For Javascript Developers

Installing dependencies using npm.

The package.json file is the top level file in the project directory.

It provides:

• node.js some meta-data on how to resolve the entry point into the package (main)
• npm the dependencies and their versions that need to be installed to get this package installed, and clues how to test the package.
• various tools a lot of meta-data about the package and the package's authors.
• browserify some alternatives on what would run better in a webview
• kirin some clues on how the project is structured, and how to build it.

Using package.json for node.js and npm is well documented on the npm site, and the browserify site.

However, kirin has its own requirements. All kirin related requirements are contained in the kirin field of package.json (this is referred to as the kirin block).

If you have generated your project using the kirin-create template then most of this is looked after for you.

Dependencies

The most important thing to document then is the dependencies entry in the kirin block is dependencies. npm uses a set of key-value pairs to determine the dependencies and versions that the package is designed to work on.

In the absence of a kirin block, then these dependencies are used. However, for a mobile app, this is always going to be a super-set of the dependencies that are actually needed on the device.

Thus, dependencies are listed as an array of packages in the kirin block.

For example, to add the excellent underscore.strings packages to your kirin project, open up package.json, then add the following:

"kirin": {
   …
   "dependencies": ["underscore.string"]
   …
},
"dependencies": {
   "underscore.string": ">= 2.1.0"
}

Once you've done that, you can issue the command from your project directory:

$ npm install 

You can now test that kirin can build the new package with:

~/bin/kirin-build --platform ios

At this point, we are building the javascript for iOS, however, it is very unlikely that the code for underscore.string will be available on the device.

This is due to the way browserify works - by only including packages and modules that are required.

To do this, you need to include a statement somewhere in your javascript:

var strings = require("underscore.strings");

Once this statement is in place, then the kirin-build will start packaging underscore.string into the apps generated-javascript directory.