11ty / 11ty/dev-server

Feature Request: Add 'open' as an option.

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#28 10 comments 20 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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enhancement needs-votes
Dominant language
JavaScript
Stars
109
Forks
20
Avg merge
1m
Merged PRs (30d)
1

Description

The previous BrowserSync dev server had an open: true option that would open the browser window when the server started.

Would be nice to have that added back in. This horrible hack (nearly) works:

// server.js
const DEFAULT_OPTIONS = {
...
 open: false,           // Open URL in browser on launch.
...

and

// server.js → get server()
...
this._server.on("listening", (e) => {
  this.setupReloadNotifier();
  let { port } = this._server.address();

  let hostsStr = "";
  if(this.options.showAllHosts) {
    // TODO what happens when the cert doesn’t cover non-localhost hosts?
    let hosts = devip().map(host => `${this._serverProtocol}//${host}:${port}${this.options.pathPrefix} or`);
    hostsStr = hosts.join(" ") + " ";
  }

  this.logger.info(`Server at ${hostsStr}${this._serverProtocol}//localhost:${port}${this.options.pathPrefix}${this.options.showVersion ? ` (v${pkg.version})` : ""}`);

  if(this.options.open) {
    this.logger.info(`Opening in browser...`);
    require('out-url').open(`${hostsStr}${this._serverProtocol}//localhost:${port}${this.options.pathPrefix}`);
  }

});


return this._server;
...

But adds a dependency and if you change the open option from true to false in .eleventy.js while the server is running it opens the browser again. I'm sure there is a much better way to do this.

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start in server.js, especially the DEFAULT_OPTIONS definition and the get server() listening handler shown in the issue. Trace how server options are updated while the server runs and determine how the browser should open only when startup requires it. Done means an open option is supported without adding an unnecessary dependency or reopening the browser after the option changes.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
devtools
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
58/100

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