Download the skeleton project for this tutorial (grunt-skeleton.zip).

The project is an empty SAPUI5 project, with only a view that displays a title. The title comes from a TypeScript class.

The project will not run until we build the project (including converting the TypeScript file into JavaScript) and run the project from the generated dist folder.

In the SAP Web IDE Development perspective, right-click Workspace and select Import | From File System.

Browse to the file you downloaded, and click OK.

You should now have a new project called grunt-skeleton.

Right-click the project and choose New | File, enter package.json.

In the file enter the following code:

{
	"name": "grunt-skeleton",
	"version": "0.0.1",
	"description": "Grunt build",
	"private": true,
	"dependencies": {
		"grunt-ts": "X.X.X",
		"@sap/grunt-sapui5-bestpractice-build": "1.3.17"
	}
}

Here we not only used the SAPUI5 Grunt plugin, but also a publicly available plugin, grunt-ts, for compiling TypeScript into JavaScript.

Right-click your project and choose New | File, enter Gruntfile.js.

In the file enter the following skeleton:

module.exports = function(grunt) {
	"use strict";
	var webAppDir = "webapp";

  //

};

Add the following code to your Gruntfile.js. The code configures the ts and copy tasks.

var config = {
  ts: {
    default: {
      src: ["**/*.ts", "!node_modules/**"]
    }
  },

  copy: {
    copyToTmp: {
      files: [{
          expand: true,
          src: '**/*.js',
          dest: '<%= dir.tmpDir %>',
          cwd: '<%= dir.webapp %>',
          filter: function(filepath) {
            // prevent js from localService to be copied
            return !filepath.match(new RegExp('<%= dir.webapp %>' + '(\\/|\\\\)localService', 'gi'));
          }
        }, {
          expand: true,
          src: '**/*.css',
          dest: '<%= dir.tmpDir %>',
          cwd: '<%= dir.webapp %>'
        },

        {
          expand: true,
          src: 'localService/metadata.xml',
          dest: '<%= dir.tmpDir %>',
          cwd: '<%= dir.webapp %>'
        }, {
          expand: true,
          src: '**/*',
          dest: '<%= dir.tmpDir %>',
          cwd: '<%= dir.webapp %>',
          filter: function(filepath) {
            // prevent js and css files and contents of webapp/test from being copied
            return !filepath.match(new RegExp("(" + webAppDir +
              "(\\/|\\\\)test|${webAppDir}(\\/|\\\\)localService|\\.js$|\\.css$|\\.ts$|\\test.html$)", "gi"));
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
};

You put the configuration into a variable (config) so that we can later merge it with the existing configuration already initialized behind the scenes for the SAPUI5 plugin. This is why we did not use grunt.config.init or grunt.initConfig to do the configuration.

You may get a JavaScript error for using the keyword default. Ignore the error.

Add the following code to your Gruntfile.js.

grunt.loadNpmTasks("@sap/grunt-sapui5-bestpractice-build");
grunt.config.merge(config);
grunt.loadNpmTasks("grunt-ts");

The code loads the plugins, and merges the configuration you created for the grunt-ts plugin with the configuration created behind the scenes for the SAPUI5 plugin.

Add the following code to your Gruntfile.js.

grunt.registerTask('cleanTs', 'Clean type script build result', function() {
  grunt.file.expand({
    cwd: grunt.config.data.dir.webapp
  }, '**/*.ts').forEach(function(file) {
    var jsFile = grunt.config.data.dir.webapp + '/' + file.replace(/[^\\/:*?"<>|\r\n]ts$/, ".js");
    if (grunt.file.exists(jsFile)) {
      grunt.file.delete(jsFile, {
        force: true
      });
    }
    var mapFile = grunt.config.data.dir.webapp + '/' + file.replace(/[^\\/:*?"<>|\r\n]ts$/, ".js.map");
    if (grunt.file.exists(mapFile)) {
      grunt.file.delete(mapFile, {
        force: true
      });
    }
  });
});

The code creates the cleanTs task, which checks if a JavaScript file already exists for each TypeScript file that will be converted. if so, it is deleted.

Add the following code to your Gruntfile.js.

grunt.registerTask('default', [		
  'clean',		
  'ts',
  'build',		
  'cleanTs',
  'lint'
]);

The code creates the default task, which runs when you choose Build.

Here is the entire Gruntfile.js code:

module.exports = function(grunt) {
	"use strict";
	var webAppDir = "webapp";

	var config = {
		ts: {
			default: {
				src: ["**/*.ts", "!node_modules/**"]
			}
		},

		copy: {
			copyToTmp: {
				files: [{
						expand: true,
						src: '**/*.js',
						dest: '<%= dir.tmpDir %>',
						cwd: '<%= dir.webapp %>',
						filter: function(filepath) {
							// prevent js from localService to be copied
							return !filepath.match(new RegExp('<%= dir.webapp %>' + '(\\/|\\\\)localService', 'gi'));
						}
					}, {
						expand: true,
						src: '**/*.css',
						dest: '<%= dir.tmpDir %>',
						cwd: '<%= dir.webapp %>'
					},

					{
						expand: true,
						src: 'localService/metadata.xml',
						dest: '<%= dir.tmpDir %>',
						cwd: '<%= dir.webapp %>'
					}, {
						expand: true,
						src: '**/*',
						dest: '<%= dir.tmpDir %>',
						cwd: '<%= dir.webapp %>',
						filter: function(filepath) {
							// prevent js and css files and contents of webapp/test from being copied
							return !filepath.match(new RegExp("(" + webAppDir +
								"(\\/|\\\\)test|${webAppDir}(\\/|\\\\)localService|\\.js$|\\.css$|\\.ts$|\\test.html$)", "gi"));
						}
					}
				]
			}
		}
	};
	grunt.loadNpmTasks("@sap/grunt-sapui5-bestpractice-build");

	grunt.config.merge(config);

	grunt.loadNpmTasks("grunt-ts");


	grunt.registerTask('cleanTs', 'Clean type script build result', function() {
		grunt.file.expand({
			cwd: grunt.config.data.dir.webapp
		}, '**/*.ts').forEach(function(file) {
			var jsFile = grunt.config.data.dir.webapp + '/' + file.replace(/[^\\/:*?"<>|\r\n]ts$/, ".js");
			if (grunt.file.exists(jsFile)) {
				grunt.file.delete(jsFile, {
					force: true
				});
			}
			var mapFile = grunt.config.data.dir.webapp + '/' + file.replace(/[^\\/:*?"<>|\r\n]ts$/, ".js.map");
			if (grunt.file.exists(mapFile)) {
				grunt.file.delete(mapFile, {
					force: true
				});
			}
		});
	});

	grunt.registerTask('default', [		
		'clean',		
		'ts',
		'build',		
		'cleanTs',
		'lint'
	]);

};

Save both files by selecting File | Save All (or by pressing Ctrl-Shift-S).

Right-click your project and choose Build.

When the build finishes, a new dist folder is created in your project and is automatically added to .gitignore, ensuring that the folder is not checked in the project’s Git repository.

Notice that the file webapp\controller\TitleHandler.ts has been compiled into the JavaScript files dist\controller\TitleHandler-dbg.js and dist\controller\TitleHandler.js,map.

You can see any build errors in the console, which you can display by going to View | Console.

Right-click on the file dist\index.html and select Run | Run as | Web Application.

The application will run and you will see the title of the view, which is derived from the TypeScript class TitleGenerator and returned by the getTitle() method in TitleHandler.ts.

sap.ui.define(function() {
	"use strict";
	class TitleGenerator {
		constructor(public title: string) { }
		getTitle() {
			var d = new Date(Date.now());
    		return this.title + ": " + d.toLocaleString();
		}
	}

	return {
		getTitle: function() {
			var a : TitleGenerator = new TitleGenerator("Title from TitleGenerator")
			return a.getTitle();
		}
	};
}, "", []);

The method getTitle() is called from within the View1 controller.