Hello everyone, we are trying to build a (small) ...

# multiplatform

[Goetz Markgraf]

Hello everyone,

we are trying to build a (small) full stack web application with Kotlin, consisting of
• HTTP backend with Rest-Calls on Kotlin/JVM with ktor
• SPA Web Frontend with React on Kotlin/JS with ktor client
The “new project” wizard “Kotlin Multiplatform | Full-Stack Web Application” creates a nice start for that. But I struggle with adjusting the project to the following needs:
1. be able to start frontend (webpack) and backend (ktor app) both in watch mode so that I have fast feedback.
2. be able to build a fat jar file for redistribution
I was able to achieve some of it with these tasks:
1. create an index.html in the frontend static folder and remove the route index in the backend
2. add a webpack.config.d with the devServer proxy settings
3. start webpack after the server so that it picks its own port
However, there are some things in need of improvement:
• the client is still always included in the backend if I run the server. I’d like to have the client only included when I produce a fat jar for production
• I cannot start the server in watch mode. -t simply does not have any effect
• I would like to get rid of the webpack.config.d and rather add some type safe config in the gradle build file
Can someone help? Or does someone has another project template for this?

Thank you for your help

[Arjan van Wieringen]

Ktor has a reload function: https://ktor.io/docs/auto-reload.html

[Goetz Markgraf]

@Arjan van Wieringen, this docu show how to run gradle build in watch mode – but that does not work in run mode. If I setup accordingly and run ./gradlew -t run the application launches, even show the paths it will watch on, but does not recompile and restart after a file is changed.

[Goetz Markgraf]

And I have seen, that “new project” wizard “Kotlin Multiplatform | Full-Stack Web Application” generates a setup with configuration in code and not in file. How do I switch modes?