Apply code changes in module without removing static data

Question

Every time I change some code when developing a module, I run php bin/magento setup:upgrade. The problem is when executing this command, I end up with the deletion of the static front and admin css file as the command outputs this :

C:\xampp\htdocs\magento>C:\xampp\php\php.exe bin/magento setup:upgrade Cache cleared successfully File system cleanup: C:/xampp/htdocs/magento/var/generation/Composer C:/xampp/htdocs/magento/var/generation/Magento C:/xampp/htdocs/magento/var/generation/Symfony C:/xampp/htdocs/magento/var/generation/Ves The directory 'C:/xampp/htdocs/magento/var/di/' doesn't exist - skipping cleanup C:/xampp/htdocs/magento/pub/static/_requirejs //all static files cleared C:/xampp/htdocs/magento/pub/static/adminhtml //all static files cleared C:/xampp/htdocs/magento/pub/static/deployed_version.txt //all static files cleared C:/xampp/htdocs/magento/pub/static/frontend //all static files cleared C:/xampp/htdocs/magento/var/view_preprocessed/css C:/xampp/htdocs/magento/var/view_preprocessed/source Updating modules: ...

So I'm every time I have to execute php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy to have a full functional front and esepcially backend (to create products, update categories, etc ...) .

My question is, is there any other method to apply code changes, or can I tell the script to ignore some directories (/pub/static/*) ?

Answer 1

You can use this command:

php bin/magento setup:upgrade --keep-generated

Checkout this link for further documentation: http://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.0/install-gde/install/cli/install-cli-uninstall.html#instgde-install-keep

But it would be better to run Magento 2 in developer mode. When you're in developer mode Magento automatically regenerates the pub/static folder when you delete it.

You can activate developer mode via the CLI:

php bin/magento deploy:mode:set developer

More details here http://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.0/config-guide/cli/config-cli-subcommands-mode.html