Versioning your files

Now that your app could be accessed offline, you might still want a way to indicates your user that a new version is available and to make him use it without having to explicitly empty his cache.

With gulp-rev takes care fo that: npm install --save gulp-rev'

This is an example for versioning our css:

rev = require 'gulp-rev'

gulp.task 'styles', ->
  gulp.src parameters.lstyles_main_file
  .pipe less paths: [ path.join(__dirname) ] # or sass()
  .pipe rev()
  .pipe gulp.dest parameters.web_path+'/css'
  .on 'error', gutil.log

Our app.css file is now called app-someHash1234567f.css. We need then to change app.css references in other files, like index.html so the right file is used and the client has no 404s.

gulp-rev docs gives some insights to do that in their (integration guide)[https://github.com/sindresorhus/gulp-rev/blob/master/integration.md]. I personally just replace the references using native replace in JavaScript:

gulp.task 'styles', ->
  gulp.src parameters.styles_main_file
  .pipe less paths: [ path.join(__dirname) ] # or sass()
  .pipe rev()
  .pipe gulp.dest parameters.web_path+'/css'
  .pipe rename 'rev-manifest-css.json' # Generates a manifest to map old file names with new ones
  .pipe gulp.dest parameters.web_path
  .on 'error', gutil.log

gulp.task 'references', ['styles', 'jade'], ->
  revManifest = {}
  # Read file manifests
  for fileName in fs.readdirSync parameters.web_path
    _.extend revManifest, JSON.parse fs.readFileSync parameters.web_path+'/'+fileName, 'utf8' if /^(rev-manifest)/.test fileName

  # Strip absolute paths
  replacements = {}
  for oldFileName, revFileName of revManifest
    replacements[oldFileName.replace(parameters.app_path, '')] = revFileName.replace(parameters.app_path, '')

  # Replace paths in index.html
  gulpStream = gulp.src [parameters.web_path+'/index.html']
  gulpStream.setMaxListeners 20 # Increase listener limit to avoid warning message from node
  for oldFileName, revFileName of replacements
    gulpStream.pipe replace new RegExp(oldFileName, 'g'), revFileName
  gulpStream.pipe gulp.dest parameters.web_path