CODEWITHSUNDEEP
visual-studio-2012less
Steve
Steve

Reputation: 14922

Better LESS compiler options for Visual Studio?

I'm new to VS, coming from the Mac where I used the excellent CodeKit for LESS compiling. I've installed the Web Essentials add-on, so I have basic LESS support and compiling.

The major shortcoming with this plugin is when saving files that are imported into a main.less file, the main.less file does not compile unless I open it specifically and save it.

I'd prefer a solution like CodeKit, which would compile the parent file if any of the children are modified. Are there any other plugins, even commercial ones, which do this?

There's an option in Web Essentials to "compile all LESS files", which would almost do what I want, but it throws an error:

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Upvotes: 1

Views: 578

Answers (2)

Anirudha Gupta
Anirudha Gupta

Reputation: 9299

I personally prefer http://wearekiss.com/simpless You can use it even in Express edition since it's not integrated inside VS.

Just open the Simpless drag and drop the file and it will compile your file automatically when they has been modified from your VS (or any of editor).

Web Essential is also have suggest in someone answer.

Upvotes: 0

jessehouwing
jessehouwing

Reputation: 115037

In WebEssentials there is an option (tools>Options>WebEssentials>Less) to Compile all files on Build, which you'll probably do before publishing anyway. You might want to add your votes to the UserVoice ticket for this issue.

BundleTransformer allows you to have ASP.NET do the transformations on the fly (at runtime), having it compile, minify and compress all in one go. You won't have to recompile your files inside Visual Studio itself. You can keep using WebEssentials for intellisense.

And then there is the Mindscape Web Workbench which provides similar functionality as Webessentials. Their Pro edition ($) can also compile files on save & build.

Upvotes: 1

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