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Introducing the Kendo UI Bootstrapper

July 23, 2013 Release 0 Comments


Last week, as a part of our Q2 2013 release, we introduced a new tool called the Kendo UI Bootstrapper. The Bootstrapper is a standalone, visual utility that we built from the ground up with the goal of supporting your app development workflow with app scaffolding, live app updates, static code analysis and build tools. The Kendo UI Bootstrapper is not an IDE, and it’s not meant to replace tools like Visual Studio, Sublime Text and Text Mate. Instead, the Kendo UI Bootstrapper works best when used alongside your favorite IDE.

The Kendo UI Bootstrapper was released in BETA form last week via the Kendo UI Labs, but it’s already jam-packed with a ton of useful features. Right out of the gate, you can:

  • Create new projects using a fully-functional template
  • Preview your app during development, including auto-reload when changes to JS, HTML and CSS are detected
  • Work with integrated Kendo UI docs right inside the tool
  • Open your IDE of choice for file editing, from inside the Bootstrapper
  • Run JSHint on project JavaScript code
  • Run the new Kendo Lint tool against your Kendo UI-specific code and configuration.
  • Compile LESS and CoffeeScript files
  • Detect your app’s use of Kendo UI widgets and features and build a custom min.js that only includes those dependencies.
  • Optimize project images
  • Minify, concatenate and bundle project resources

To learn more about the Kendo UI Boostrapper, check out the brief (5 min) overview video below.

Once you’ve seen all the Bootstrapper has to offer, head on over to the Labs to download, install and try out the bootstrapperer for yourself. Be sure to check out the Getting Started guide in the Kendo UI Docs for an overview of everything that’s possible with the Bootstrapper, today.

As I mentioned before, the Bootstrapper is a Beta tool, and there’s still lots we’d like to do before we make it RTM official, including:

  • Create installers for Windows, Mac and Linux
  • Provide richer RequireJS support
  • Add full-fledged support for server-backed projects in Preview mode
  • Add additional new project templates for Kendo UI Web, DataViz and Mobile apps
  • Enhance the visual view of in-app file dependencies.
  • And more…

The “and more” part depends on you! If you take the bootstrapper for a spin and notice something missing, or have a burning requirement, let us know via the Issues list in the GitHub repo.

Enjoy playing with the Bootstrapper, and we can’t wait to hear what you think!

About the Author
 (@BrandonSatrom) is Program Manager for Kendo UI and is based in Austin, TX. A unapologetic lover of the web, Brandon loves to talk about HTML, JavaScript, CSS, open source and whatever new shiny tool or technology has distracted him from that other thing he was working on. Brandon loves writing and speaking and loves hanging out with and learning from other passionate developers, both online and in person. He blogs on occasion at UserInExperience.com

GitHub, Kendo UI

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