Passing a variable to PhantomJS via exec

Question

I\'m getting started with Grunt and wanting to pass a variable to a PhantomJS script I\'m running via exec. What I want to be able to do is pass a url in for the script to t

Answer 1

Here is an easy way to pass and pick args that are applicable. Very flexible and easy to maintain.

---

Use like:

phantomjs tests/script.js --test-id=457 --log-dir=somedir/

OR

phantomjs tests/script.js --log-dir=somedir/ --test-id=457

OR

phantomjs tests/script.js --test-id=457 --log-dir=somedir/

OR

phantomjs tests/script.js --test-id=457

Script:

var system = require('system');
// process args
var args = system.args;

// these args will be processed
var argsApplicable = ['--test-id', '--log-dir'];
// populated with the valid args provided in availableArgs but like argsValid.test_id
var argsValid = {};

if (args.length === 1) {
  console.log('Try to pass some arguments when invoking this script!');
} else {
  args.forEach(function(arg, i) {
    // skip first arg which is script name
    if(i != 0) {
      var bits = arg.split('=');
      //console.log(i + ': ' + arg);
      if(bits.length !=2) {
        console.log('Arguement has wrong format: '+arg);
      }
      if(argsApplicable.indexOf(bits[0]) != -1) {
        var argVar = bits[0].replace(/\-/g, '_');
        argVar = argVar.replace(/__/, '');
        argsValid[argVar] = bits[1];
      }
    }
  });
}
// enable below to test args
//require('utils').dump(argsValid);
//phantom.exit();