es6-module-transpiler-amd-formatter

ES6 Module Transpiler Formatter to Output AMD define() Format

Overview

ES6 Module Transpiler es6-module-transpiler is an experimental compiler that allows you to write your JavaScript using a subset of the current ES6 module syntax, and compile it into various formats. The es6-module-transpiler-amd-formatter is one of those output formats that is focus on enabling the use of ES6 modules thru RequireJS today.

Disclaimer

This output format compromises in few of the ES6 features in ES6 modules, including live bindings, sealed objects, etc. This compromise is Ok when you try to use them as AMD modules.

Usage

Build tools

Since this formatters is an plugin for es6-module-transpiler, you can use it with any existing build tool that supports es6-module-transpiler as the underlaying engine to transpile the ES6 modules.

You just need to make sure that es6-module-transpiler-amd-formatter is accessible for those tools, and pass the proper formatter option thru the es6-module-transpiler configuration.

Executable

If you plan to use the compile-module CLI, the formatters can be used directly from the command line:

$ npm install es6-module-transpiler
$ npm install es6-module-transpiler-amd-formatter
$ ./node_modules/.bin/compile-modules convert -f es6-module-transpiler-amd-formatter path/to/**/*.js -o build/

The -f option allow you to specify the path to the specific formatter, which is this case is an installed module called es6-module-transpiler-amd-formatter.

Library

You can also use the formatter with the transpiler as a library:

var transpiler = require('es6-module-transpiler');
var AMDFormatter = require('es6-module-transpiler-amd-formatter');
var Container = transpiler.Container;
var FileResolver = transpiler.FileResolver;
 
var container = new Container({
  resolvers: [new FileResolver(['lib/'])],
  formatter: new AMDFormatter()
});
 
container.getModule('index');
container.write('out/mylib.js');

Supported ES6 Module Syntax

Again, this syntax is in flux and is closely tracking the module work being done by TC39. This package relies on the syntax supported by es6-module-transpiler, which relies on esprima, you can have more information about the supported syntax here: https://github.com/square/es6-module-transpiler#supported-es6-module-syntax

Compiled Output

First of all, the output format for define() might looks alien even for many developers, but considering that es6-module-transpiler relies on Recast to mutate the original ES6 code, it can output the corresponding sourceMap, you should be able to debug the module code without having to understand the actual output format.

Default export

For a module without imports, and a single default exports:

export default function (a, b) {
  return a + b;
}

will produce something like this:

define("component/foo", ["exports"], function(__exports__) {
  "use strict";
 
  function __es6_export__(name, value) {
    __exports__[name] = value;
  }
 
  __es6_export__("default", function(a, b) {
    return a + b;
  });
});

Imports and exports

A more complex example will look like this:

import assert from "./assert";
 
export default function (a, b) {
  assert(a);
  assert(b);
  return a + b;
};

and the output will be:

define("component/foo", ["./assert", "exports"], function(component$assert$$, __exports__) {
  "use strict";
 
  function __es6_export__(name, value) {
    __exports__[name] = value;
  }
 
  var assert = component$assert$$["default"];
  __es6_export__("assert", component$assert$$["assert"]);
 
  __es6_export__("default", function(a, b) {
    assert(a);
    assert(b);
    return a + b;
  });
});

Part of the goal, is try to preserve as much as possible the original code of the module within the factory function. Obviously, this is difficult when you have to export default functions and other declarations. The only modifications you will see in the body are the calls to the __es6_export__() method to export the new value when defined or updated, the rest of the code will remain immutable.

Contributing

1. Fork it
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add some feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
5. Create new Pull Request

Thanks, and enjoy living in the ES6 future!