Grunt SCSS - Not reloading - gruntjs

Question

I am trying to achieve a smooth workflow.
my problem:
My JS modifications are shown and minified and the live reload works fine. When I make changes to my SCSS files they do not run under the run command:
grunt
or the grunt plugin:
grunt watch
It only works when I invoke:
grunt sass
This was the output from the 'grunt sass' console window:
Macintosh:grunt-test Neil$ grunt sass
Running "sass:dist" (sass) task
File "css/global.css" created.
Done, without errors.
Notes:
When I run 'grunt watch' on a sass file I have noticed that grunt runs the minification on the javascript for no reason. Surely this be invoked when that file or one of its dependencies is effected?
Gruntfile.js Contents:
module.exports = function(grunt) {
// 1. All configuration goes here
grunt.initConfig({
pkg: grunt.file.readJSON('package.json'),
watch: {
options: {
files: ['css/*.css'],
livereload: true
},
css: {
files: ['css/*.scss'],
tasks: ['sass'],
options: {
spawn: false,
}
},
scripts: {
files: ['js/*.js', 'scss/*.scss'],
tasks: ['concat', 'uglify'],
options: {
spawn: false,
}
}
},
sass: {
dist: {
options: {
style: 'compressed'
},
expand: true,
cwd: 'scss/',
src: ['*.scss'],
dest: 'css/',
ext: '.css'
}
},
concat: {
// 2. Configuration for concatinating files goes here.
dist: {
src: [
'js/libs/*.js', // All JS in the libs folder
'js/global.js' // This specific file
],
dest: 'js/build/production.js',
}
},
uglify: {
build: {
src: 'js/build/production.js',
dest: 'js/build/production.min.js'
}
},
imagemin: {
dynamic: {
files: [{
expand: true,
cwd: 'images-lossy/',
src: ['**/*.{png,jpg,gif}'],
dest: 'images/'
}]
},
png: {
options: {
optimizationLevel: 7
}
},
jpg: {
options: {
progressive: true
}
}
}
});
// 3. Where we tell Grunt we plan to use this plug-in.
// CONCATENATION PLUGIN
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-concat');
// MINIFY PLUGIN
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-uglify');
// IMG CRUSH PLUGIN
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-imagemin');
// GRUNT WATCH PLUGIN
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch');
// SASS LIBARY PLUGIN
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-sass');
// 4. Where we tell Grunt what to do when we type "grunt" into the terminal.
grunt.registerTask('default', ['sass','concat', 'uglify', 'imagemin', 'watch']);
};
I hope the above information helps. I have previously used Codekit, and it a really great app. I want to move to grunt but maybe my configuration file is incorrect I am close.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Neil

Answer 1

It looks like both of your issues occur within the watch configuration.
First, the reason the SASS task isn't working during watch is due to the files entry pointing to the wrong location. Your current files entry points to the "css" folder, but it should point to the "scss" folder, according to what you've specified in the actual "sass" task. In other words, your entry should be: files: ['scss/*.scss'].
css: {
files: ['scss/*.scss'],
tasks: ['sass'],
options: {
spawn: false,
}
}
Second, the JavaScript minification occurs during the watch whenever a SASS file changes because you have it listed here:
scripts: {
files: ['js/*.js', 'scss/*.scss'], // <-- scss is covered here
tasks: ['concat', 'uglify'],
options: {
spawn: false,
}
}
Change it to files: ['js/*.js'], instead to have the watch task kick in for JavaScript files only.
Once you address those issues, if things are slightly working you might want to expand the patterns so that it covers all files in the subdirectories for your JavaScript, CSS, SASS, etc. For example, js/*.js includes all .js files under the js folder, while js/**/*.js covers the js folder and its subfolders. You can read more under the GruntJS "globbing patterns" documentation.
EDIT: here's how the updated watch should look like...
watch: {
options: {
livereload: true
},
// css is really for Sass
css: {
files: ['scss/*.scss'],
tasks: ['sass'],
options: {
spawn: false,
}
},
// scripts will detect js changes
scripts: {
files: ['js/**/*.js'],
tasks: ['jshint', 'concat', 'uglify'],
options: {
spawn: false,
}
}
},
As mentioned, your individual tasks might need to use the ** pattern similar to what I've done with the "scripts" entry above: js/**/*.js