Transforming TypeScript into JavaScript

Question

I'm wondering how is it possible to transform the TypeScript into JavaScript in a cross platform manner. I'm aware about availability of node package manager for typescript, but are there any other alternatives which can be used on the server side?

Answer 1

Short version: use Node if you can. It's becoming unavoidable nowadays.

Maybe it's not the answer you want, but as everybody mentioned, the compiler is a JS file, so, your options are the options of executing a JS file.

In Windows, there are 2 obvious ones, Node, and Windows Script Host.

You know about node already, the other option is a component that comes with all versions of Windows (I think), you can do it like this:

cscript path/to/tsc.js source-file.ts

You can see all compiler options by just:

cscript path/to/tsc.js

On Linux I assume you should be able to use (in addition to node):

• V8 standalone shell, replace node or cscript with v8-shell
• ExecJS https://github.com/sstephenson/execjs
• Any other JS runner available on the selected platform (another answer mentioned Rhino for example)

Update: Another answer suggests the compiler API is only compatible with node and Windows Script Host (cscript tool), so, if correct, then on Linux you'll need Node to compile TypeScript.

If you are looking for something like apt get tsc (or whatever the Linux/Mac package managers are like), I think there isn't.

I remember reading somewhere that the I/O is optimized for Node and Windows Script Host, so, if you have problems with options, you'll probably end up with Node if seeking platform independence.

Update: Another answer here confirms the same about compatibility.

Answer 2

The TypeScript compiler is built in TypeScript, and hence is available as a JS file (tsc.js) that can be run using just about any ES3-compiliant VM or JS implementation.

That said, the compiler's current file I/O infrastructure only supports Node and Windows Scripting Host file APIs. If you'd like to recommend for support for another environment, feel free to reach out to the team at our GitHub site (Formerly CodePlex)

Answer 3

Concretely, on the server (assuming your server has Node.js available), you'd simply run:

node path/to/tsc.js yourFile1.ts yourFile2.ts [etc]

You can run that command without any input filenames to see the command-line help for tsc.js.

Answer 4

I have a project which compiles Typescript to Javascript in Java:

https://github.com/martypitt/typescript4j

As discussed in other answers, this makes use of Rhino, so has no dependencies on npm or node.

Here's an example:

// Instantiate the compiler:
TypescriptCompiler compiler = new TypescriptCompiler();

// Compile a string:
String output = compiler.compile("class Greeter { greeting: string; }");

// Or, compile and output to a file:
compiler.compile(new File("example.ts"), new File('output.js'));

I use it in another project - 'Bakehouse' to perform on-the-fly compilation of typescript resources within Spring environments

Answer 5

If it's Java that you need to target then you could run tsc.js with the Rhino engine as part of your build process.

Answer 6

To compile ts -> js: node is available for all common platforms, so I fail to see why you'd want to have a tsc.java when you already have a tsc.js. Installing node is no big deal. In fact, it's easier than Java.

Once you have your proj.js file, you can then copy it to which ever deployment platform you wish to use.

From my point of view, JavaScript - or more accurately ECMAScript is an alternative to Java. So I'm happy that I don't have to wrangle JVM etc to use the tool. But if you prefer Java, then why even bother with JS?

Answer 7

SublimeText2 Trick You can transpile typescript to javascript directly from SublimeText2 (you need node) :

Create a Typescript.sublime-build file in /Sublime Text 2/Packages/User with this content :

{
"cmd": ["tsc", "$file"],
"selector" : "source.ts",
"path": "/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
}

then, now, you can transpile your code with ctrl+B or cmd+B

Answer 8

I've been playing around with this, and can compile TypeScript with javascript with the following code:

<script src=typescript.js></script>

<script>

var scriptText = ""
        + "/// <reference path=\"test.ts\"/>" + "\r\n"
        + "class Car {"
        + "     constructor (private name: string) { } "
        + "     getName() { "
        + "         var juice = new Juice();"
        + "         return name; "
        + "     } "
        + "} "
        + "var car = new Car('Subaru Impreza');"
        + "console.log(car.getName());";





var TextWriter = function () { };

TextWriter.prototype = {
collected: '',

Write: function (sc) {
    this.collected += sc;
},
WriteLine: function(sc) {
    this.collected += sc + '\n';
},
toString: function() {
    return this.collected;
}
};

var output = new TextWriter();
var tsc = new TypeScript.TypeScriptCompiler(output);

var script = tsc.addUnit(scriptText, "");

tsc.emit();

console.log(output.toString());

</script>

It's not exactly ideal though. I'm trying to get something running so I can convert TypeScript to JS within C# (using Javascript .NET), but i'm getting a stack overflow on the ts.addUnit call.

Answer 9

This is what worked for me:

First, installed the typescript node module >> npm install -g typescript. This gives a command line utility tsc.

Next, tsc gulpfile.ts gulp-config.ts typings/tsd.d.ts

• this will transpile the gulpfile.ts and gulp-config.ts files to gulpfile.js and gulp-config.js. We supply the typings/tsd.d.ts file as reference for correct transpilation.
• The typescript node module covers many options >> tsc -h to specify output directory or file, etc..

Hope this helps.