Double inclusion of referenced files

[Valve]

Assuming I have application.js with

//= require dependency1.js.ts
//= require file1.js.ts
//= require file2.js.ts

And file1.js.ts is:

/// <reference path="dependency1.js.ts" />
class File1 {}

And file2.js.ts is:

/// <reference path="dependency1.js.ts" />
class File2 {}

When I do asset compilation I end up with dependency1 being included 3 times into the resulting file.
First time it's from application.js inclusion, second and third is from file1.js.ts and file2.js.ts respectively.

As far as I can tell this happens because of: https://github.com/typescript-ruby/typescript-rails#referenced-typescript-dependencies

Questions:

1. Is it possible to include a dependency once? I want asset-pipeline handle this (because we have a big project where everything is setup using asset pipeline).
2. If not, how can I change the inclusion/walking process? Should I use tsconfig.json for this or something else?

Thanks for your help

[bdrazhzhov]

Hi @Valve,
It's known issue. But right now I have no time for this gem support. I accept PR from other people only which fix some issues or add new features.

[markeissler]

I'm having a look at this right now. The problem is actually more deeply rooted than this gem...the problem is found in the typescript-node gem because it specifies --out as a compiler flag. When you specify --outa file will be generated that includes referenced dependencies. And that's how we end up with duplication.

Should I use tsconfig.json for this

Well, tsconfig.json is completely ignored by this gem at the moment but even if it wasn't ignored it still wouldn't fix the problem.

[Valve]

@markeissler I looked into it myself some time ago and found what you've found too :) The ts compiler lacks this option it seems, but I need to check it for v 2.3. Anyway, I dropped the idea to use TS in my Rails project because of the bad state of TS tooling in Rails. I hope to give it another shot with Rails 5.1 and webpack (because it supports it with webpacker gem).

[markeissler]

@Valve TS 2.3 still lacks any option to do this. The closest you can get is specifying --noResolve but it outputs a non-suppressible warning at the end letting you know what you already know: that dependencies are missing since you asked to skip the inclusion of dependencies. Doh!

Another option would be to compile using --outDir and then select and cache files that have been already compiled but that's a silly waste of time on a bigger project. This is what happens with all of this highly opinionated software dev. :(

I'm considering just ditching the dependency on typescript-node (and, in turn, typescript-src) and just leaning on a call to tsc directly. Which would then allow for tsconfig.json support.

[markeissler]

@Valve I just released a new gem (typescript-monkey) that behaves in a more rails-like fashion. My gem also supports inline typescript (using <script> tags).