Oracle JET 2.1.0. missing --web=true serve parameter in hybrid grunt template

Many developers try to work WYSIWYG-style on their projects. Especially in mobile/hybrid projects, many times it comes in handy to develop against a web browser instead of a mobile phone or emulator.

In Oracle JET 2.0.1 it was possible to develop a JET Hybrid application and serve the app via 

grunt serve --platform=android --web=true

which would prebuild the sources for android devices but create a local nodeJS server that runs the application. This meant very fast development, especially in trial and error phases of development.

Since Version 2.1.0 Oracle turned grunt tasks towards own oraclejet grunt tasks (coming with the npm package grunt-oraclejet), which seem not to work well with the old parameters. So the given command results in:

Warning: Flag 'web' not supported! Use --force to continue
Aborted due to warnings.

Even forcing does not change anything to this matter. There might be a "parameter passing" option to the oraclejet grunt build file, but I did not find anything like that. So to keep up the style of developing, we just want to create a new grunt task.

First, we need to use some additional npm packages:

grunt-contrib-connect
grunt-open

You may need to install the packages via 

npm install grunt-contrib-connect --save-dev

resp.

npm install grunt-open --save-dev

You can then change the Gruntfile.js of your project to be the following:

'use strict';

var path = require('path');
module.exports = function(grunt) {

  require("load-grunt-config")(grunt,
  {
    configPath: path.join(process.cwd(), "scripts/grunt/config")
  });

  grunt.loadNpmTasks("grunt-oraclejet");
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-connect');
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-open');

  grunt.initConfig({

  connect: {
    dev: {
      options: {
        port: 8090,
        base: 'hybrid/www',
        keepalive: true
      }
    }
  },
  open : {
    dev : {
      path: 'http://localhost:8090',
    }
  }
});

  grunt.registerTask("build", (buildType) => {
    grunt.task.run([`oraclejet-build:${buildType}`]);
  });

  grunt.registerTask("serve", (buildType) => {
    grunt.task.run([`oraclejet-serve:${buildType}`]);
  });

  grunt.registerTask("test", (buildType) => {
    grunt.task.run(["build","open:dev"]);
  })

  grunt.registerTask("startServer",(buildType) => {
    grunt.task.run(["connect:dev"]);
  })
};

With this gruntfile you can start a local nodeJS Server on your "hardcoded-but-default" web-target folder (hybrid/www) via 

grunt startServer

The command 

grund test

will clean and build your sources in the default platform (android for hybrid apps in OracleJET 2.1.0) and then open your default browser to load the newly build page. 

This is by far not as effective as the --web=true serve-parameter, but it is better than nothing ;)

Have fun to try it yourself, just scaffold your hybrid app (eg:  yo oraclejet:hybrid app --appName="Sample Oracle JET App" --template=navdrawer --platforms=android) and change the gruntfile.js.

Happy Coding!