grunt-ts-1.5

4.0.2 • Public • Published

grunt-ts

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TypeScript Compilation Task for GruntJS

Grunt-ts is an npm package that handles TypeScript compilation work in GruntJS build scripts. It provides a Grunt-compatible wrapper for the tsc command-line compiler, and provides some additional functionality that improves the TypeScript development workflow. Grunt-ts even supports compiling against a Visual Studio project directly. Grunt-ts is itself written in TypeScript.

Getting Started

If you've never used GruntJS on your computer, you should follow the detailed instructions here to get Node.js and the grunt-cli working. If you're a Grunt expert, simply follow these steps:

  • Run npm install grunt-ts in your project directory; this will install grunt-ts, TypeScript, and GruntJS.
  • Add the ts task in your Gruntfile.js (see below for a minimalist one).
  • Run grunt at the command line in your project folder to compile your TypeScript code.

This minimalist Gruntfile.js will compile *.ts files in all subdirectories of the project folder, excluding anything under node_modules:

module.exports = function(grunt) {
  grunt.initConfig({
    ts: {
      default : {
        src: ["**/*.ts", "!node_modules/**/*.ts"]
      }
    }
  });
  grunt.loadNpmTasks("grunt-ts");
  grunt.registerTask("default", ["ts"]);
};

A more extensive sample Gruntfile.js is available here.

Grunt-ts Features

  • Allows use of all standard GruntJS functionality such as use of customizable task targets, globbing, use of the files object (for instantiating multiple independent tsc runs in a single target), etc.
  • Allows the developer to select a custom TypeScript compiler version for their project, or even use a custom (in-house) version.
  • Supports most switches of the tsc TypeScript Compiler via options in the gruntfile ts task, and also supports switch overrides per-target.
  • Supports Visual Studio Projects as a compile target for identifying TypeScript files, setting up compile configuration, or both.
  • Provides a transforms feature that eases code refactoring by taking the burden of relative path maintenance off the developer. If the paths to a set of files changes, grunt-ts will regenerate the relevant sections. This feature supports:
  • Allows concatenation where supported by the TypeScript compiler's --out switch
  • Encodes HTML files as TypeScript variables (for HTML templating engines)
  • Performs live file watching (compile on save)
  • Enables "Fast" compile when using external modules

Support for tsc Switches

Grunt-ts supports most tsc switches. Click the link to cross-reference to the grunt-ts option.

tsc switch grunt-ts analogue description
--declaration declaration Generates a .d.ts definitions file for compiled TypeScript files
--mapRoot LOCATION mapRoot Specifies the location where debugger should locate map files instead of generated locations.
--module KIND module Specify module style for code generation
--noImplicitAny noImplicitAny Warn on expressions and declarations with an implied any type.
--noResolve noResolve Skip resolution and preprocessing (deprecated)
--out FILE out Concatenate and emit output to a single file.
--outDir DIRECTORY outDir Redirect output structure to the directory.
--preserveConstEnums preserveConstEnums Const enums will be kept as enums in the emitted JS.
--removeComments removeComments Configures if comments should be included in the output
--sourceMap sourceMap Generates corresponding .map file
--sourceRoot LOCATION sourceRoot Specifies the location where debugger should locate TypeScript files instead of source locations.
--suppressImplicitAnyIndexErrors suppressImplicitAnyIndexErrors Specifies the location where debugger should locate TypeScript files instead of source locations.
--target VERSION target Specify ECMAScript target version: 'es3', 'es5', or 'es6'

For file ordering, look at JavaScript Generation.

grunt-ts gruntfile.js options

property where to define description
comments option true, false (default) - include comments in emitted JS.
compile option true (default), false - compile TypeScript code.
compiler option string - path to custom compiler
declaration option true, false (default) - indicates that definition files should be emitted.
failOnTypeErrors option true (default), false - fail Grunt pipeline if there is a type error
fast option 'watch' (default), 'always', 'never' - how to decide on a "fast" grunt-ts compile.
files target Sets of files to compile and optional output destination
html target string or string[] - glob to HTML templates
htmlModuleTemplate option string - HTML template namespace
htmlVarTemplate option string - HTML property name
mapRoot option string - root for referencing .js.map files in JS
module option default to be nothing, If you want to set it you set it to either 'amd' or 'commonjs'
noImplicitAny option true, false (default) - enable for stricter type checking
noResolve option true, false (default) - for deprecated version of TypeScript
options target
out target string - instruct tsc to concatenate output to this file.
outDir target string - instruct tsc to emit JS to this directory.
preserveConstEnums option true, false (default) - If true, const enums will be kept as enums in the emitted JS.
reference target string - tells grunt-ts which file to use for maintaining references
removeComments option true (default), false - removes comments in emitted JS
sourceRoot option string - root for referencing TS files in .js.map
sourceMap option true (default), false - indicates if source maps should be generated (.js.map)
suppressImplicitAnyIndexErrors option false (default), true - indicates if TypeScript should allow access to properties of an object by string indexer when --noImplicitAny is active, even if TypeScript doesn't know about them.
src target string or string[] - glob of TypeScript files to compile.
target option 'es5' (default), 'es3', or 'es6' - targeted ECMAScript version
verbose option true, false (default) - logs tsc command-line options to console
vs target string referencing a .csproj or .vbproj file or, {} (object) (see Visual Studio Projects for details)
watch target string - will watch for changes in the specified directory or below

Note: In the above chart, if "where to define" is "target", the property must be defined on a target or on the ts object directly. If "where to define" is "options", then the property must be defined on an options object on ts or on a target under ts.

grunt-ts target properties

dest

Grunt-ts does not support the GruntJS standard dest target property. Instead, you should use files, out, or outDir.

files

Grunt-ts supports use of the GruntJS-centric files property on a target as an alternative to the tsc-centric use of src and out/outDir.

Notes:

  • The fast grunt-ts option is not supported in this configuration. You should specify fast: 'never' to avoid warnings when files is used.
  • It is not supported to specify an array of values for dest with grunt-ts. A warning will be issued to the console. If a non-empty array is passed, the first element will be used and the rest will be truncated.
  • If the dest parameter ends with ".js", the value will be passed to the --out parameter of the TypeScript compiler. Otherwise, if there is a non-blank value, it will be passed to the --outDir parameter.
  • If you intend to pass the specific value "src" to the TypeScript --outDir parameter, specify it as "src/" in the dest parameter to avoid grunt-ts warnings.

Here are some examples of using the target files property with grunt-ts:

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    compileTwoSetsOfFilesUsingArrayStyle: {
      // This will run tsc twice.  The first time, the result of the 'files1/**/*.ts' glob will be
      // passed to tsc with the --out switch as 'out/ArrayStyle/1.js'.
      // see https://github.com/gruntjs/grunt-docs/blob/master/Configuring-tasks.md#files-array-format
      files: [{ src: ['files1/**/*.ts'], dest: 'out/ArrayStyle/1.js' },
              { src: ['files2/**/*.ts'], dest: 'out/ArrayStyle/2.js' }],
      options: {
        fast: 'never'
      }
    },
    compileTwoSetsOfFilesToDirUsingArrayStyle: {
      // This will run tsc twice.  The first time, the result of the 'files1/**/*.ts' glob will be
      // passed to tsc with the --outDir switch as 'out/ArrayStyle'.
      // see https://github.com/gruntjs/grunt-docs/blob/master/Configuring-tasks.md#files-array-format
      files: [{ src: ['files1/**/*.ts'], dest: 'out/ArrayStyle' },
              { src: ['files2/**/*.ts'], dest: 'out/ArrayStyle' }],
      options: {
        fast: 'never'
      }
    },
    compileTwoSetsOfFilesUsingObjectStyle: {
      // This will run tsc twice.  The first time, the result of the 'files1/**/*.ts' glob will be
      // passed to tsc with the --out switch as 'out/ObjectStyle/1.js'.
      // see https://github.com/gruntjs/grunt-docs/blob/master/Configuring-tasks.md#files-object-format
      files: {
        'out/ObjectStyle/1.js': ['files1/**/*.ts'],
        'out/ObjectStyle/2.js': ['files2/**/*.ts']
      },
      options: {
        fast: 'never'
      }
    },
    compileTwoSetsOfFilesToDirUsingObjectStyle: {
      // This will run tsc once.  The result of the globs will be passed to tsc with the
      // --outDir switch as 'out/ObjectStyle'.
      // see https://github.com/gruntjs/grunt-docs/blob/master/Configuring-tasks.md#files-object-format
      files: {
        'out/ObjectStyle': ['files1/**/*.ts','files2/**/*.ts']
        },
        options: {
          fast: 'never'
        }
      }
    }
});

html

Grunt-ts supports compilation of .html file content to TypeScript variables which is explained in detail here. The html target property acts similarly to src, except that it searches for html files to convert to TypeScript variables. See also htmlModuleTemplate and htmlVarTemplate.

// How to use the html target property (incomplete example)
grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      html: ["templates/**/*.html"]
    }
  }
});

Note: the html compilation functionality will not fire if the src property is not specified. If you wish to only have the HTML compile to TypeScript without compiling the resulting .ts files to JavaScript, make sure they're excluded from the src globs, or else specify an empty src array alongside the html task property, and set the target compile option to false:

// Example of how to compile html files to TypeScript without compiling the resulting
// .ts files to JavaScript.
grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      html: ["templates/**/*.html"],
      src: [],
      options: {
        compile: false
      }
    }
  }
});

options

This section allows global configuration for the grunt-ts task. All target-specific options are supported. If a target also has options set, the target's options override the global task options.

out

Passes the --out switch to tsc. This will cause the emitted JavaScript to be concatenated to a single file if your code allows for that.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      out: "dist/myscript.js"
    }
  }
});

Warning: Using the compiler with out and reference will prevent grunt-ts from using its fast compile feature. Consider using external modules with transforms instead.

outDir

Passes the --outDir switch to tsc. This will redirect the emitted JavaScript to the specified directory and subdirectories.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      outDir: "dist"
    }
  }
});

reference

Grunt-ts can automatically generate a TypeScript file containing a reference to all other found .ts files. This means that the developer will not need to cross-reference each of their TypeScript files manually; instead, they can just reference the single reference file in each of their code files.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      src: ["references.ts","some/other/path/**/*.ts"],
      reference: "references.ts"
    }
  }
});

Note: the TypeScript file identified in the reference property must be included in the src or files property in the Grunt target, or reference won't work (either directly or via wildcard/glob).

Note: It is not supported to use reference with files.

Warning: Using the compiler with out and reference will prevent grunt-ts from using its fast compile feature. Consider using external modules with transforms instead.

src

Allows you to specify the TypeScript files that will be passed to the compiler. Supports standard GruntJS functionality such as globbing. More info at Configuring GruntJS Tasks](http://gruntjs.com/configuring-tasks#files).

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      src: ["app/**/*.ts"]
    }
  }
});

vs

Grunt-ts can use the TypeScript compilation settings from a Visual Studio project file (.csproj or .vbproj).

In the simplest use case, specify a string identifying the Visual Studio project file name in the vs target property. Grunt-ts will extract the TypeScript settings last saved into the project file and compile the TypeScript files identified in the project in the manner specified by the Visual Studio project's configuration.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      vs: 'test/vsproj/testproject.csproj'
    }
  }
});

If more control is desired, you may pass the vs target property as an object literal with the following properties:

  • project: (string, mandatory) the relative path (from the gruntfile.js) to the Visual Studio project file.
  • config: (string, optional, default = '') the Visual Studio project configuration to use (allows choosing a different project configuration than the one currently in-use/saved in Visual Studio).
  • ignoreFiles: (boolean, optional, default = false) Will ignore the files identified in the Visual Studio project. This is useful if you want to keep your command-line build settings synchronized with the project's TypeScript Build settings, but want to specify a custom set of files to compile in your own src glob. If not specified or set to false, the TypeScript files referenced in the Visual Studio project will be compiled in addition to any files identified in the src target property.
  • ignoreSettings: (boolean, optional, default = false) Will ignore the compile settings identified in the Visual Studio project. If specified, grunt-ts will follow its normal behavior and use any TypeScript build settings specified on the target or its defaults.

All features of grunt-ts other than files, are compatible with the vs target property. If you wish to add more files to the compilation than are referenced in the Visual Studio project, the src grunt-ts property can be used; any files found in the glob are added to the compilation list (grunt-ts will resolve duplicates). All other target properties and target options specified in the gruntfile.js will override the settings in the Visual Studio project file. For example, if you were referencing a Visual Studio project configuration that had source maps enabled, specifying sourcemap: false in the gruntfile.js would keep all other Visual Studio build settings, but disable generation of source maps.

Note: Using the vs target property with files is not supported.

Example: Use all compilation settings specified in the "Release" TypeScript configuration from the project, but compile only the TypeScript files in the lib subfolder to a single file in the built folder.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    CompileMyLibsOnly: {
      src: 'MyProject/lib/**/*.ts',
      out: 'built/mylibs.js',
      vs: {
        project: 'MyProject/MyProject.csproj',
        ignoreFiles: true,
        config: 'Release'
      }
    }
  }
});

If you wish to disable the Visual Studio built-in TypeScript build, but keep the Visual Studio project properties TypeScript Build pane working, follow these instructions.

watch

Grunt-ts can watch a directory and recompile TypeScript files when any TypeScript or HTML file is changed, added, or removed. Use the watch target option specifying a target directory that will be watched. All subdirectories are automatically included.

Note: this feature does not allow for additional tasks to run after the compilation step is done - for that you should use grunt-contrib-watch.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      watch: "."  //will re-run this task if any .ts or .html file is changed.
    }
  }
});

grunt-ts target options

compile

true (default)| false

Indicates if the TypeScript compilation should be attempted. Turn this off if you wish to just run transforms.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      options: {
        compile: false
      }
    }
  }
});

compiler

This target option allows the developer to select an alternate TypeScript compiler.

By default, grunt-ts will use the TypeScript compiler that came bundled with it. Alternate compilers can be used by this target option (for custom compiler builds) or using package.json (for npm released version of typescript).

To use a custom compiler, update your gruntfile.js file with this code:

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    options: {
      compiler: './node_modules/grunt-ts/customcompiler/tsc'
    }
  }
});

Download custom compilers from the current TypeScript repository on GitHub or the old TypeScript repository on CodePlex and extract it to a folder in your project. The compiler will be in the bin folder. Copy all of the files to your project folder and then reference tsc using the compiler task option. For example, if you extracted everything to a mycompiler folder in your project, you'd set the grunt-ts compiler property to './mycompiler/tsc'.

In the absence of a compiler argument, grunt-ts will look for an alternate compiler in its peer node_modules folder (where grunt-ts and typescript are peers).

The package.json would look something like this for a legacy project:

{
  "devDependencies": {
    "grunt" : "~0.4.1",
    "grunt-ts" : "~1.9.2",
    "typescript" : "0.9.7"
  }
}

Note: It is safest to pin the exact TypeScript version (do not use ~ or >).

noResolve

true | false (default)

Deprecated: Grunt-ts supports passing this parameter to legacy versions of tsc. It will pass --noResolve on the command line.

comments

true | false (default)

Retains comments in the emitted JavaScript if set to true. Removes comments if set to false. Note that if comments and removeComments are both used, the value of removeComments will win; regardless, please don't do this as it is just confusing to everyone.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    options: {
      comments: true //preserves comments in output.
    }
  }
});

removeComments

true (default)| false

Removes comments in the emitted JavaScript if set to true. Preserves comments if set to false. Note that if comments and removeComments are both used, the value of removeComments will win; regardless, please don't do this as it is just confusing to everyone.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    options: {
      removeComments: false //preserves comments in output.
    }
  }
});

declaration

true | false (default)

Generates corresponding .d.ts file(s) for compiled TypeScript files.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    options: {
      declaration: true
    }
  }
});

failOnTypeErrors

true (default) | false

TypeScript has two types of errors: emit preventing and non-emit preventing. Generally, type errors do not prevent the JavaScript emit. Therefore, it can be useful to allow the Grunt pipeline to continue even if there are type errors because tsc will still generate JavaScript.

If failOnTypeErrors is set to false, grunt-ts will not halt the Grunt pipeline if a TypeScript type error is encountered. Note that syntax errors or other general tsc errors will always halt the pipeline.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    options: {
      failOnTypeErrors: true
    }
  }
});

fast

"watch" (default) | "always" | "never"

If you are using external modules, grunt-ts will try to do a fast compile by default, basically only compiling what's changed. It should "just work" with the built-in file watching as well as with external tools like grunt-contrib-watch.

To do a fast compile, grunt-ts maintains a cache of hashes for TypeScript files in the .tscache folder to detect changes (needed for external watch tool support). It also creates a .baseDir.ts file at the root, passing it to the compiler to make sure that --outDir is always respected in the generated JavaScript.

You can customize the behaviour of grunt-ts fast.

If you are using files, grunt-ts can't do a fast compile. You should set fast to 'never'.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    options: {
      // disable the grunt-ts fast feature
      fast: 'never'
    }
  }
});

htmlModuleTemplate

Grunt-ts supports compilation of .html file content to TypeScript variables which is explained in detail here. The htmlModuleTemplate target property allows the developer to define a namespace for the templates. See also html and htmlVarTemplate.

//Note: incomplete - combine with html and htmlVarTemplate
grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      options: {
        //MyTemplate.html will be accessible as HtmlTemplates.MyTemplate
        htmlModuleTemplate: 'HtmlTemplates.<%= filename %>'
      }
    }
  }
});

htmlVarTemplate

Grunt-ts supports compilation of .html file content to TypeScript variables which is explained in detail here. The htmlVarTemplate target property allows the developer to define a property name for the template contents. See also html and htmlModuleTemplate.

//Note: incomplete - combine with html and htmlModuleTemplate
grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      options: {
        //HTML template objects will expose their content via a property called markup.
        htmlVarTemplate: 'markup'
      }
    }
  }
});

mapRoot

Specifies the root for where .js.map sourcemap files should be referenced. This is useful if you intend to move your .js.map files to a different location. Leave this blank or omit entirely if the .js.map files will be deployed to the same folder as the corresponding .js files. See also sourceRoot.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      options: {
        //When abc.ts is compiled to abc.js, it will reference /maps/abc.js.map
        mapRoot: "/maps"
      }
    }
  }
});

module

"amd" (default) | "commonjs" | ""

Specifies if TypeScript should emit AMD or CommonJS-style external modules. Has no effect if internal modules are used.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      options: {
        module: "amd"
      }
    }
  }
});

noEmitOnError

true | false (default)

Set to true to pass --noEmitOnError to the compiler. If set to true, TypeScript will not emit JavaScript if there is a type error. This flag does not affect the Grunt pipeline; to force the Grunt pipeline to continue (or halt) in the presence of TypeScript type errors, see failOnTypeErrors.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      options: {
        noEmitOnError: true
      }
    }
  }
});

noImplicitAny

true | false (default)

Set to true to pass --noImplicitAny to the compiler. Requires more strict type checking. If noImplicitAny is enabled, TypeScript will raise a type error whenever it is unable to infer the type of a variable. By default, grunt-ts will halt the Grunt pipeline on type errors. See failOnTypeErrors for more info.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      options: {
        noImplicitAny: true
      }
    }
  }
});

preserveConstEnums

true | false (default)

Set to true to pass --preserveConstEnums to the compiler. If set to true, TypeScript will emit code that allows other JavaScript code to use the enum. If false (the default), TypeScript will inline the enum values as magic numbers with a comment in the emitted JS.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      options: {
        preserveConstEnums: true
      }
    }
  }
});

sourceMap

true (default) | false

If true, grunt-ts will instruct tsc to emit source maps (.js.map files).

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      options: {
        sourceMap: true
      }
    }
  }
});

sourceRoot

The sourceRoot to use in the emitted source map files. Allows mapping moved .js.map files back to the original TypeScript files. See also mapRoot.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      options: {
        sourceRoot: "/dev"
      }
    }
  }
});

suppressImplicitAnyIndexErrors

true | false (default)

Set to true to pass --suppressImplicitAnyIndexErrors to the compiler. If set to true, TypeScript will allow access to properties of an object by string indexer when --noImplicitAny is active, even if TypeScript doesn't know about them. This setting has no effect unless --noImplicitAny is active.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      options: {
        suppressImplicitAnyIndexErrors: true,
        noImplicitAny: true
      }
    }
  }
});

For example, the following code would not compile with --noImplicitAny alone, but it would be legal with --noImplicitAny and --suppressImplicitAnyIndexErrors both enabled:

interface person {
    name: string;
}
 
var p : person = { name: "Test" };
p["age"] = 101;  //property age does not exist on interface person.
console.log(p["age"]);

target

"es5" (default) | "es3" | "es6"

Allows the developer to specify if they are targeting ECMAScript version 3, 5, or 6. Support for es6 emit was added in TypeScript 1.4 and is listed as experimental. Only select ES3 if you are targeting old browsers (IE8 or below). The default for grunt-ts (es5) is different than the default for tsc (es3).

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      options: {
        target: "es3" //for IE8 and below
      }
    }
  }
});

verbose

false (default) | true

Will print the switches passed to tsc on the console. Helpful for debugging.

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    default: {
      options: {
        verbose: true
      }
    }
  }
});

Transforms

Objective: To allow for easier code refactoring by taking relative path maintenance burden off the developer. If the path to a referenced file changes, grunt-ts will regenerate the relevant lines.

Transforms begin with a three-slash comment /// and are prefixed with ts:. When grunt-ts is run against your TypeScript file, it will add a new line with the appropriate TypeScript code to reference the file, or it will generate a comment indicating that the file you referenced could not be found.

For example, if you put this in your code:

///ts:ref=mylibrary

The next time grunt-ts runs, it might change that line to this:

///ts:ref=mylibrary
/// <reference path='../path/to/mylibrary.d.ts'/> ///ts:ref:generated

Important Note: All transforms require the searched-for file to be included in the result of the files, src, or vs Grunt globs. Grunt-ts will only search within the results that Grunt has identified; it does not go searching through your disk for files!

You can also run transforms without compiling your code by setting compile: false in your config. For example:

grunt.initConfig({
  ts: {
    "transforms-only": {
      options: {
        compile: false
      },
      // in addition to your standard settings:
      // src: ...
      // outDir: ...
    },
    // ...
  }
} );

Import Transform

///ts:import=<fileOrDirectoryName>[,<variableName>]

This will generate the relevant import foo = require('./path/to/foo'); code without you having to figure out the relative path.

If a directory is provided, the entire contents of the directory will be imported. However if a directory has a file index.ts inside of it, then instead of importing the entire folder only index.ts is imported.

Examples

Import file:

///ts:import=filename
import filename = require('../path/to/filename'); ///ts:import:generated

Import file with an alternate name:

///ts:import=BigLongClassName,foo
import foo = require('../path/to/BigLongClassName'); ///ts:import:generated

Import directory:

///ts:import=directoryName
import filename = require('../path/to/directoryName/filename'); ///ts:import:generated
import anotherfile = require('../path/to/directoryName/deeper/anotherfile'); ///ts:import:generated
...

Import directory that has an index.ts file in it:

///ts:import=directoryName
import directoryName = require('../path/to/directoryName/index'); ///ts:import:generated

See Exports for examples of how grunt-ts can generate an index.ts file for you

Export Transform

///ts:export=<fileOrDirectoryName>[,<variableName>]

This is similar to ///ts:import but will generate export import foo = require('./path/to/foo'); and is very useful for generating indexes of entire module directories when using external modules (which you should always be using).

Examples

Export file:

///ts:export=filename
export import filename = require('../path/to/filename'); ///ts:export:generated

Export file with an alternate name:

///ts:export=filename,foo
export import foo = require('../path/to/filename'); ///ts:export:generated

Export directory:

///ts:export=dirName
export import filename = require('../path/to/dirName/filename'); ///ts:export:generated
export import anotherfile = require('../path/to/dirName/deeper/anotherfile'); ///ts:export:generated
...

References

///ts:ref=<fileName>

This will generate the relevant /// <references path="./path/to/foo" /> code without you having to figure out the relative path.

Note: grunt-ts only searches through the enumerated results of the src or files property in the Grunt target. The referenced TypeScript file must be included for compilation (either directly or via wildcard/glob) or the transform won't work. This is so that grunt-ts doesn't go searching through your whole drive for files.

Examples

Reference file:

///ts:ref=filename
/// <reference path='../path/to/filename'/> ///ts:ref:generated

JavaScript Generation

When a output file is specified via out in combination with a reference file via reference then grunt-ts uses the generated reference file to order the code in the generated JavaScript.

Use reference.ts to specify the order for the few files the build really cares about and leave the rest to be maintained by grunt-ts.

E.g. in the following case the generated JavaScript for someBaseClass.ts is guaranteed to be at the top, and the generated JavaScript for main.ts is guaranteed to be at the bottom of the single merged js file.

Everything between grunt-start and grunt-end is generated and maintained by grunt-ts. If there is no grunt-start section found, it is created. If reference.ts does not exist originally, it is also created.

/// <reference path="someBaseClass.ts" />
 
// Put comments here and they are preserved
 
//grunt-start
/// <reference path="autoreference.ts" />
/// <reference path="someOtherFile.ts" />
//grunt-end
 
 
/// <reference path="main.ts" />

Standardizing Line Endings

As of grunt-ts v2.0.2, If you wish to standardize the line endings used by grunt-ts transforms, you can set the grunt.util.linefeed property in your gruntfile.js to the desired standard line ending for the grunt-ts managed TypeScript files.

module.exports = function(grunt) {
 
  grunt.util.linefeed = '\r\n';  // this would standardize on CRLF
 
  /* rest of config */
};

Note that it is not currently possible to force TypeScript to emit all JavaScript with a particular line ending, but a switch to allow that is under discussion here: https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/issues/1693

Video Examples

TypeScript programming using grunt-ts (YouTube):

AngularJS + TypeScript : Workflow with grunt-ts (YouTube)

Contributing

With npm and grunt-cli installed, run the following from the root of the repository:

$ npm install

Building the project:

To build all

$ grunt build

Running the tests:

To test all

$ grunt test

Before PR

$ grunt release

It runs build followed by test. This is also the default task. You should run this before sending a PR.

Development

The easiest/fastest way to work on grunt-ts is to modify tasksToTest toward the bottom of the gruntfile.js. The grunt dev command is set up to compile grunt-ts with your changes and then reload itself; then, your newly-compiled grunt-ts will be used to run whatever tasks are listed in the tasksToTest array.

Without using tasksToTest while working on grunt-ts, the old grunt-ts remains in memory for successive tasks on the same run. This means you might have to run your grunt commands twice; once to compile grunt-ts and once to see how the new grunt-ts works with your code.

Additional commands

Update the current grunt-ts to be the last known good version (dogfood). Commit message should be Update LKG.

$ grunt upgrade

Publishing Checklist

  • Run grunt release and ensure it comes back clean (should finish but with warnings).
  • Update the version in package.json.
  • Update CHANGELOG.md.
  • Commit to master.
  • Publish to npm.
  • Push version tag to GitHub.

License

Licensed under the MIT License.

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npm i grunt-ts-1.5

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