yFiles for HTML Webpack Lazy Load Layout Modules Demo

Webpack Lazy Load Layout Modules Demo

This demo shows how to lazy load specific yFiles modules with webpack 's dynamic import feature.

By default, webpack automatically tree-shakes yFiles and only includes the necessary modules in the bundle.

Additionally, this demo loads yFiles layout functionality lazily and on-demand when an user clicks the layout button in the toolbar.

This technique allows applications to only load the necessary modules for bootstrapping the main application and lazily load functionality on demand during the runtime.

Two fundamental concepts for webpack projects are demonstrated:

Dynamic Imports with yFiles

There are two possible approaches:

  • Import yFiles functionality directly from the respective yFiles ES Module which allows webpack to split yFiles in different chunks.
    This approach is shown in this demo application for the layout functionality when clicking the layout button.
  • Create a separate diagram component that imports from the yfiles meta module. In this case, webpack cannot separate yFiles anymore, however, tree-shaking is still applied such that only the necessary modules are bundled.
    This separate diagram component with yFiles can then be loaded dynamically on demand.

Running the demo

First, install the required npm modules in the demo directory:

> npm install

Development

For development, the webpack dev server offers convenient live reloading support to minimize turnaround times.

The dev server will serve the webpack bundles from memory (no bundles will be created on disc), update the app bundle and refresh the page when changes are made to the source files.

To run the dev server:

> npm start

The webpack dev server will create the bundles in memory and launch the generated index file in a browser.

Note that the npm start script will run webpack once before starting the webpack dev server, so the generated index.html file already exists when the browser first tries to access it.

When the server runs, try making changes to src/webpack-demo.js and see how the app will be updated in the browser immediately.

Debugging of application files in the browser's developer tools should work fine, as source maps are enabled using webpack's " SourceMapDevToolPlugin ".

Production

The following build steps are specific to the production configuration:

  • Append a content-based hash to the bundle filename to enable long-term caching.
  • Minify the bundles using webpack's minification plugin.

To run the production build:

> npm run production

Note that the final minification step of the production build may take some time (the first "done" message is misleading).