How To Build and Deploy Dart App With Client and Server Code

Question

I am new to Dart. I created a simple web app with client and server code. My app directory structure is as follows:

MyProject
    pubspec.yaml
    build.dart
    Procfile
    server.dart
    /web
        client.html
        client.dart

The following is the contents of build.dart, which was generated automatically by DartEditor

import 'package:polymer/builder.dart';

main(args) {
  build(entryPoints: ['web/client.html'],
        options: parseOptions(args));
}

Can I build both the client and server using one build.dart? How can I build my server.dart along with the client side?

Answer 1

Your server, which I'm assuming is similar to an HTTP server to be used via CLI or run as a daemon on a server somewhere else, does not need to be built. The build process run through the dart2js compiler and generate javascript output. In this case, your server should be run by the Dart VM and need not be compiled.

Most likely you would just want the server to serve files from the build/ directory. Additionally since the pub command can now build Polymer files, it is recommended to use pub build as opposed to the build script for building your files. Just ensure you add these 3 lines to your pubspec.yaml file:

transformers:
- polymer:
    entry_points: web/client.html