Importer arguments

[jareware]

I'm working on a reusable (between projects) importer module for node-sass and I'd need to pass in arguments. With the node API this is of course simple, but for the CLI API I see 2 options:

1. Using a config file that the importer will look for within its pwd
2. Using custom CLI options, e.g. node-sass --importer=my-importer.js --myopt-foo=bar, and reading them back in through process.argv in my-importer.js

The latter would be nicer IMO (no need for extraneous files), and the CLI doesn't seem to mind options it doesn't recognize, but would there be a cleaner way that I'm just not thinking of here? Or is there a reason why the latter option just isn't an option?

[am11]

In my-importer.js, isn't it so that you have access to process.argv containing all the arguments passes via the actual CLI command?

[jareware]

That's... exactly what I suggested as the 2nd option. Please read on. ;)

[am11]

Yup, exactly what you stated and then this question confused me:

is there a reason why the latter option just isn't an option?

when we already have access to (global) process.argv array in importers.

[jareware]

Right, sure! To clarify, I was wondering whether that might be a bad idea, because for example plans on disallowing unknown CLI args (which many apps do, they'll just print the usage info). Or better yet, if someone has an even better idea for how to pass args to an importer that just hasn't occurred to me! :)

[xzyfer]

This is something we're going to need to standardise as plugin, functions
and importers gain popularity.

The first thing that cones to mind is adding node sass config into the
package.json. I see more and projects adopting this convention.
On 2 May 2015 08:43, "Jarno Rantanen" notifications@github.com wrote:

Right, sure! To clarify, I was wondering whether that might be a bad idea,
because for example plans on disallowing unknown CLI args (which many apps
do, they'll just print the usage info). Or better yet, if someone has an
even better idea for how to pass args to an importer that just hasn't
occurred to me! :)

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#917 (comment).

[jareware]

Actually I think that might be the best option for me as well, for a variety of reasons. Thanks for the input!

Feel free to close this issue, unless you want to keep it as a reminder to standardize this later on.

[am11]

nodeSassConfig in package.json is used in other build related scenarios as well (#743). We can standarise the nested members, for instance:

"nodeSassConfig": {
    "importerCliParams": { }
}

(the ultimate way would be to propose JSON schema: https://github.com/json-schema/json-schema)

@jareware, feel free to send the PR with a test case and README update. It is a good starting point and these things keep improving over time.

[jareware]

Well I'll first try to build it and see if it's actually convenient as well, but I'll report back. :)