Gulp 3 Last Run

An implementation of Gulp 4.x's lastRun method for Gulp 3.x.

This is a utility, not a plugin. It does not act on files or streams nor does it meet other requirements defined by Gulp to be considered a plugin.

Why?

To take advantage of a helpful feature from Gulp 4.x without waiting for it to be released or upgrading from 3.x to 4.x. The original intent is to provide a timestamp value that can be used for filtering.

Installation

npm install --save-dev gulp3-last-run

Usage

Use Gulp 3 Last Run in combination with gulp-filter-since:

const gulp = require('gulp');
const gulp3LastRun = require('gulp3-last-run');
const gulpLoadPlugins = require('gulp-load-plugins');
 
const $ = gulpLoadPlugins();
const taskLastRun = gulp3LastRun(gulp);
 
gulp.task('scripts', function(){
  const lastRunMs = taskLastRun.retrieveThenCapture('scripts');
  return gulp.src('app/scripts/**/*.js')
    .pipe($.filterSince(lastRunMs))
    .pipe($.babel())
    .pipe(gulp.dest('dist/scripts'))
  ;
});
 
gulp.task('watch', ['scripts'], function(){
  gulp.watch('app/scripts/**/*.js', ['scripts']);
});

or, use it in combination with vinyl-filter-since and gulp-if:

const gulp = require('gulp');
const gulp3LastRun = require('gulp3-last-run');
const gulpLoadPlugins = require('gulp-load-plugins');
const vinylFilterSince = require('vinyl-filter-since');
 
const $ = gulpLoadPlugins();
const taskLastRun = gulp3LastRun(gulp);
 
gulp.task('scripts', function(){
  const lastRunMs = taskLastRun.retrieveThenCapture('scripts');
  return gulp.src('app/scripts/**/*.js')
    .pipe($.if(!!lastRunMs, vinylFilterSince(lastRunMs)))
    .pipe($.babel())
    .pipe(gulp.dest('dist/scripts'))
  ;
});
 
gulp.task('watch', ['scripts'], function(){
  gulp.watch('app/scripts/**/*.js', ['scripts']);
});

API

gulp3LastRun(gulpInstance)

Returns a plain object containing static methods that act on a reference to a gulp object to get and set last run times. It is basically a wrapper for the last-run module.

gulpInstance

Type: Object

A reference to the gulp module.

taskLastRun.retrieveThenCapture(taskName[, options])

retrieveThenCapture is a convenience method not found in the last-run module. It executes the retrieve method then the capture method with a single method call.

1. Retrieves the current last run for a given task, as a number representing milliseconds.
2. Immediately captures a new last run time
3. Returns the retrieved last run value (whatever it was before the capture). Returns undefined if the task function has not been previously captured.

taskName

Type: String

A string that is used to retrieve the task function from the gulp instance. The task function is then used as the fn argument for last-run module method arguments.

options

Type: Object

Options for each method can be provided as option and will be passed to their respective last-run methods if provided.

options.retrieveTimeResolution

Type: Number

Assuming lastRun(fn) returns 1426000001111, lastRun(fn, 1000) returns 1426000001000.

Source: lastRun(fn, [timeResolution]) => [Timestamp]

options.captureTimestamp

Type: Number

If passed the optional timestamp, captures that time instead of Date.now(). The captured timestamp can then be retrieved using the lastRun function.

Source: lastRun.capture(fn, [timestamp])

taskLastRun.capture(taskName[, timestamp]),
taskLastRun.release(taskName), and
taskLastRun.retrieve(taskName[, timeResolution])

taskName

Type: String

A string that is used to retrieve the task function from the gulp instance. The task function is then used as the fn argument for last-run module method arguments.

(other arguments)

Other arguments are passed directly to their last-run module counterparts. gulp3-last-run's retrieve method is the counter part for last-run's main method.

See last-run's API documentation for more information about each of these methods.