Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
fix(typescript): update documentation now that ts_project is recommended
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
We don't deprecated ts_library yet
  • Loading branch information
Alex Eagle committed Mar 22, 2021
1 parent 4859a0f commit b1a8220
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Showing 4 changed files with 207 additions and 313 deletions.
4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions packages/typescript/BUILD.bazel
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -63,10 +63,10 @@ genrule(
name = "generate_README",
srcs = [
"index.md",
"install.md",
"_README.md",
],
outs = ["README.md"],
cmd = """cat $(execpath install.md) $(execpath index.md) | sed 's/^##/\\\n##/' > $@""",
cmd = """cat $(execpath _README.md) $(execpath index.md) | sed 's/^##/\\\n##/' > $@""",
tags = ["fix-windows"],
visibility = ["//docs:__pkg__"],
)
Expand Down
129 changes: 129 additions & 0 deletions packages/typescript/_README.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
# TypeScript rules for Bazel

The TypeScript rules integrate the TypeScript compiler with Bazel.

## Alternatives

This package provides Bazel wrappers around the TypeScript compiler.

At a high level, there are three alternatives provided: `tsc`, `ts_project`, `ts_library`.
This section describes the trade-offs between these rules.

### tsc

`tsc` is the TypeScript compiler published by the team at Microsoft.
You can call it without any custom Bazel rules.

To use this option, you **do not need to install the `@bazel/typescript` package**.

The only reason to use raw `tsc` is if you want to compile a directory of `.ts` files and cannot enumerate them ahead-of-time in your BUILD file so that Bazel can predict all the output files.
(For example if the `.ts` files are generated by some tool).
This will produce an opaque directory of `.js` file outputs, which you won't be able to individually reference.

Any other use case for `tsc` is better served by using `ts_project`, see below.

Like we do for any npm package that exposes a binary, rules_nodejs will see your dependency on
`typescript` and will generate an `index.bzl` file allowing you to run `tsc`.
To use it, add the load statement `load("@npm//typescript:index.bzl", "tsc")` to your BUILD file.
(Possibly replacing `@npm` with the name of the repository where you installed dependencies)

Then call it, using the [`npm_package_bin`](Built-ins#npm_package_bin) documentation.

Here is an example:
https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs/blob/stable/internal/node/test/BUILD.bazel#L491-L507

### ts_project

`ts_project` simply runs `tsc --project`, with Bazel knowing which outputs to expect based on the TypeScript compiler options, and with interoperability with other TypeScript rules via a Bazel Provider (DeclarationInfo) that transmits the type information.

It is intended as an easy on-boarding for existing TypeScript code and should be familiar if your background is in frontend ecosystem idioms.

Any behavior of `ts_project` should be reproducible outside of Bazel, with a couple of caveats noted in the rule documentation below.

`ts_project` is recommended for all new code.

Exhaustive examples of calling `ts_project` are in the test suite:
https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs/tree/stable/packages/typescript/test/ts_project

And there are also many uses of it in our <examples>

### ts_library

`ts_library` should not be used for new code, and may be deprecated in the future.

`ts_library` is an open-sourced version of the rule used to compile TS code at Google.
However there is no support from the team that maintains that internal version.
It is very complex, involving code generation of the `tsconfig.json` file, a custom compiler binary, and a lot of extra features.

It is also opinionated, and may not work with existing TypeScript code. For example:

- Your TS code must compile under the `--declaration` flag so that downstream libraries depend only on types, not implementation. This makes Bazel faster by avoiding cascading rebuilds in cases where the types aren't changed.
- We control the output format and module syntax so that downstream rules can rely on them.
- Some other options are incompatible. For example you cannot use the `--noEmit` compiler option in `tsconfig.json`.

The only reason to use `ts_library` for new code is if you are bought-in to using a [concatjs] bundler, which requires the named AMD module format. This may be faster than other tooling, and this format can be consumed by the Closure Compiler (via integration with [tsickle](https://github.com/angular/tsickle)).
However it is very challenging to configure and there is little available support for problems you'll run into.

[concatjs]: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@bazel/concatjs

## Installation

Add a `devDependency` on `@bazel/typescript`

```sh
$ yarn add -D @bazel/typescript
# or
$ npm install --save-dev @bazel/typescript
```

Watch for any `peerDependency` warnings - we assume you have already installed the `typescript` package from npm.

## Typical Usage

The `ts_project` rule invokes the TypeScript compiler on one compilation unit,
or "library" (generally one directory of source files). In TypeScript terms, this is one "Project"
which can use "Project References" to break up a large application.

Create a `BUILD` file next to your sources:

```starlark
load("//packages/typescript:index.bzl", "ts_project")

ts_project(
name = "my_code",
# glob is a quick way to select all the code,
# but has performance penalty in that Bazel must evaluate it.
srcs = glob(["*.ts"]),
deps = ["//path/to/other:library"],
)
```

Here, `//path/to/other:library` is another target in your repo that produces TypeScript typings (for example, another `ts_project` rule). To use third-party libraries from npm, first install them (likely using `npm_install` or `yarn_install` rules) then add those to the `deps` as well:

```starlark
ts_library(
name = "my_code",
srcs = glob(["*.ts"]),
deps = [
"@npm//@types/node",
"@npm//@types/foo",
"@npm//somelib",
"//path/to/other:library",
],
)
```

You can also use the `@npm//@types` grouping target which will include all
packages in the `@types` scope as dependencies.

To build a `ts_library` target run:

`bazel build //path/to/package:target`

Note that the `tsconfig.json` file used for compilation should be the same one
your editor references, or `extends` from it, to keep consistent settings for the TypeScript compiler.

Anything you do with TypeScript is possible with `ts_project`, including json imports, type-checking only,
transpile only, outdir, rootdir, and so on.
See many examples in our test cases:
https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs/tree/stable/packages/typescript/test/ts_project
Loading

0 comments on commit b1a8220

Please sign in to comment.