Novice users issues

[DrYSG]

You can drop these in a trash can if you want, but I love you guys, and I thought I would write up my experiences, which others might encounter.

1. NPM has a problem with authenticated proxies with HTTPS, https://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues/2866. so I had to config the registry as as http and add in my proxy credentials. This took about 2 hours to figure out. But then things went well for the install.
2. I have an existing project on my G: drive (not C:) the only way could import it was create a directory junction on a folder in the C: drive
3. I am running win7, and Chrome, latest commercial version of KendoUI (for the next points) I am using notepad++ for the editor (I have VS2012, but the install did not set it up). I generally use that as my editor, but I don't know if you support that.
4. I do not have an index.html file. My app starts as Sherlock.html. I did not see a way to set that as the startup page.
5. Am I supposed to add png, jpg, ico files to the project importer? I did this, since they are important. But I had no clue if this was needed?
6. Do I understand Live Preview? I edited my HTML file and saved the result (Notepad++) but the change was not updated in Chrome. I had to do a refresh.
7. I really like the fact that this does not add anything to my source tree. I am using SVN, and this makes editing clean and simple. (and does not confuse VS2012 and SVN).
8. I am not sure where it is putting the compiled, minified, and build stuff. My assumption this is all stored in a temp cache, and to get results, I have to bundle and create a zip. Is that correct? (this would be good to put int he documentation).

[mishoo]

NPM has a problem with authenticated proxies with HTTPS, isaacs/npm#2866. so I had to config the registry as as http and add in my proxy credentials. This took about 2 hours to figure out. But then things went well for the install.

Sorry for this issue, but seems there's not much we can do about it, except document it. Could you describe how you configured your proxy?

I have an existing project on my G: drive (not C:) the only way could import it was create a directory junction on a folder in the C: drive

I pushed a fix for this. There's now a "Drive" link that allows you to change the partition on Windows.

I am running win7, and Chrome, latest commercial version of KendoUI (for the next points) I am using notepad++ for the editor (I have VS2012, but the install did not set it up). I generally use that as my editor, but I don't know if you support that.

The Bootstrapper should detect Notepad++ if it's present. Nope, it won't detect VS for now but you can configure the editor manually.

I do not have an index.html file. My app starts as Sherlock.html. I did not see a way to set that as the startup page.

Indeed, the preview button will take you to the root of the project and serve index.html if it's present. We'll make that configurable. In the mean time, to preview you can click on the Sherlock.html link directly.

Am I supposed to add png, jpg, ico files to the project importer? I did this, since they are important. But I had no clue if this was needed?

Nope, it's not necessary and not recommended. The image optimizer will find all images in the project directory, even if they're not managed by the bootstrapper.

Do I understand Live Preview? I edited my HTML file and saved the result (Notepad++) but the change was not updated in Chrome. I had to do a refresh.

Note that the bootstrapper knows which files are needed in each page via dependencies. You should use the dependency system in the bootstrapper rather than manually place <script> and <link> tags to load the resources. If deps are not listed, then there's no live preview... I'm assuming this is the problem.

Check the small icon that looks like a link in the files view (second icon the group).

I am not sure where it is putting the compiled, minified, and build stuff. My assumption this is all stored in a temp cache, and to get results, I have to bundle and create a zip. Is that correct? (this would be good to put int he documentation).

The compiled/minified files are generated when you click "Compile" or "Bundle". Each minified file is placed in the same directory as the original source, but the name is changed from i.e. .js to .min.js.

[DrYSG]

1. Yes, all I was suggesting is to document the proxy issue. Our proxy has a http://username:password@: see isaacs/npm#2866. for all ways you can do this. I found npm config set proxy was the way to go for me.
2. Bootstraper is finding notepad++, but you documentation talked about using VS studio as the editor, so that is why I was hoping for autodiscovery, or at least a document describing how to use bootstraper with VS2012
3. A little more explanation about what the image compiler does (and since I see that its compression is one-way, and I may want to re-use the full res images somewhere else).
4. I do use the script and link in the html. The project was built before bootstraper, and I need this since it is a off-line web app. In addition, I often take pieces and put them up at jsbin's etct. and it is easier for me to link to assets with the script and link tags. You might consider a +1, later on to scan the html file for this, and create dependencies.

[mishoo]

1. I will update the README.
2. Indeed, VS is not on the list of stuff we can autodetect. I'll see what I can do about it.
3. Image optimization runs in-place because it's "lossless compression" — the resulted images are as good, pixel for pixel, as the original (at least that's what the tools we use claim to do, and they are optipng and jpegtran). Just the file size is smaller. For this reason we don't keep the original files.
4. Indeed, there is room for improvement here. I'll keep this on TODO list (auto-detecting what assets are linked in a page and make live preview work).

Not closing this ticket until I address these issues.. Thanks for your feedback!