Current WebPack configuration doesn't support TypeScript dependencies

[micahswitzer]

Because we are directly including the vmmx-schema in this project as a npm dependency, there is no "compilation" down to regular ES5. Because of this, if you try importing any non-type information (enums in my case), webpack will complain that it doesn't understand it.

Example:

import { NoteNames } from "vmmx-schema/notes";

export function getNoteValue(note: string): number {
  return NoteNames[note];
}

Webpack Error:

Failed to compile.

./node_modules/vmmx-schema/note_names.ts 3:7
Module parse failed: Unexpected token (3:7)
You may need an appropriate loader to handle this file type, currently no loaders are configured to process this file. See https://webpack.js.org/concepts#loaders
| // MIDI defines 0= C-1, 127 = G9
| // 53 = F3, Standard Vibraphone is F3 to F6
> export enum NoteNames {
|       C_1,
|       CS_1,

I don't know what the best way forward is from here, so I'd appreciate some input. For now I'm manually copying the enum over to my code, but this is definitely a hack and needs to be fixed as soon as possible.

[mawi12345]

I would suggest that all packages are maintained in a single repository (example). This way we can easily import the typescript packages from the workspace. I use lerna for this. If you are interested in restructuring the source code, I can contribute to this. After that it is easy to create new packages and further modularize the code base.

[mozi-h]

@mawi12345 The reason we split in the first place, was to make it easy for others to import the scheme without the need of importing the whole of virtual-mmx.
We obviously need to import the schema into virtual-mmx – ideally without creating a npm module, whilst keeping it simple and having Intellisense available.

I suppose a monorepo is unavoidable; what would you recommend for the above needs?

[mawi12345]

I would use a lerna monorepo and release the packages individually on npm. We use the same approche at work. Users can import the single packages from npm and the development / testing is easier in an monorepo. Also webpack hot reloading across the hole monorepo is possible and saves a lot of time.

[micahswitzer]

@mawi12345 do you want to take a stab at setting this up? Preserving as much of the original git history would be great, but at this stage I guess it doesn't matter too much.

[Udayraj123]

Can we not setup ts-loader for it @micahswitzer?
Also, there's an ongoing proposal for a manual webpack configuration, we can include ts-loader there - #26

[Udayraj123]

Relevant discussion - microsoft/TypeScript#12358

As for the recommendation, publish .js + .d.ts. this way your users do not have to compile your sources each time they need to refer to your library.

[Udayraj123]

For now, enabled compiling the ts file in usual builds. Slightly increasing dev build times #34

@mozi-h can you verify if this issue can be closed?

[mozi-h]

As far as I get it, #34 closes this; added automatic handling by adding Resolves #22 to #34's description, @Udayraj123.

[Udayraj123]

@mozi-h I am guessing it will happen when we merge it into master. I've just merged #34 into dev.
Closing manually as this qualifies as a dev issue. @mozi-h @micahswitzer feel free to reopen