Copying Files With Grunt

Overview

Steps for setting up a Grunt task to copy files when they are saved.

Prerequisites

• grunt-contrib-watch
  This watches for changes to files.
• grunt-contrib-copy
  This copies files.
• grunt-newer
  This limits the copying task to files that have been changed.

> npm install grunt-contrib-watch --save-dev
> npm install grunt-contrib-copy --save-dev
> npm install grunt-newer --save-dev

(N.B. that's grunt-newer and not grunt-contrib-newer)

gruntfile.js

module.exports = function(grunt) {
 
    // Project configuration.
    grunt.initConfig({

        pkg: grunt.file.readJSON('package.json'),

        watch: {

            /* sync whenever anything is modified */
            sync: {
                files: ['**/*'], /* apply to everything */
                tasks: ['newer:copy']
            }
        },

        copy: {

            /* copies any file in web tree to dev sandbox */
            sandbox: {
                files: [{
                    expand: true,
                    src: [
                        '**',                   /* include everything */
                        '!/node_modules',       /* exclude grunt files */
                        '!node_modules/**/*',   
                        '!gruntfile.js',
                        '!package.json',
                        '!**/Web.config',       /* exclude localized site config files */
                        '!**/global.asa'
                    ],
                    dest: '//beckster/wwwroot/damien.mediabistro.net/'
                }]
            }
        }
    });

    /* compass compilation */
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-copy');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-newer');

    // Default task(s).
    grunt.registerTask('default', ['watch']); 
};