generator-polymer-init-custom-build-gae

This template is a starting point for building apps using Polymer Starter Kit with a custom gulp process leveraging polymer-build, the library powering Polymer CLI and deploying to Google App Engine.

Setup

Prerequisites

First, install Polymer CLI and generator-polymer-init-custom-build-gae using npm (we assume you have pre-installed node.js).

npm install -g polymer-cli
npm install -g generator-polymer-init-custom-build-gae

Initialize project from template

Generate your new project using polymer init:

mkdir my-app
cd my-app
polymer init custom-build-gae

Google App Engine

1. Download the Google App Engine SDK and follow the instructions for your platform to install it.

2. Sign up for an AppEngine account.

3. Open the project dashboard and create a new project.

• Click the Create Project button.
• Type a project name.
• Click the Create button.

4. Change gae-starter-kit in app.yaml application: gae-starter-kit to your Google App Engine project name.

5. Change gae-starter-kit in gulp-tasks/deploy.js projectID = "gae-starter-kit" to your Google App Engine project name.

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Start the development server

This command serves the app at http://localhost:8080 and provides basic URL routing for the app:

polymer serve --open

Build

Rather than rely on the usual polymer build command, this project gives you an "escape hatch" so you can include additional steps in your build process.

The included gulpfile.js relies on the polymer-build library, the same library that powers Polymer CLI. Out of the box it will clean the build directory, and provide image minification. Follow the comments in the gulpfile.js to add additional steps like JS transpilers or CSS preprocessors.

gulp

Preview the build

This command serves the minified version of the app at http://localhost:8080 in an unbundled state, as it would be served by a push-compatible server such as Google App Engine:

polymer serve build/unbundled

Run tests

This command will run Web Component Tester against the browsers currently installed on your machine:

polymer test

Adding a new build step

The gulpfile already contains an example build step that demonstrates how to run image minification across your source files. For more examples, refer to the section in the polymer-build README on extracting inline sources.

Adding a new view

You can extend the app by adding more views that will be demand-loaded e.g. based on the route, or to progressively render non-critical sections of the application. Each new demand-loaded fragment should be added to the list of fragments in the included polymer.json file. This will ensure those components and their dependencies are added to the list of pre-cached components (and will have bundles created in the fallback bundled build).

Deploy to Google App Engine

You can test first, then build and deploy. Gulp task gulp deploy first builds then deploys to Google App Engine.

polymer test
gulp deploy

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Demo of this template on Google App Engine:

gae-starter-kit.appspot.com

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To update the generator-polymer-init-custom-build-gae template do the following.

npm update -g generator-polymer-init-custom-build-gae

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License

The Polymer project uses a BSD-like license available here