages);
}
return webpackConfig;
},
},
};
Update the scrpts
section inside package.json
of both @clientapp/table
& @clientapp/card
as shown below:
{
...
"scripts": {
"start": "craco start",
"build": "craco build",
"test": "craco test",
"eject": "craco eject"
},
...
}
- @clientapp/core
From ClientApp\workspaces\libs
open terminal and run the following command
npx create-react-app core --template typescript
updated name
field inside ClientApp\workspaces\apps\card\package.json
to
"name": "@clientapp/core"
Since @clientapp/core is not dependent on another workspace there is no need to configure craco
.
From all application delete
node_modules
directory
To install the @clientapp/core
workspace into @clientapp/table
& @clientapp/card
run the following commands from ClientApp
directory
npm install @clientapp/core -w @clientapp/table
npm install @clientapp/core -w @clientapp/card
To install the dependency packages run npm install
from ClientApp
directory.
At this point the SPA workspace configuration is completed & can be tested by running either of the following commands
npm run start:table
or
npm run start:card
Modifying .NET Project
For development update Configure
method inside Startup.cs
by replacing
spa.UseReactDevelopmentServer(npmScript: "start");
By
spa.UseReactDevelopmentServer(npmScript: "run start:table");
To start @clientapp/table. & replace it by
spa.UseReactDevelopmentServer(npmScript: "run start:card");
To start @clientapp/card
For publish update SampleApp.csproj
by replacing
<Target Name="PublishRunWebpack" AfterTargets="ComputeFilesToPublish">
<!-- As part of publishing, ensure the JS resources are freshly built in production mode -->
<Exec WorkingDirectory="$(SpaRoot)" Command="npm install" />
<Exec WorkingDirectory="$(SpaRoot)" Command="npm run build" />
<!-- Include the newly-built files in the publish output -->
<ItemGroup>
<DistFiles Include="$(SpaRoot)build\**" />
<ResolvedFileToPublish Include="@(DistFiles->'%(FullPath)')" Exclude="@(ResolvedFileToPublish)">
<RelativePath>%(DistFiles.Identity)</RelativePath>
<CopyToPublishDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToPublishDirectory>
<ExcludeFromSingleFile>true</ExcludeFromSingleFile>
</ResolvedFileToPublish>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
By
<Target Name="PublishRunWebpack" AfterTargets="ComputeFilesToPublish">
<Error Condition="'$(SpaBuildScript)' == ''" Text="Spa build script is not specified." />
<!-- As part of publishing, ensure the JS resources are freshly built in production mode -->
<Exec WorkingDirectory="$(SpaRoot)" Command="npm install" />
<Exec WorkingDirectory="$(SpaRoot)" Command="$(SpaBuildScript)" />
<!-- Include the newly-built files in the publish output -->
<ItemGroup>
<DistFiles Include="$(SpaRoot)build\**" />
<ResolvedFileToPublish Include="@(DistFiles->'%(FullPath)')" Exclude="@(ResolvedFileToPublish)">
<RelativePath>%(DistFiles.Identity)</RelativePath>
<CopyToPublishDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToPublishDirectory>
<ExcludeFromSingleFile>true</ExcludeFromSingleFile>
</ResolvedFileToPublish>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
Add Two publish profiles one for @clientapp/card & one for @clientapp/table
CardAppProfile.pubxml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=208121.
-->
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<DeleteExistingFiles>False</DeleteExistingFiles>
<ExcludeApp_Data>False</ExcludeApp_Data>
<LaunchSiteAfterPublish>True</LaunchSiteAfterPublish>
<LastUsedBuildConfiguration>Release</LastUsedBuildConfiguration>
<LastUsedPlatform>Any CPU</LastUsedPlatform>
<PublishProvider>FileSystem</PublishProvider>
<PublishUrl>bin\Release\net5.0\publish\</PublishUrl>
<WebPublishMethod>FileSystem</WebPublishMethod>
<SpaBuildScript>npm run build:card</SpaBuildScript>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
TableAppProfile.pubxml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=208121.
-->
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<DeleteExistingFiles>False</DeleteExistingFiles>
<ExcludeApp_Data>False</ExcludeApp_Data>
<LaunchSiteAfterPublish>True</LaunchSiteAfterPublish>
<LastUsedBuildConfiguration>Release</LastUsedBuildConfiguration>
<LastUsedPlatform>Any CPU</LastUsedPlatform>
<PublishProvider>FileSystem</PublishProvider>
<PublishUrl>bin\Release\net5.0\publish\</PublishUrl>
<WebPublishMethod>FileSystem</WebPublishMethod>
<SpaBuildScript>npm run build:table</SpaBuildScript>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
After adding these publish profiles, @cilentapp/table can be published by running the following command for
dotnet pubilsh /p:PublishProfile="Properties\PublishProfiles\TableAppProfile.pubxml"
And for @cilentapp/card
dotnet pubilsh /p:PublishProfile="Properties\PublishProfiles\CardAppProfile.pubxml"
That is one way of using npm workspaces with .NET, full source code can be found on GitHub.
Thanks for reading, Happy coding!
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