What is workflow in Yeoman to work with Sass files

Question

I try to use yeoman but I don't know how to use my own sass files with it.

With

grunt server

Sass files are watched and compiled into

.tmp/styles/

But there is no reference to the compiled stylesheet, except <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles/main.css">

So, what is the recommended way to use the compiled sass files in index.html during development?

E.g. grunt server, if I change my style app/styles/my.sass into .tmp/styles/my.css, this is overwritten and it is outside the server (localhost:9000). Therefore, it is impossible to link it in index.html.

With grunt build is everything within main.css include my.sass but during the development I don't know how to use my own sass files in index.html.

Can you give me some simple example?

It is default yeoman installation. I did this:

1. yo angular test
2. I add app/styles/style.sass
3. grunt server this compile style.sass into .tmp/styles/style.css
4. now I don't know how to include style.css it in html

(sorry may be this is a stupid question but I am new in yeoman and grunt also)

This is Gruntfile.js from yeoman:

'use strict';
var lrSnippet = require('grunt-contrib-livereload/lib/utils').livereloadSnippet;
var mountFolder = function (connect, dir) {
  return connect.static(require('path').resolve(dir));
};

module.exports = function (grunt) {
  // load all grunt tasks
  require('matchdep').filterDev('grunt-*').forEach(grunt.loadNpmTasks);

  // configurable paths
  var yeomanConfig = {
    app: 'app',
    dist: 'dist'
  };

  try {
    yeomanConfig.app = require('./component.json').appPath || yeomanConfig.app;
  } catch (e) {}

  grunt.initConfig({
    yeoman: yeomanConfig,
    watch: {
      coffee: {
        files: ['<%= yeoman.app %>/scripts/{,*/}*.coffee'],
        tasks: ['coffee:dist']
      },
      coffeeTest: {
        files: ['test/spec/{,*/}*.coffee'],
        tasks: ['coffee:test']
      },
      compass: {
        files: ['<%= yeoman.app %>/styles/{,*/}*.{scss,sass}'],
        tasks: ['compass']
      },
      livereload: {
        files: [
          '<%= yeoman.app %>/{,*/}*.html',
          '{.tmp,<%= yeoman.app %>}/styles/{,*/}*.css',
          '{.tmp,<%= yeoman.app %>}/scripts/{,*/}*.js',
          '<%= yeoman.app %>/images/{,*/}*.{png,jpg,jpeg,gif,webp}'
        ],
        tasks: ['livereload']
      }
    },
    connect: {
      livereload: {
        options: {
          port: 9000,
          // Change this to '0.0.0.0' to access the server from outside.
          hostname: 'localhost',
          middleware: function (connect) {
            return [
              lrSnippet,
              mountFolder(connect, '.tmp'),
              mountFolder(connect, yeomanConfig.app)
            ];
          }
        }
      },
      test: {
        options: {
          port: 9000,
          middleware: function (connect) {
            return [
              mountFolder(connect, '.tmp'),
              mountFolder(connect, 'test')
            ];
          }
        }
      }
    },
    open: {
      server: {
        url: 'http://localhost:<%= connect.livereload.options.port %>'
      }
    },
    clean: {
      dist: ['.tmp', '<%= yeoman.dist %>/*'],
      server: '.tmp'
    },
    jshint: {
      options: {
        jshintrc: '.jshintrc'
      },
      all: [
        'Gruntfile.js',
        '<%= yeoman.app %>/scripts/{,*/}*.js'
      ]
    },
    karma: {
      unit: {
        configFile: 'karma.conf.js',
        singleRun: true
      }
    },
    coffee: {
      dist: {
        files: {
          '.tmp/scripts/coffee.js': '<%= yeoman.app %>/scripts/*.coffee'
        }
      },
      test: {
        files: [{
          expand: true,
          cwd: '.tmp/spec',
          src: '*.coffee',
          dest: 'test/spec'
        }]
      }
    },
    compass: {
      options: {
        sassDir: '<%= yeoman.app %>/styles',
        cssDir: '.tmp/styles',
        imagesDir: '<%= yeoman.app %>/images',
        javascriptsDir: '<%= yeoman.app %>/scripts',
        fontsDir: '<%= yeoman.app %>/styles/fonts',
        importPath: '<%= yeoman.app %>/components',
        relativeAssets: true
      },
      dist: {},
      server: {
        options: {
          debugInfo: true
        }
      }
    },
    concat: {
      dist: {
        files: {
          '<%= yeoman.dist %>/scripts/scripts.js': [
            '.tmp/scripts/{,*/}*.js',
            '<%= yeoman.app %>/scripts/{,*/}*.js'
          ]
        }
      }
    },
    useminPrepare: {
      html: '<%= yeoman.app %>/index.html',
      options: {
        dest: '<%= yeoman.dist %>'
      }
    },
    usemin: {
      html: ['<%= yeoman.dist %>/{,*/}*.html'],
      css: ['<%= yeoman.dist %>/styles/{,*/}*.css'],
      options: {
        dirs: ['<%= yeoman.dist %>']
      }
    },
    imagemin: {
      dist: {
        files: [{
          expand: true,
          cwd: '<%= yeoman.app %>/images',
          src: '{,*/}*.{png,jpg,jpeg}',
          dest: '<%= yeoman.dist %>/images'
        }]
      }
    },
    cssmin: {
      dist: {
        files: {
          '<%= yeoman.dist %>/styles/main.css': [
            '.tmp/styles/{,*/}*.css',
            '<%= yeoman.app %>/styles/{,*/}*.css'
          ]
        }
      }
    },
    htmlmin: {
      dist: {
        options: {
          /*removeCommentsFromCDATA: true,
          // https://github.com/yeoman/grunt-usemin/issues/44
          //collapseWhitespace: true,
          collapseBooleanAttributes: true,
          removeAttributeQuotes: true,
          removeRedundantAttributes: true,
          useShortDoctype: true,
          removeEmptyAttributes: true,
          removeOptionalTags: true*/
        },
        files: [{
          expand: true,
          cwd: '<%= yeoman.app %>',
          src: ['*.html', 'views/*.html'],
          dest: '<%= yeoman.dist %>'
        }]
      }
    },
    cdnify: {
      dist: {
        html: ['<%= yeoman.dist %>/*.html']
      }
    },
    ngmin: {
      dist: {
        files: [{
          expand: true,
          cwd: '<%= yeoman.dist %>/scripts',
          src: '*.js',
          dest: '<%= yeoman.dist %>/scripts'
        }]
      }
    },
    uglify: {
      dist: {
        files: {
          '<%= yeoman.dist %>/scripts/scripts.js': [
            '<%= yeoman.dist %>/scripts/scripts.js'
          ],
        }
      }
    },
    copy: {
      dist: {
        files: [{
          expand: true,
          dot: true,
          cwd: '<%= yeoman.app %>',
          dest: '<%= yeoman.dist %>',
          src: [
            '*.{ico,txt}',
            '.htaccess',
            'components/**/*',
            'images/{,*/}*.{gif,webp}'
          ]
        }]
      }
    }
  });

  grunt.renameTask('regarde', 'watch');
  // remove when mincss task is renamed
  grunt.renameTask('mincss', 'cssmin');

  grunt.registerTask('server', [
    'clean:server',
    'coffee:dist',
    'compass:server',
    'livereload-start',
    'connect:livereload',
    'open',
    'watch'
  ]);

  grunt.registerTask('test', [
    'clean:server',
    'coffee',
    'compass',
    'connect:test',
    'karma'
  ]);

  grunt.registerTask('build', [
    'clean:dist',
    'jshint',
    'test',
    'coffee',
    'compass:dist',
    'useminPrepare',
    'imagemin',
    'cssmin',
    'htmlmin',
    'concat',
    'copy',
    'cdnify',
    'usemin',
    'ngmin',
    'uglify'
  ]);

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

Answer 1

You just include it like

<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles/style.css">

Yeoman/grunt will know when running the server that it should grab the sass file from the temp folder.

Answer 2

What you are looking for is documented on: https://github.com/yeoman/grunt-usemin

Simply wrap your css imports in a comment block similarly to the way it's done with the javascript files

<!-- build:css styles/main.css -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles/base.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles/modules.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles/layout.css">
<!-- endbuild -->

make sure your generator is up to date and your grunt tasks are all set. The one doing the magic is 'useminPrepare'

Answer 3

The actual magic for development is happening in

mountFolder(connect, '.tmp'),

for the connect-livereload middleware for grunt-contrib-watch.

This makes the local server also serve the contents of the .tmp folder, which is why you can reference styles/main.css and get .tmp/styles/main.css in return.

useminPrepare is usually never called in the server task.