Using TypeScript in cshtml files

Question

I'm wondering is there any way to use TypeScript on Razor cshtml files?

For example, something like this

<script language="text/typescript">
/// typescript goes here
</script>

Answer 1

TypeScript isn't a runtime; it's cross-compiled into JavaScript. As a result, you'll need to write your TypeScript, compile it, and then either include it within JavaScript script tags or as an external file.

Answer 2

It's possible. I have developed TypeScript Compile - an automatic compiler of TypeScript to JavaScript on the fly. Have a try!

Answer 3

Let me add to Robs answer that it's technically possible to embed the typescript compiler in a page download, and have the browser compile code written in <script language="text/typescript"> tags.

Performance however, would be suboptimal and precompilation on the server would be preferred. Technically, there's nothing preventing a preprocessor from doing this either (T4 could do it).

Answer 4

I just checked with my favorite VS Extension: Web Essentials

They already included .ts file compilation on saving (it is recommended to also use the original plugin for Intellisense).

This obviously only works for .ts files, though. In my opinion, once you reach the complexity to choose typescript over javascript, you should use it in a separate file, anyways.

Answer 5

You could manually compile the TypeScript files using tsc.exe and then add the resulting Javascript to your project or use a tool, such as Web Essentials that compiles on save.

As the compiler can be compiled to Javascript, you can also let the user's browser do the compilation on the fly (at the cost of performance and file size, the compiler is fairly big). An example of this approach is niutech's solution.

If you are using Bundling and Minification, I have just released an implementation of IBundleTransform that compiles TypeScript to Javascript. It is on GitHub and NuGet (Install-Package TypeScriptBundleTransform). If you are not yet using Bundling and Minification, it is worth a look!