feat(cli): do not require webDir when server.url is set

cli/src/android/update.ts

@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import {
   getPlugins,
   printPlugins,
 } from '../plugin';
+import { copy as copyTask } from '../tasks/copy';
 import { convertToUnixPath } from '../util/fs';
 import { resolveNode } from '../util/node';
 import { extractTemplate } from '../util/template';
@@ -56,6 +57,9 @@ export async function updateAndroid(config: Config): Promise<void> {
   if (cordovaPlugins.length > 0) {
     await copyPluginsNativeFiles(config, cordovaPlugins);
   }
+  if (!(await pathExists(config.android.webDirAbs))) {
+    await copyTask(config, platform);
+  }
   await handleCordovaPluginsJS(cordovaPlugins, config, platform);
   await checkPluginDependencies(plugins, platform);
   await installGradlePlugins(config, capacitorPlugins, cordovaPlugins);

cli/src/common.ts

@@ -19,6 +19,11 @@ export async function check(checks: CheckFunction[]): Promise<void> {
 }
 
 export async function checkWebDir(config: Config): Promise<string | null> {
+  // We can skip checking the web dir if a server URL is set.
+  if (config.app.extConfig.server?.url) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
   const invalidFolders = ['', '.', '..', '../', './'];
   if (invalidFolders.includes(config.app.webDir)) {
     return `"${config.app.webDir}" is not a valid value for webDir`;

cli/src/cordova.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import {
   copy,
   ensureDir,
+  mkdirp,
   pathExists,
   readFile,
   remove,
@@ -29,7 +30,6 @@ import {
   getPlugins,
   printPlugins,
 } from './plugin';
-import { copy as copyTask } from './tasks/copy';
 import { resolveNode } from './util/node';
 import { buildXmlElement, parseXML, readXML, writeXML } from './util/xml';
 
@@ -291,9 +291,9 @@ export async function handleCordovaPluginsJS(
   config: Config,
   platform: string,
 ): Promise<void> {
-  if (!(await pathExists(await getWebDir(config, platform)))) {
-    await copyTask(config, platform);
-  }
+  const webDir = await getWebDir(config, platform);
+  await mkdirp(webDir);
+
   if (cordovaPlugins.length > 0) {
     printPlugins(cordovaPlugins, platform, 'cordova');
     await copyCordovaJS(config, platform);

cli/src/ios/update.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,11 @@
-import { copy, remove, readFile, realpath, writeFile } from '@ionic/utils-fs';
+import {
+  copy,
+  remove,
+  pathExists,
+  readFile,
+  realpath,
+  writeFile,
+} from '@ionic/utils-fs';
 import { basename, dirname, join, relative } from 'path';
 
 import c from '../colors';
@@ -20,6 +27,7 @@ import {
   getPlugins,
   printPlugins,
 } from '../plugin';
+import { copy as copyTask } from '../tasks/copy';
 import { convertToUnixPath } from '../util/fs';
 import { resolveNode } from '../util/node';
 import { runCommand } from '../util/subprocess';
@@ -48,6 +56,9 @@ export async function updateIOS(
   if (cordovaPlugins.length > 0) {
     await copyPluginsNativeFiles(config, cordovaPlugins);
   }
+  if (!(await pathExists(await config.ios.webDirAbs))) {
+    await copyTask(config, platform);
+  }
   await handleCordovaPluginsJS(cordovaPlugins, config, platform);
   await checkPluginDependencies(plugins, platform);
   await generateCordovaPodspecs(cordovaPlugins, config);

cli/src/tasks/copy.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { copy as fsCopy, remove, writeJSON } from '@ionic/utils-fs';
+import { copy as fsCopy, pathExists, remove, writeJSON } from '@ionic/utils-fs';
 import { basename, join, relative } from 'path';
 
 import c from '../colors';
@@ -104,6 +104,21 @@ async function copyWebDir(config: Config, nativeAbsDir: string) {
   const webRelDir = basename(webAbsDir);
   const nativeRelDir = relative(config.app.rootDir, nativeAbsDir);
 
+  if (config.app.extConfig.server?.url && !(await pathExists(webAbsDir))) {
+    logger.warn(
+      `Cannot copy web assets from ${c.strong(
+        webRelDir,
+      )} to ${nativeRelDir}\n` +
+        `Web asset directory specified by ${c.input(
+          'webDir',
+        )} does not exist. This is not an error because ${c.input(
+          'server.url',
+        )} is set in config.`,
+    );
+
+    return;
+  }
+
   await runTask(
     `Copying web assets from ${c.strong(webRelDir)} to ${nativeRelDir}`,
     async () => {