Use typings from a declared module in TypeScript

Question

I'm going through the Durandal "get started" guide on the DurandalJS.com site, except I'm trying to do it with TypeScript. The last demo (the Mount Rainier one) has a module with code like this:

define(function (require) {
  var http = require('plugins/http'),
      ko = require('knockout');
  //other stuff
}

Everything is working fine when I run the code in the browser, but I wanted to see if I could get TypeScript to be aware of the types. I imported the Durandal, Knockout, jQuery, and RequireJS NuGet packages from DefinitelyTyped and I was able to get the ko variable typed by doing

ko : KnockoutStatic = require('knockout');

This works because KnockoutStatic is an interface declared in the Knockout.d.ts file. However, in the durandal.d.ts file, 'plugins/http' is declared like this with no named interface:

declare module 'plugins/http' { /*stuff*/ }

I have three questions:

• Should/is there a way to get TypeScript to know the types for ko and http automatically based on the call to require with the module name inside?
• Is there a way to explicitly type my http variable with the way that the durandal.d.ts file is structured (module vs interface).
• If not, what would be the right way to set up the durandal.d.ts file to allow strong typing of the http variable - just declare an interface instead of a module?

Answer 1

The answer for all three questions :

import http = require('plugins/http');

Additionally you should not have a manual "define" since typescript will generate it for you. These are called external modules.

PS : I have a video about typescripts module system http://youtube.com/watch?hd=1&v=KDrWLMUY0R0