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angularjslinuxubuntubowergruntfile

Simple AngularJS application: Showing error in Gruntfile.js

$ grunt connect:development:keepalive

ERROR:

Running "connect:development:keepalive" (connect) task

Warning: undefined is not a function Use --force to continue.

Aborted due to warnings.

I am presently learning AngularJS from the book Professional AngularJS (wrox) and here's a basic code from the book:

app/index.html

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html ng-app="Workflow">
    <head>
        <title>Chapter Two</title>
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="main.css" />
    </head>
    <body ng-controller="ToolsCtrl">
        <h1>Workflow tools from this chapter:</h1>
        <ul>
            <li ng-repeat="tool in tools">{{tool}}</li>
        </ul>

        <script src="bower_components/angular/angular.js"></script>
        <script src="app.js"></script>
    </body>
</html>

app/main.less

html,
body {
  h1 {
    color: steelblue;
  }

app/app.js

'use strict';

angular.module('Workflow', [])
.controller('ToolsCtrl', function($scope) {
        $scope.tools = [
            'Bower',
            'Grunt',
            'Yeoman'
        ];
    });

Gruntfile.js

module.exports = function(grunt) {
    grunt.initConfig({
        pkg: grunt.file.readJSON('package.json'),

        connect: {
            options: {
                port: 9000,
                open: true,
                livereload: 35729,
                hostname: 'localhost'
            },

            development: {
                options: {
                    middleware: function(connect) {
                        return [
                            connect.static('app')
                        ];
                    }
                }
            }
        },

        less: {
            development: {
                files: {
                    'app/main.css': 'app/main.less'
                }
            }
        }
    });

    require('load-grunt-tasks')(grunt);

    grunt.registerTask('default', []);
};

.bowerrc

{
  "directory": "app/bower_components"
}

These are all the codes provided by the book as is, for this application. Also, as the book asked, I ran these commands on the root folder from the terminal:

sudo npm install -g bower

sudo npm install -g grunt-cli

sudo npm install --save-dev grunt

sudo npm install --save-dev load-grunt-tasks

sudo npm install --save-dev grunt-contrib-connect

sudo npm install --save-dev grunt-contrib-jshint

sudo npm install --save-dev grunt-contrib-less

sudo npm install --save-dev grunt-contrib-watch

sudo npm install -g less

lessc app/main.less > app/main.css

grunt less

I had to use sudo because, otherwise it was throwing error:

Please try running this command again as root/Administrator.

According to the book, if I run grunt connect:development:keepalive from my terminal, then, my browser should fire up with the application running. But is giving me the error as I mentioned above.

Please help me with the situation as I have no idea what wrong am I doing. This is why I included all the code. I am very new to these tools and technologies, and I am not even sure if I should follow this book to learn AngularJS.

Thank you.

EDIT:

Since I am using the WebStorm IDE, it is showing me a problem in the Gruntfile.js in the line connect.static('app'). It says Unresolved function or method static() when I hover the mouse over it.

Solution

  • it is correct that the problem is in the Gruntfile.js in the line connect.static('app')

    According to the forum from the website for the book "static" is no longer a part of Connect module and you will need to run npm install serve-static. after that declare a variable above your grunt.intConfig line in your Gruntfile.js like so...

    var serveStatic = require('serve-static');

    then change your middleware function to look like this

    middleware: function(connect) {
            return [
              serveStatic('app')

    hope this helps. It helped me solve it