How can I integrate Bower with Gulp.js?

Question

I am trying to write a gulp task that does a few things

1. Install the Bower dependencies
2. Concat those dependencies into one file in the order of the dependencies

I was hoping to do this without having to specify the paths to those dependencies. I know there is the command bower list --paths but I am unsure of if it is possible to tie it together.

Any thoughts?

Edit

So I am trying to use the gulp-bower-files and I am getting an eaccess error and its not generating the concatenated file.

gulpfile.js

var gulp = require('gulp');
var bower = require('bower');
var concat = require('gulp-concat');
var bower_files = require('gulp-bower-files');

gulp.task("libs", function(){
    bower_files()
    .pipe(concat('./libs.js'))
    .pipe(gulp.dest("/"));
});

bower.json

{
  "name": "ember-boilerplate",
  "version": "0.0.0",
  "dependencies": {
    "ember": "1.6.0-beta.1",
    "ember-data": "1.0.0-beta.7"
  }
}

and I keep coming across this error

events.js:72
        throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
              ^
Error: EACCES, open '/libs.js'

Answer 1

Use main-bower-files

It grabs all production (main) files of your Bower packages defined in your project's bower.json and use them as your gulp src for your task.

integrate it in your gulpfile:

var mainBowerFiles = require('main-bower-files');

I made this task that grabs all production files, filters css/js/fonts and outputs them in the public folder in their respective subfolders (css/js/fonts).

Here's an example:

var gulp = require('gulp');

// define plug-ins
var flatten = require('gulp-flatten');
var gulpFilter = require('gulp-filter'); // 4.0.0+
var uglify = require('gulp-uglify');
var minifycss = require('gulp-minify-css');
var rename = require('gulp-rename');
var mainBowerFiles = require('main-bower-files');

// Define paths variables
var dest_path =  'www';
// grab libraries files from bower_components, minify and push in /public
gulp.task('publish-components', function() {

        var jsFilter = gulpFilter('**/*.js');
        var cssFilter = gulpFilter('**/*.css');
        var fontFilter = gulpFilter(['**/*.eot', '**/*.woff', '**/*.svg', '**/*.ttf']);

        return gulp.src(mainBowerFiles())

        // grab vendor js files from bower_components, minify and push in /public
        .pipe(jsFilter)
        .pipe(gulp.dest(dest_path + '/js/'))
        .pipe(uglify())
        .pipe(rename({
            suffix: ".min"
        }))
        .pipe(gulp.dest(dest_path + '/js/'))
        .pipe(jsFilter.restore())

        // grab vendor css files from bower_components, minify and push in /public
        .pipe(cssFilter)
        .pipe(gulp.dest(dest_path + '/css'))
        .pipe(minifycss())
        .pipe(rename({
            suffix: ".min"
        }))
        .pipe(gulp.dest(dest_path + '/css'))
        .pipe(cssFilter.restore())

        // grab vendor font files from bower_components and push in /public
        .pipe(fontFilter)
        .pipe(flatten())
        .pipe(gulp.dest(dest_path + '/fonts'));
});

Answer 2

I was attempting to run the listed gulpfile and ran into a couple errors. First gulpFilter.restore is not a function, and secondly if you plan on restoring the filtered files you need to pass {restore: true} when you define your filters. Like so:

// gulpfile.js

var mainBowerFiles = require('main-bower-files');

var gulp = require('gulp');

// define plug-ins
var flatten = require('gulp-flatten'),
  gulpFilter = require('gulp-filter'),
  uglify = require('gulp-uglify'),
  minifycss = require('gulp-minify-css'),
  rename = require('gulp-rename'),
  mainBowerFiles = require('main-bower-files');

// Define paths variables
var dest_path =  'www';

// grab libraries files from bower_components, minify and push in /public
gulp.task('publish-components', function() {
  var jsFilter = gulpFilter('*.js', {restore: true}),
      cssFilter = gulpFilter('*.css', {restore: true}),
      fontFilter = gulpFilter(['*.eot', '*.woff', '*.svg', '*.ttf'], {restore: true});

  return gulp.src(mainBowerFiles())

  // grab vendor js files from bower_components, minify and push in /public
  .pipe(jsFilter)
  .pipe(gulp.dest(dest_path + '/js/'))
  .pipe(uglify())
  .pipe(rename({
    suffix: ".min"
  }))
  .pipe(gulp.dest(dest_path + '/js/'))
  .pipe(jsFilter.restore)

  // grab vendor css files from bower_components, minify and push in /public
  .pipe(cssFilter)
  .pipe(gulp.dest(dest_path + '/css'))
  .pipe(minifycss())
  .pipe(rename({
      suffix: ".min"
  }))
  .pipe(gulp.dest(dest_path + '/css'))
  .pipe(cssFilter.restore)

  // grab vendor font files from bower_components and push in /public
  .pipe(fontFilter)
  .pipe(flatten())
  .pipe(gulp.dest(dest_path + '/fonts'));
});

After the changes mentioned it ran perfectly. :)