mithril-vndb/docs/compiling-templates.md
2014-03-16 22:07:53 -04:00

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## Compiling Templates
If performance is absolutely critical, you can optionally pre-compile templates that use `m()` by running the [`template-compiler.sjs`](tools/template-compiler.sjs) macro with [Sweet.js](https://github.com/mozilla/sweet.js)
Compiling a template transforms the nested function calls into a raw virtual DOM tree (which is merely a collection of native Javascript objects that is ready to be rendered via [`m.render`](mithril.render.md))
For example, given the following template:
```javascript
var view = function() {
return m("a", {href: "http://google.com"}, "test");
}
```
It would be compiled into:
```javascript
var view = function() {
return {tag: "a", attrs: {href: "http://google.com"}, children: "test"};
}
```
Note that compiled templates are meant to be generated by an automated build process and are not meant to be human editable.
---
### Installing NodeJS and SweetJS for one-off compilations
SweetJS requires a [NodeJS](http://nodejs.org) environment. To install it, go to its website and use the installer provided.
To install SweetJS, NodeJS provides a command-line package manager tool. In a command line, type:
```
npm install -g sweet.js
```
To compile a file, type:
```
sjs --module /mithril.compile.sjs --output <output-filename>.js <input-filename>.js
```
---
### Automating Compilation
If you want to automate compilation, you can use [GruntJS](http://gruntjs.com), a task automation tool. If you're not familiar with GruntJS, you can find a tutorial on their website.
Assuming NodeJS is already installed, run the following command to install GruntJS:
```
npm install -g grunt-cli
```
Once installed, create two files in the root of your project, `package.json` and `Gruntfile.js`
`package.json`
```javascript
{
"name": "project-name-goes-here",
"version": "0.0.0", //must follow this format
"devDependencies": {
"grunt-sweet.js": "*"
}
}
```
`Gruntfile.js`
```javascript
module.exports = function(grunt) {
grunt.initConfig({
sweetjs: {
modules: ["mithril.compile.sjs"],
compile: {expand: true, cwd: ".", src: "**/*.js", dest: "destination-folder-goes-here/"}
}
});
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-sweet.js');
grunt.registerTask('default', ['sweetjs']);
}
```
Make sure to replace the `project-name-goes-here` and `destination-folder-goes-here` placeholders with appropriate values.
To run the automation task, run the following command from the root folder of your project:
```
grunt
```
More documentation on the grunt-sweet.js task and its options [can be found here](https://github.com/natefaubion/grunt-sweet.js)