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SC5 style guide generator

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Style guide generator is a handy little tool that helps you generate good looking style guides from style sheets using KSS notation. It can be used as a command line utility, gulp task or Grunt task (needs grunt-gulp) with minimal effort.

Table of contents

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Usage

You should familiarize yourself with both KSS and node-kss to get yourself started.

SC5 Style guide provides additions to KSS syntax which you can learn below.

Prerequisites

The tool should be installed onto:

With Gulp

Install plugin locally:

npm install sc5-styleguide --save-dev

The Gulp plugin contains two functions that requires different set of file streams:

generate(): All unprocessed styles containing the KSS markup and style variables. This will process the KSS markup and collects variable information.

applyStyles(): Pre-processed/compiled style sheets. This will create necessary pseudo styles and create the actual style sheet to be used in the styleguide.

The following code shows complete example how to use styleguide with gulp-sass and with gulp watch.

var gulp = require('gulp');
var styleguide = require('sc5-styleguide');
var sass = require('gulp-sass');
var outputPath = 'output';

gulp.task('styleguide:generate', function() {
  return gulp.src('*.scss')
    .pipe(styleguide.generate({
        title: 'My Styleguide',
        server: true,
        rootPath: outputPath,
        overviewPath: 'README.md'
      }))
    .pipe(gulp.dest(outputPath));
});

gulp.task('styleguide:applystyles', function() {
  return gulp.src('main.scss')
    .pipe(sass({
      errLogToConsole: true
    }))
    .pipe(styleguide.applyStyles())
    .pipe(gulp.dest(outputPath));
});

gulp.task('watch', ['styleguide'], function() {
  // Start watching changes and update styleguide whenever changes are detected
  // Styleguide automatically detects existing server instance
  gulp.watch(['*.scss'], ['styleguide']);
});

gulp.task('styleguide', ['styleguide:generate', 'styleguide:applystyles']);

This approach gives flexibility to use any preprocessor. For example, you can freely replace gulp-sass with gulp-ruby-sass. However, please notice that variable parsing works only for Sass, SCSS and Less files.

If you do not use preprocessor you can directly pipe CSS files to applyStyles().

See Build options section for complete documentation of different options.

With Grunt

For projects using Grunt, install the plugin, Gulp and the grunt-gulp bridge.

npm install sc5-styleguide gulp grunt-gulp --save-dev

Then you are able to use the same gulp task inside you Gruntfile:

var gulp = require('gulp'),
  styleguide = require('sc5-styleguide');

grunt.initConfig({
  pkg: grunt.file.readJSON('package.json'),
  gulp: {
    'styleguide-generate': function() {
      var outputPath = 'output';
      return gulp.src([''])
        .pipe(styleguide.generate({
            title: 'My Styleguide',
            server: true,
            rootPath: outputPath,
            overviewPath: 'README.md'
          }))
        .pipe(gulp.dest(outputPath));
    },
    'styleguide-applystyles': function() {
      return gulp.src('main.scss')
        .pipe(styleguide.applyStyles())
        .pipe(gulp.dest('output'));
    }
  },

  watch: {
    scss: {
      files: '**/*.scss',
      tasks: ['scss', 'gulp:styleguide-generate', 'gulp:styleguide-applystyles']
    }
  }
});

grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-gulp');

grunt.registerTask('default', ['gulp:styleguide-generate', 'gulp:styleguide-applystyles', 'watch']);

When using Grunt, we recommend processing styles in Grunt tasks as you do for your main application and pass the resultant CSS into styleguide's Gulp tasks.

For more specific documentation see the next section.

As a command line tool

This way of usage is not recommended, as it does not help as much with introduction of the styleguide into the day-to-day development process.

Install plugin globally:

npm install -g sc5-styleguide

Styleguide command line tool requires two sets of source files:

--kss-source: Unprocessed files containing the KSS markup and Less/Sass variables

--style-source Pre-processed/compiled style sheets to be used in the styleguide

Example usage:

styleguide --kss-source "sass/*.scss" --style-source "public/*.css" --output styleguide --watch --server

You need to either specify a single directory or you can specify one or more source directories with one or more --kss-source flags.

styleguide --kss-source "style/*.scss" --style-source "public/*.css" --output styleguide --watch --server

Other options parameters are defined in the Build options section.

Build options

CLI and gulp options accept identically named parameters

<a name="option-title"></a> title (string, optional)

This string is used as a page title and in the page header

<a name="option-favicon"></a> favIcon (string, optional)

This enables to replace the default SC5 favicon. It takes path as a string.

<a name="option-extraHead"></a> extraHead (array or string, optional)

These HTML elements are injected inside the style guide head tag.

<a name="option-sideNav"></a> sideNav (boolean, optional, default: false)

Enables side navigation. When this option parameter is enabled, styleguide will switch to side navbar.

<a name="option-showReferenceNumbers"></a> showReferenceNumbers (boolean, optional, default: false)

When this option parameter is enabled, style guide will show reference numbers on navigation, headings and designer tool.

<a name="option-includeDefaultStyles"></a> includeDefaultStyles (boolean, optional, default: true)

Include/exclude default styles.

<a name="option-showMarkupSection"></a> showMarkupSection (boolean, optional, default: true)

Show/hide Markup section.

<a name="option-hideSubsectionsOnMainSection"></a> hideSubsectionsOnMainSection (boolean, optional, default: false)

This option enables to prevent loading of subsections.

<a name="option-beforeBody"></a> beforeBody (array or string, optional)

These HTML elements are injected inside the style guide <body> tag, before any other content.

<a name="option-afterBody"></a> afterBody (array or string, optional)

These HTML elements are injected inside the style guide <body> tag, after any other content.

<a name="option-afterSections"></a> afterSections (array or string, optional)

These HTML elements are injected inside the style guide .sg-body section, after any other content.

<a name="option-commonClass"></a> commonClass (string or array of strings, optional)

The provided classes are added to all preview blocks in the generated style guide. This option is useful if you have some namespace classes that should to be added to every block, but you do not want to add it to every example section's markup.

<a name="option-server"></a> server (boolean, optional)

Enable built-in web-server. To enable Designer tool the style guide must be served with the built-in web server. The server also has the ability to refresh changed styles or KSS markup without doing a full page reload.

<a name="option-port"></a> port (number, optional)

Port of the server. Default is 3000.

<a name="option-disableServerLog"></a> disableServerLog (boolean, optional)

Disables embedded server log.

<a name="option-rootPath"></a> rootPath (string, optional)

Server root path. This must be defined if you run the built-in server via gulp or Grunt task. Point to the same path as the style guide output folder.

Note: This option is not needed when running styleguide via the CLI.

<a name="option-appRoot"></a> appRoot (string, optional)

Define the appRoot parameter if you are hosting the style guide from a directory other than the root directory of the HTTP server. If the style guide is hosted at http://example.com/styleguide the appRoot should be styleguide.

When using the build as a subdirectory of your application, tune your server to resolve all the paths to that subdirectory. This allows Angular to deal with the routing. However, the static files should be resolved as they are stored.

<a name="option-styleVariables"></a> styleVariables (string, optional)

By default variable definitions are searched from every file passed in gulp.src. styleVariables parameter could be used to filter from which files variables are loaded.

<a name="option-disableEncapsulation"></a> disableEncapsulation (boolean, optional, default: false)

Disable Shadow DOM encapsulation. When this option parameter is enabled, all styles are defined in page head and markup examples are not encapsulated using Shadow DOM.

<a name="option-disableHtml5Mode"></a> disableHtml5Mode (boolean, optional, default: false)

Disable HTML5 URL mode. When this option parameter is enabled, style guide will use hash bang URLs instead of HTML5 history API. This is useful when hosting static style guides.

<a name="option-basicAuth"></a> basicAuth (object, optional, default: null)

Protect server with basic HTTP authentication.

basicAuth: {
  username: 'username',
  password: 'password'
}

<a name="option-readOnly"></a> readOnly (boolean, optional, default: false)

Disable variable saving from web interface.

<a name="option-customColors"></a> customColors (string, optional)

Path to file that defines custom UI color overrides using PostCSS variables. See all possible variables here.

Internal styles could be overridden by defining new styles inside the styleguide_custom_styles mixin. This mixin is added to the end of the application style sheet.

You can define your own styles with

@define-mixin styleguide_custom_styles {
  /* Define your styles here */
}

PostCSS configuration supports mixins, nesting, variables, media queries.

<a name="option-parsers"></a> parsers (object, optional)

default:

parsers: {
  sass: 'scss',
  scss: 'scss',
  less: 'less',
  postcss: 'postcss'
}

Styleguide tries to guess which parser to use when parsing variable information from style sheets. The object key defines the file extension to match and the value refers to the parser name. There are three parsers available: scss, less and postcss.

For example, to parse all .css files using postcss parser, following configuration could be used:

{
  css: 'postcss'
}

<a name="option-styleguideProcessors"></a> styleguideProcessors (object, optional)

default:

styleguideProcessors: {}

Styleguide has several processors that enrich or modify the data. For example the sg-wrapper replacement is done by a processor. You can add your own processor to enrich the styleguide data with your own content or modifications. You can also override existing functionality by overwriting the related processor. Currently these processors exist by default and should not be overwritten unless you know what you are doing:

styleguideProcessors: {
    10: replaceSectionReferences,
    20: generateSectionWrapperMarkup
}

You can define your own processors:

styleguideProcessors: {
  11: function(styleguide) {
    // this will run after replaceSectionReferences
    styleguide.sections[0].description = styleguide.sections[0].description + ' [Description from custom Processor]';
  },
  30: function(styleguide) {
    // this will run after generateSectionWrapperMarkup
  }
}

<a name="option-filesConfig"></a> filesConfig (array, optional) (Experimental feature)

All HTML markup sections defined in the KSS block is dynamically compiled inside the styleguide thus it is possible to use Angular directive inside the markup. These external directives are lazy loaded in the styleguide Angular application. filesConfig configuration parameter could be used to define lazy loaded files. Files are only required, not copied automatically. You need to make sure that files are copied inside the styleguide output directory when generating the styleguide.

Configuration array containing paths to the dependencies of the hosted application

filesConfig: [
  {
    "name": "NameOfMainAppModule",
    "files": [
      "path/to/dependency-file.js",
      "path/to/application-file.js",
      "path/to/stylesheet.css",
    ],
    "template": "path/to/template-filename.html"
  }
]

Note: When using templateUrl in directives, the template path is relative to style guide index.html, not the hosted application root.

additionalNgDependencies (array or string, optional)

Some angular libraries (such as angular-material) can't be lazy loaded after bootstrapping. You can use the additionalNgDependencies property to inject additional angular dependencies to be bootstrapped by the style guide app.

You can pass either a string (if you only have one dependency to add) or an array of strings. The string(s) should be the same dependencies you would pass when bootstrapping dependencies in your own modules.

When using this property, you should also specify an afterBody or extraHead config in order to make sure the dependencies are loaded by the browser before they are bootstrapped.

Here's an example showing how to use angular-material:

additionalNgDependencies: ['ngMaterial']
extraHead: '
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="/angular-material/angular-material.css">
'
afterBody: '
  <script src="/angular-aria/angular-aria.js"></script>
  <script src="/angular-messages/angular-messages.js"></script>
  <script src="/angular-material/angular-material.js"></script>
'

Documenting syntax

Document your CSS components with KSS

Defining an Angular directive

If your components can be rendered with Angular directives, you can define them in KSS markup and so avoid copy-pasting in the markup field. This is how you can instruct the style guide to use Angular:

// Test directive
//
// markup:
// <div sg-test-directive>If you see this something is wrong</div>
//
// sg-angular-directive:
// name: NameOfMainAppModule
// template: path/to/template-filename.html
// file: path/to/application-file.js
//
// Styleguide 1.2.3

It is possible to define several files, so you can attach all the needed dependencies:

// sg-angular-directive:
// name: NameOfMainAppModule
// template: path/to/template-filename.html
// file: path/to/application-file.js
// file: path/to/dependency-file.js
// file: path/to/stylesheet.css

You can also write the same with comma-syntax

// sg-angular-directive:
// name: NameOfMainAppModule
// template: path/to/template-filename.html
// file: path/to/application-file.js, path/to/dependency-file.js, path/to/stylesheet.css

Ignore parts of the style sheet from being processed

You can ignore parts of the CSS or KSS from being processed using the following tags:

// styleguide:ignore:start
Ignored styles
// styleguide:ignore:end

Wrapper markup

Sometimes your component examples need a wrapper. For example:

You can cover such cases by adding a wrapper to a component markup. The wrapper should be defined as a custom parameter in the KSS documentation block:

// markup:
// <li>
//   <a class="{$modifiers}">Item</a>
// </li>
//
// sg-wrapper:
// <nav class="sg side-nav">
//   <ul>
//     <sg-wrapper-content/>
//   </ul>
// </nav>

The <sg-wrapper-content/> inside shows where to place an example.

Wrappers can be used for fixes like this:

// markup:
// <div class="my-component">This is a white component</div>
//
// sg-wrapper:
// <div style="background-color: grey;">
//   <sg-wrapper-content/>
// </div>

The modifiers get the same wrapper as their parent section.

Wrappers are inheritable. A wrapper of a parent section is inherited by its children sections. This means that the following KSS markup

// Parent section
//
// markup:
// <div class="parent"></div>
//
// sg-wrapper:
// <div class="parent-wrapper">
//   <sg-wrapper-content/>
// </div>
//
// Styleguide 1.0

...

// Child section
//
// markup:
// <span class="child"></span>
//
// sg-wrapper:
// <div class="parent">
//   <sg-wrapper-content/>
// </div>
//
// Styleguide 1.1

would produce a Parent section:

<div class="parent-wrapper">
  <div class="parent"></div>
</div>

and a Child section:

<div class="parent-wrapper">
  <div class="parent">
    <span class="child"></span>
  </div>
</div>

Inserted markup

In the markup you can insert markup of the other sections by referring to its section number. The markup of the referred section will be inserted into the current one. You can also target specific modifiers or include all modifiers. All unknown {$modifiers} will be ignored. Nested insert also works.

// List
//
// markup:
// <ul>
//   <sg-insert>1.2.1</sg-insert>
//   <sg-insert>1.2.1-5</sg-insert> to insert the 5th modifier of 1.2.1
//   <sg-insert>1.2.1-all</sg-insert> to insert all modifiers of 1.2.1
// </ul>
//
// Styleguide 1.2

...

// List item
//
// markup:
// <li>Item</li>
//
// Styleguide 1.2.1

At the generated website the markup is shown expanded.

Pug (jade) markup

Set enablePug: true to enable Pug support with BEM (bemto). HTML supports with enabled Pug.

Gulpfile.js

gulp.task('styleguide:generate', function() {
  return gulp.src('*.css')
    .pipe(styleguide.generate({
        ...
        enablePug: true
        ...
      }))
    .pipe(gulp.dest(outputPath));
});

/*
Markup:
+b.block_modifier(class="{$modifiers}")
  +e.element
*/

Designer tool

Designer tool is a feature that allows editing style variable directly in the browser and saving the changes back to the source file. It is enabled when the styleVariables option is defined and the application is served with the built-in server.

The changed values are checked for syntax errors before saving, and if something is wrong, nothing is written to the source files and an error notification is shown on the client.

Images, fonts and other static assets

Images, fonts and other static assets should be copied to style guide output folder to make them accessible in the style guide. It is recommended to create a gulp or Grunt task to systematically do the copying when the style guide is generated.

If you modify your assets in gulp streams, you can add styleguide output directory as a second destination for your assets:

gulp.task('images', function() {
  gulp.src(['images/**'])
    // Do image sprites, optimizations etc.
    .pipe(gulp.dest(buildPath + '/images'))
    .pipe(gulp.dest(outputPath + '/images'));
});

Tips and pointers

<html> and <body> styles

Since each component's markup is isolated from the application styles with Shadow DOM, styles defined in <html> or <body> tags will not apply in the component previews. If you want for example to define a font that should also be used in the component previews, define a css class with the font definitions and add that class to the commonClass configuration option.

Providing additional CSS

Sometimes it is needed to apply additional CSS to the components. For example, make grid items of different colors so that they could be easily seen. But such CSS should not sit together with the basic CSS of the component because it is not supposed to be used in general. Obvious solution is to provide additional CSS which works in the styleguide only.

As the Styleguide shows the components isolated with Shadow DOM, any additional CSS provided with extraHead option will not affect the components. If you want to provide additional CSS which affects the components, this code should be added to the other styles when building:

var concat = require("gulp-concat");

...

gulp.task('styleguide:applystyles', function() {
  return gulp.src([
      'main.scss'
      'utils/additional.scss'
      ])
    .pipe(concat('all.scss'))
    .pipe(sass({
      errLogToConsole: true
    }))
    .pipe(styleguide.applyStyles())
    .pipe(gulp.dest(outputPath));
});

Providing additional JavaScript

To provide additional JavaScript for the StyleGuide pages, define its <script> tag in the extraHead parameter:

gulp.task('styleguide:generate', function() {
  return gulp.src('*.scss')
    .pipe(styleguide.generate({
        ...
        extraHead: [
          '<script src="/path/to/my-js-file.js"></script>'
        ],
        disableEncapsulation: true
        ...
      }))
    .pipe(gulp.dest(outputPath));
});

Include other needed scripts, such as libraries, into the same array:

extraHead: [
  '<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.3/jquery.min.js"></script>',
  '<script src="/path/to/my-js-file.js"></script>'
]

This way you can enrich the documented components with JavaScript. Keep in mind that you need to use disableEncapsulation parameter to make the components visible for the parent page JavaScript (otherwise they are encapsulated with shadow DOM).

onRendered event

The components get visible onto the StyleGuide pages dynamically. This means that it takes some time to render them.

In your JavaScript you may need to operate components after they have been rendered. Catch styleguide:onRendered event on window for that:

$(window).bind("styleguide:onRendered", function(e) {
  // do anything here
  // use e.originalEvent.detail.elements to get elements
});

This is useful when you need to initialize your components. As this kind of initialization is only needed on the StyleGuide pages, you can provide it with an additional file:

extraHead: [
  '<script src="/path/to/my-js-file.js"></script>',
  '<script src="/js/init-styleguide.js"></script>'
]

Adding new section in between

You may use addSection helper in order to make it easier adding a new section (or subsection) in between of the existing. It shifts reference numbers of the following sections. To create a helping task, write this:

gulp.task("styleguide:addsection", function() {
  return gulp.src('path/to/components/**/*.less')
    .pipe(styleguide.addSection())
    .pipe(gulp.dest('path/to/components/'))
});

Use this task with the parameters:

gulp styleguide:new-section --name=NewSection --order=6.2.1

IMPORTANT: Check diff after doing this change!

NOTE: The tool also makes KSS comment block for a new section if it knows which file it should belong.

The addSection method is parametrized, you may tell which parser to use for the files with certain extension (by analogy to generate helper):

.pipe(styleguide.addSection({
  parsers: {
    scss: 'sass'
  }
}))

NOTE: Be careful with postcss parser. It may not preserve new lines and indents.

Demo

Build demo style guide and start a server on port 3000

npm run demo

Note: If you installed style guide by cloning repository directly instead of npm you need to run npm run build first

The demo generates style guide to demo-output directory.

Point your browser to http://localhost:3000

Additional Info

Articles, blog posts

Supplementary packages