localize plugin timestamp in browser, use webpack.DefinePlugin, enable in watch mode

package.json

@@ -104,7 +104,6 @@
     "raw-loader": "^1.0.0",
     "resolve-url-loader": "^3.0.0",
     "sass-loader": "^7.1.0",
-    "string-replace-loader": "^2.1.1",
     "style-loader": "^0.23.1",
     "ts-jest": "^23.10.5",
     "tslint": "^5.12.1",

src/mol-plugin/context.ts

@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ export class PluginContext {
         this.lociLabels = new LociLabelManager(this);
 
         // TODO: find a better solution for this.
-        setTimeout(() => this.log.message(`Mol* Plugin ${PLUGIN_VERSION} [${PLUGIN_VERSION_DATE}]`), 500);
+        setTimeout(() => this.log.message(`Mol* Plugin ${PLUGIN_VERSION} [${PLUGIN_VERSION_DATE.toLocaleString()}]`), 500);
     }
 
     // settings = ;

src/mol-plugin/version.ts

 /**
- * Copyright (c) 2018 mol* contributors, licensed under MIT, See LICENSE file for more info.
+ * Copyright (c) 2018-2019 mol* contributors, licensed under MIT, See LICENSE file for more info.
  *
  * @author David Sehnal <david.sehnal@gmail.com>
+ * @author Alexander Rose <alexander.rose@weirdbyte.de>
  */
 
 export const PLUGIN_VERSION = '0.5.0';
-export const PLUGIN_VERSION_DATE = '$PLUGIN_VERSION_DATE$';
\ No newline at end of file
+/** unix time stamp, to be filled in at bundle build time */
+declare const __PLUGIN_VERSION_TIMESTAMP__: number
+export const PLUGIN_VERSION_TIMESTAMP = __PLUGIN_VERSION_TIMESTAMP__;
+export const PLUGIN_VERSION_DATE = new Date(PLUGIN_VERSION_TIMESTAMP);
\ No newline at end of file

webpack.config.js

 const path = require('path');
+const webpack = require('webpack');
 const ExtraWatchWebpackPlugin = require('extra-watch-webpack-plugin');
 const MiniCssExtractPlugin = require('mini-css-extract-plugin');
 // const CircularDependencyPlugin = require('circular-dependency-plugin');
@@ -28,15 +29,7 @@ const sharedConfig = {
             {
                 test: /\.(s*)css$/,
                 use: [MiniCssExtractPlugin.loader, 'css-loader', 'resolve-url-loader', 'sass-loader']
-            },
-            {
-                test: /version\.js$/,
-                loader: 'string-replace-loader',
-                options: {
-                  search: '$PLUGIN_VERSION_DATE$',
-                  replace: function (date) { return date.getFullYear() + '/' + (date.getMonth() + 1) + '/' + date.getDate() } (new Date()),
-                }
-              }
+            }
         ]
     },
     plugins: [
@@ -54,6 +47,9 @@ const sharedConfig = {
                 './build/src/**/*.html'
             ],
         }),
+        new webpack.DefinePlugin({
+            __PLUGIN_VERSION_TIMESTAMP__: webpack.DefinePlugin.runtimeValue(() => `${new Date().valueOf()}`, true),
+        }),
         new MiniCssExtractPlugin({ filename: 'app.css' })
     ],
     resolve: {