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https://github.com/livereload/livereload-js

LiveReload JavaScript code that communicates with the server and implements reloading
https://github.com/livereload/livereload-js

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LiveReload JavaScript code that communicates with the server and implements reloading

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README 

        
LiveReload.js [![CI Status](https://github.com/livereload/livereload-js/workflows/CI/badge.svg)](https://github.com/livereload/livereload-js/actions)

=============



What is LiveReload?

-------------------



LiveReload is a tool for web developers and designers. See [livereload.com](http://livereload.com) for more info.



To use LiveReload, you need a client (this script) in your browser and a server running on your development machine.



This repository (livereload.js) implements the client side of the protocol. The client connects to a LiveReload server via web sockets and listens for incoming change notifications. When a CSS or an image file is modified, it is live-refreshed without reloading the page. When any other file is modified, the page is reloaded.



The server notifies the client whenever a change is made. Available servers are:



* [LiveReload app for Mac](http://livereload.com/)

* [rack-livereload](https://github.com/johnbintz/rack-livereload)

* [guard-livereload](https://github.com/guard/guard-livereload)

* [grunt-contrib-watch](https://github.com/gruntjs/grunt-contrib-watch)

* [python-livereload](https://github.com/lepture/python-livereload)

* more available on Google :-)

* you can even write your own; refer to the [LiveReload protocol](http://livereload.com/api/protocol/)



If you are a web developer looking to _use_ LiveReload, you should refer to your LiveReload server/app/tool's documentation, rather that this repository. **You should use the copy of livereload.js script bundled with your server**, because it's guaranteed to be compatible, and may be customized for that server.



Most LiveReload server vendors will serve livereload.js on the LiveReload port. When your server is running, you can typically access the script at `http://0.0.0.0:35729/livereload.js`.



Please read on *only* if you are:



* using a server that doesn't document the usage of livereload.js

* interested in hacking on livereload.js or want to understand it better

* developing a LiveReload server



What is livereload.js?

----------------------



This repository contains a JavaScript file implementing the client side of the LiveReload protocol. It gets change notifications from a LiveReload server and applies them to the browser.



If you are **developing** a LiveReload server, see [dist/livereload.js](https://github.com/livereload/livereload-js/raw/master/dist/livereload.js) for the latest version built using the sources in this repository. We require LiveReload server vendors to distribute livereload.js as part of their apps or tools.



An old version of this script is also bundled with the LiveReload browser extensions, but it's not getting updated and only serves for compatibility with very old clients. 



Features:



* Live CSS reloading

* Full page reloading

* Protocol, WebSocket communication

* CSS `@import` support

* Live image reloading (``, `background-image` and `border-image` properties, both inline and in stylesheets)

* Live, in-browser LESS.js reloading



Would love, but doesn't seem possible:



* live JS reloading



Installing using Bower

----------------------



This script is published on Bower. (But, to reiterate: the preferred method is to avoid installing it altogether, and instead use the one bundled with your LiveReload server/app/tool.)



Installation:



    bower install livereload-js --save-dev



This gives you a component containing a single script file, `dist/livereload.js`.



Installing using npm and Browserify

-----------------------------------



Including livereload.js into your Browserify bundle probably makes no sense, because livereload.js isn't something you would ship to production.



But if you insist _and_ you know what you're doing, you can install LiveReload via npm:



    npm install livereload-js --save



and then add this to your bundle:



    window.LiveReloadOptions = { host: 'localhost' };

    require('livereload-js');



Note that livereload-js package uses `window` and `document` globals, so won't run under Node.js environment.



The reason you need to specify `LiveReloadOptions` is that `livereload.js` won't be able to find its `` tag and would normally bail out with an error message.



Using livereload.js

-------------------



This script is meant to be included into the web pages you want to monitor, like this:



    <script src="http://localhost:35729/livereload.js">



LiveReload 2 server listens on port `35729` and serves livereload.js over HTTP (besides speaking the web socket protocol on the same port).



A slightly smarter way is to use the host name of the current page, assuming that it is being served from the same computer. This approach enables LiveReload when viewing the web page from other devices on the network:



```html

document.write('<script src="http://'

    + location.host.split(':')[0]

    + ':35729/livereload.js"></'

    + 'script>')

```



However, since `location.host` is empty for `file:` URLs, we need to account for that:



```html

document.write('<script src="http://'

    + (location.host || 'localhost').split(':')[0]

    + ':35729/livereload.js"></'

    + 'script>')

```



LiveReload.js finds a `script` tag that includes `…/livereload.js` and uses it to determine the hostname/port to connect to. It also understands some options from the query string: `host`, `port`, `snipver`, `mindelay` and `maxdelay`.



`snipver` specifies a version of the snippet, so that we can warn when the snippet needs to be updated. The currently recommended `snipver` is version 1:



```html

document.write('<script src="http://'

    + (location.host || 'localhost').split(':')[0]

    + ':35729/livereload.js?snipver=1"></'

    + 'script>')

```



Additionally, you might want to specify `mindelay` and `maxdelay`, which is minimum and maximum reconnection delay in milliseconds (defaulting to `1000` and `60000`).



Alternatively, instead of loading livereload.js from the LiveReload server, you might want to include it from a different URL. In this case, add a `host` parameter to override the host name. For example:



```html



```



Options

-------



Options can either be specified as query parameters of the `` tag's source URL, or as a global `window.LiveReloadOptions` dictionary. If the dictionary is specified, `livereload.js` does not even try looking for its `<script>` tag.



The set of supported options is the same for both methods:



* `host`: the host that runs a LiveReload server; required if specifying `LiveReloadOptions`, otherwise will be autodetected as the origin of the `<script>` tag

* `port`: optional server port override; if set to blank it will inherit the port of the hosting page (and can be put behind a proxy)

* `path`: optional path to livereload server (default: 'livereload')

* `mindelay`, `maxdelay`: range of reconnection delays (if `livereload.js` cannot connect to the server, it will attempt to reconnect with increasing delays); defaults to 1,000 ms minimum and 60,000 ms maximum

* `handshake_timeout`: timeout for a protocol handshake to be completed after a connection attempt; mostly only needed if you're running an interactive debugger on your web socket server

* `isChromeExtension`: reload chrome runtime instead of page when true (default: false)

* `reloadMissingCSS`: prevent reload of CSS when changed stylesheet isn't found in page (default: true)

* `pluginOrder`: overrides plugins launch order; for details see below



### Plugin order



By default LiveReload runs external plugins one by one, then tries live CSS reloading, live IMG reloading, reloads chrome extension and as a last resort reloads the whole page, if no plugin matched the updated file name. So, by default assume `pluginOrder = ['external', 'css', 'img', 'extension', 'others']`.



Alternatively, you can define `pluginOrder` to match your workflow.



If you're using `LiveReloadOptions` object on page, then define array of plugins:



```javascript

var LiveReloadOptions = {

    ...,

    pluginOrder: ['css', 'img'],

    // or

    pluginOrder: 'css img'.split(' ')

}

```



If you're configuring LivReload using `<script>` tag, then use following syntax:



```html

<script src="//livereload.js?pluginOrder=css,img">

```



This means LiveReload will only try to do live `css` and `img` reloading, regardless of any external plugins.



You can specify external plugins order by adding each plugin id into `pluginOrder` or just use `external` to run all external plugins in default order.



Issues & Limitations

--------------------



**Live reloading of imported stylesheets has a 200ms lag.** Modifying a CSS `@import` rule to reference a not-yet-cached file causes WebKit to lose all document styles, so we have to apply a workaround that causes a lag.



Our workaround is to add a temporary `<link />` element for the imported stylesheet we're trying to reload, wait 200ms to make sure WebKit loads the new file, then remove `<link />` and recreate the `@import` rule. This prevents a flash of unstyled content. (We also wait 200 more milliseconds and recreate the `@import` rule again, in case those initial 200ms were not enough.)



**Live image reloading is limited to `<img src="..." />`, `background-image` and `border-image` styles.** Any other places where images can be mentioned?



**Live image reloading is limited to `jpg`, `jpeg`, `gif`, and `png` extensions.** Maybe need to add `svg` there? Anything else?



Communicating with livereload.js

--------------------------------



It is possible to communicate with a running LiveReload script using DOM events:



* fire `LiveReloadShutDown` event on `document` to make LiveReload disconnect and go away

* listen for `LiveReloadConnect` event on `document` to learn when the connection is established

* listen for `LiveReloadDisconnect` event on `document` to learn when the connection is interrupted (or fails to be established)



The `LiveReload` object is also exposed as `window.LiveReload`, with `LiveReload.disconnect()`, `LiveReload.connect()`, and `LiveReload.shutDown()` available. However, I'm not yet sure if I want to keep this API, so consider it non-contractual. (And please tell me if you have a use for it!)



Having trouble?

---------------



To enable debugging output to console, append `?LR-verbose` to your URL.



Hacking on LiveReload.js

------------------------



Requirements:



* Node.js with npm



To install additional prerequisites:



    npm install



To build:



    npm run build



To run tests:



    npm test



Manual testing: open files in `test/html/*` in various browsers, make some changes and make sure they are applied.



Testing the Browserify usage scenario: `npm run test-manual`, then perform manual testing of `test/html/browserified/`.



Releasing a new version

-----------------------



1. Run `npm version` with the applicable identifier (`major`/`minor`/`patch`/...).



1. Do some manual testing.



1. Create a release on GitHub.



1. Run `npm publish`.



License

-------



livereload-js is available under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for details.