Support javascript config files in addition to json

[claytercek]

Would it make sense to support javascript config files (js/cjs/mjs) in addition to json for users that want more control? Or would that be too redundant with the node API?

Some scenarios where I imagine this could be useful:

Env Overrides

For programs that have multiple instances that require slightly different configs, it seems the common pattern currently is to have different launchpad config files for each instance. Having a js config file would allow users to use a single file that could adjust the config based on env variables or user variables:

const os = require("os");

module.exports = {
  content: {
    sources: [
      {
        type: "sanity",
        queries: [
          {
            id: "config",
            // Use some custom env variable
            query: `*[_type == 'app-config' && pcName == '${process.env.PC_NAME}']`,
          },
        ],
      },
    ],
  },
  monitor: {
    apps: [
      {
        pm2: {
          name: "client",
          // Or access some node built-in variables
          cwd: `${os.homedir()}\\AppData\\Local\\Google\\Chrome\\Application`,
          script: "chrome.exe",
        },
        // ...
      },
    ],
  },
  // ...
};

Sharing Config Code

Having js files would allow us to import other files into our config files:

const someSharedContentConfig = require(".../content.json");

module.exports = {
   // ...
   content: someSharedContentConfig
}

// we could also export some utility functions from launchpad that could make common setups easier:

const chromeApp = require("@bluecadet/launchpad-monitor/chromeApp");

module.exports = {
  // ...
  monitor: chromeApp() // or chromeApp({...overrides})
}

Jsdoc / typescript Hints

Using js for config also means we could take advantage of the JSDoc hints while writing up config files, similar to how nextjs types their config files:

/**
 * @type {import('next').NextConfig}
 */
const nextConfig = {
  /* config options here */
}

module.exports = nextConfig

---

If this all is too redundant with the node API, then it might make more sense to just show how to accomplish these same scenarios using the node API somewhere in the documentation.

There are a couple of existing tools that will automagically search for config files with different file types, ex: https://github.com/davidtheclark/cosmiconfig

[benjaminbojko]

Yes!!! This actually solves a lot of issues and it would actually not require much work at all.

As a matter of fact, it's already supported! The ConfigManager class already has a importJsConfig() function:

launchpad/packages/utils/lib/config-manager.js

Lines 51 to 75 in f43492d

	/**
	* Imports a JS config from a set of paths. The JS files have to export
	* its config as the default export. Will return the first config found.
	* @param {Array.<string>} paths
	* @param {*} importMeta The import.meta property of the file at your base directory.
	* @returns {*} The parsed config object or null if none can be found
	*/
	static async importJsConfig(paths, importMeta = null) {
	const __dirname = ConfigManager.getProcessDirname(importMeta);
	for (const configPath of paths) {
	const fileUrl = url.pathToFileURL(path.join(__dirname, configPath));
	try {
	if (fs.existsSync(fileUrl)) {
	console.log(`Importing JS config from ${fileUrl}`);
	return (await import(fileUrl)).default;
	}
	} catch (err) {
	console.warn(`Could not import JS config from ${fileUrl}`, err);
	}
	}
	return null;
	}
	constructor() {
	}

And the npm run test script already uses it

launchpad/packages/launchpad/test/test.js

Lines 4 to 6 in f43492d

	const getConfig = async (paths = ['user-config.js', 'config.js']) => {
	return ConfigManager.importJsConfig(paths, import.meta);
	}

launchpad/packages/launchpad/test/config.js

Lines 1 to 15 in f43492d

	import { getConfig as getContentConfig } from '@bluecadet/launchpad-content/test/test.js';
	import { getConfig as getMonitorConfig } from '@bluecadet/launchpad-monitor/test/test.js';
	const config = {
	"content": await getContentConfig(),
	"monitor": await getMonitorConfig(),
	"logging": {
	"level": "debug"
	},
	"commands": {
	"concurrency": 1
	}
	};
	export default config;

In fact, we need this for a project now and I might just shimmy in a quick solution/test and then we can see if we can incorporate something like cosmiconfig, which sounds super helpful and would also address #7

The only challenge might be that we're currently using yargs for loading, which also supports overriding via CLI params. That seems solvable though.

[claytercek]

Oh awesome! So if I'm understanding this correctly, the ConfigManager has it as a static utility fn for use with the node API, and all we really need to do is find the right spot to incorporate it when launching launchpad from the CLI?

[benjaminbojko]

That's exactly right! I may actually need to look into that today and will keep you posted.

[claytercek]

Resolved with #124, plus intellisense is being added with #128