I'm just getting into using es 6 modules for front end development (we don't use Node at all), and am wondering if this pattern we've come up has any pitfalls or if you have any improvement suggestions. I guess it uses some of the rationale behind the revealing module pattern, in es6 modules. I ask this question because most es6 module "how to guides" I've seen do something different, which I'll note at the very bottom of the question.
Some things to note:
We (are pretty sure we) want each module to only export one thing. This is listed as a best practice in the Airbnb style guide, and we've just found it nice overall when consuming npm packages
We really like naming methods with "public" and "private" (guess we should be using _ for private methods as that's newer best-practice), it makes it easy to see what is available outside of the module
module.js:
// publicly available method
function publicHello() {
return 'Hello';
};
// publicly available method
function publicHelloWorld(){
const a = publicHello();
const b = privateProcessWorld(a);
return b;
};
// private method
function privateProcessWorld(x) {
return x + ' world';
};
// create an object to export, containing only the public methods
// note that we rename them here as well, making them easier to consume
const exp = {
h: publicHello,
hw: publicHelloWorld,
};
// export the object as default so it can be used in an unnamed import
export default exp;
to consume the module:
import whatever from "module.js";
whatever.h(); // "Hello"
whatever.hw(); // "Hello world"
What I have seen in most "es6 module how to" guides is this:
var utils = {
generateRandom: function() {
return Math.random();
},
sum: function(a, b) {
return a + b;
}
};
export default utils;
We (are pretty sure we) want each module to only export one thing.
No. Don't do this. If your module provides multiple functionalities, like a bunch of helper functions, and does not provide a single function or single class or something, you should also export multiple things.
Just change your default export to
export {
publicHello as h,
publicHelloWorld as hw,
}
and your import to
import * as whatever from "module.js";
Related
Is it possible to pass options to ES6 imports?
How do you translate this:
var x = require('module')(someoptions);
to ES6?
There is no way to do this with a single import statement, it does not allow for invocations.
So you wouldn't call it directly, but you can basically do just the same what commonjs does with default exports:
// module.js
export default function(options) {
return {
// actual module
}
}
// main.js
import m from 'module';
var x = m(someoptions);
Alternatively, if you use a module loader that supports monadic promises, you might be able to do something like
System.import('module').ap(someoptions).then(function(x) {
…
});
With the new import operator it might become
const promise = import('module').then(m => m(someoptions));
or
const x = (await import('module'))(someoptions)
however you probably don't want a dynamic import but a static one.
Concept
Here's my solution using ES6
Very much inline with #Bergi's response, this is the "template" I use when creating imports that need parameters passed for class declarations. This is used on an isomorphic framework I'm writing, so will work with a transpiler in the browser and in node.js (I use Babel with Webpack):
./MyClass.js
export default (Param1, Param2) => class MyClass {
constructor(){
console.log( Param1 );
}
}
./main.js
import MyClassFactory from './MyClass.js';
let MyClass = MyClassFactory('foo', 'bar');
let myInstance = new MyClass();
The above will output foo in a console
EDIT
Real World Example
For a real world example, I'm using this to pass in a namespace for accessing other classes and instances within a framework. Because we're simply creating a function and passing the object in as an argument, we can use it with our class declaration likeso:
export default (UIFramework) => class MyView extends UIFramework.Type.View {
getModels() {
// ...
UIFramework.Models.getModelsForView( this._models );
// ...
}
}
The importation is a bit more complicated and automagical in my case given that it's an entire framework, but essentially this is what is happening:
// ...
getView( viewName ){
//...
const ViewFactory = require(viewFileLoc);
const View = ViewFactory(this);
return new View();
}
// ...
I hope this helps!
Building on #Bergi's answer to use the debug module using es6 would be the following
// original
var debug = require('debug')('http');
// ES6
import * as Debug from 'debug';
const debug = Debug('http');
// Use in your code as normal
debug('Hello World!');
I've landed on this thread looking up for somewhat similar and would like to propose a sort of solution, at least for some cases (but see Remark below).
Use case
I have a module, that is running some instantiation logic immediately upon loading. I do not like to call this init logic outside the module (which is the same as call new SomeClass(p1, p2) or new ((p1, p2) => class SomeClass { ... p1 ... p2 ... }) and alike).
I do like that this init logic will run once, kind of a singular instantiation flow, but once per some specific parametrized context.
Example
service.js has at its very basic scope:
let context = null; // meanwhile i'm just leaving this as is
console.log('initialized in context ' + (context ? context : 'root'));
Module A does:
import * as S from 'service.js'; // console has now "initialized in context root"
Module B does:
import * as S from 'service.js'; // console stays unchanged! module's script runs only once
So far so good: service is available for both modules but was initialized only once.
Problem
How to make it run as another instance and init itself once again in another context, say in Module C?
Solution?
This is what I'm thinking about: use query parameters. In the service we'd add the following:
let context = new URL(import.meta.url).searchParams.get('context');
Module C would do:
import * as S from 'service.js?context=special';
the module will be re-imported, it's basic init logic will run and we'll see in the console:
initialized in context special
Remark: I'd myself advise to NOT practice this approach much, but leave it as the last resort. Why? Module imported more than once is more of an exception than a rule, so it is somewhat unexpected behavior and as such may confuse a consumers or even break it's own 'singleton' paradigms, if any.
I believe you can use es6 module loaders.
http://babeljs.io/docs/learn-es6/
System.import("lib/math").then(function(m) {
m(youroptionshere);
});
You just need to add these 2 lines.
import xModule from 'module';
const x = xModule('someOptions');
Here's my take on this question using the debug module as an example;
On this module's npm page, you have this:
var debug = require('debug')('http')
In the line above, a string is passed to the module that is imported, to construct. Here's how you would do same in ES6
import { debug as Debug } from 'debug'
const debug = Debug('http');
Hope this helps someone out there.
I ran into an analogous syntax issue when trying to convert some CJS (require()) code to ESM (import) - here's what worked when I needed to import Redis:
CJS
const RedisStore = require('connect-redis')(session);
ESM Equivalent
import connectRedis from 'connect-redis';
const RedisStore = connectRedis(session);
You can pass parameters in the module specifier directly:
import * as Lib from "./lib?foo=bar";
cf: https://flaming.codes/en/posts/es6-import-with-parameters
Is it possible to pass options to ES6 imports?
How do you translate this:
var x = require('module')(someoptions);
to ES6?
There is no way to do this with a single import statement, it does not allow for invocations.
So you wouldn't call it directly, but you can basically do just the same what commonjs does with default exports:
// module.js
export default function(options) {
return {
// actual module
}
}
// main.js
import m from 'module';
var x = m(someoptions);
Alternatively, if you use a module loader that supports monadic promises, you might be able to do something like
System.import('module').ap(someoptions).then(function(x) {
…
});
With the new import operator it might become
const promise = import('module').then(m => m(someoptions));
or
const x = (await import('module'))(someoptions)
however you probably don't want a dynamic import but a static one.
Concept
Here's my solution using ES6
Very much inline with #Bergi's response, this is the "template" I use when creating imports that need parameters passed for class declarations. This is used on an isomorphic framework I'm writing, so will work with a transpiler in the browser and in node.js (I use Babel with Webpack):
./MyClass.js
export default (Param1, Param2) => class MyClass {
constructor(){
console.log( Param1 );
}
}
./main.js
import MyClassFactory from './MyClass.js';
let MyClass = MyClassFactory('foo', 'bar');
let myInstance = new MyClass();
The above will output foo in a console
EDIT
Real World Example
For a real world example, I'm using this to pass in a namespace for accessing other classes and instances within a framework. Because we're simply creating a function and passing the object in as an argument, we can use it with our class declaration likeso:
export default (UIFramework) => class MyView extends UIFramework.Type.View {
getModels() {
// ...
UIFramework.Models.getModelsForView( this._models );
// ...
}
}
The importation is a bit more complicated and automagical in my case given that it's an entire framework, but essentially this is what is happening:
// ...
getView( viewName ){
//...
const ViewFactory = require(viewFileLoc);
const View = ViewFactory(this);
return new View();
}
// ...
I hope this helps!
Building on #Bergi's answer to use the debug module using es6 would be the following
// original
var debug = require('debug')('http');
// ES6
import * as Debug from 'debug';
const debug = Debug('http');
// Use in your code as normal
debug('Hello World!');
I've landed on this thread looking up for somewhat similar and would like to propose a sort of solution, at least for some cases (but see Remark below).
Use case
I have a module, that is running some instantiation logic immediately upon loading. I do not like to call this init logic outside the module (which is the same as call new SomeClass(p1, p2) or new ((p1, p2) => class SomeClass { ... p1 ... p2 ... }) and alike).
I do like that this init logic will run once, kind of a singular instantiation flow, but once per some specific parametrized context.
Example
service.js has at its very basic scope:
let context = null; // meanwhile i'm just leaving this as is
console.log('initialized in context ' + (context ? context : 'root'));
Module A does:
import * as S from 'service.js'; // console has now "initialized in context root"
Module B does:
import * as S from 'service.js'; // console stays unchanged! module's script runs only once
So far so good: service is available for both modules but was initialized only once.
Problem
How to make it run as another instance and init itself once again in another context, say in Module C?
Solution?
This is what I'm thinking about: use query parameters. In the service we'd add the following:
let context = new URL(import.meta.url).searchParams.get('context');
Module C would do:
import * as S from 'service.js?context=special';
the module will be re-imported, it's basic init logic will run and we'll see in the console:
initialized in context special
Remark: I'd myself advise to NOT practice this approach much, but leave it as the last resort. Why? Module imported more than once is more of an exception than a rule, so it is somewhat unexpected behavior and as such may confuse a consumers or even break it's own 'singleton' paradigms, if any.
I believe you can use es6 module loaders.
http://babeljs.io/docs/learn-es6/
System.import("lib/math").then(function(m) {
m(youroptionshere);
});
You just need to add these 2 lines.
import xModule from 'module';
const x = xModule('someOptions');
Here's my take on this question using the debug module as an example;
On this module's npm page, you have this:
var debug = require('debug')('http')
In the line above, a string is passed to the module that is imported, to construct. Here's how you would do same in ES6
import { debug as Debug } from 'debug'
const debug = Debug('http');
Hope this helps someone out there.
I ran into an analogous syntax issue when trying to convert some CJS (require()) code to ESM (import) - here's what worked when I needed to import Redis:
CJS
const RedisStore = require('connect-redis')(session);
ESM Equivalent
import connectRedis from 'connect-redis';
const RedisStore = connectRedis(session);
You can pass parameters in the module specifier directly:
import * as Lib from "./lib?foo=bar";
cf: https://flaming.codes/en/posts/es6-import-with-parameters
There is a well-known approach in node.js to leverage the module factory pattern. For, example:
m.js
function factoryMethod(module) {
// doing some stuff and returning object initialized with module parameter
}
app.js
var o = require('./m')(module);
// using o
How can I do the same in typescript. Actually, creating m.ts is not a problem:
m.ts
function factoryMethod(module: NodeModule): any {
// doing some stuff
}
export = factoryMethod;
But how should I use import syntax to use this module factory method like in javascript?
I'm not sure I quite get this common pattern. You're passing the module object from one module into another? All kinds of other objects are passed around like this, (e.g. app, db), but I don't like the idea of passing around the module object. I'd be tempted to call it an anti-pattern. Surely the module object should stay in the module to which it belongs.
That said, if you just want to import and call a function on the same line, you could do this using Node's require() function, just like regular JavaScript. Let's say you are passing an Express app rather than module.
const o = require('./m')(app);
However, you lose type-safety with this; o will be of type any. You would have to explicitly define the type of o.
const o: Module = require('./m')(app);
This is a bit silly. In fact, Module is likely to be defined in the module you are requiring anyway, so it is likely also self-defeating. My suggestion is this. Don't expect to use the same patterns you are used to in plain JS in TypeScript, which has its own patterns.
One thing you could do is import the function at the top, and then call it later. TypeScript uses ES2015-style modules, which don't allow you to import a function and call it on the same line. You will have to rewrite both files, since export = is not valid in ES2015.
// m.ts
interface Module {
// properties, methods, etc.
}
export function factoryMethod(app: Express.Application): Module {
let module = {};
// Initialize module methods, properties, etc.
return module;
}
The interface allow type inference in app.ts, which is an improvement of a kind.
// app.ts
import {factoryMethod} from './m';
// ...
let o = factoryMethod(app);
But this is still very silly. We don't need to define an interface and all that nonsense. Instead, we can use a class. Classes are very often the answer in TypeScript, and you'll find that most patterns in TypeScript involve them.
// m.ts
export class Module {
constructor(private app: Express.Application) { }
cache: string[];
someMethod(): Promise<Express.Response> {
// do something with this.app
}
}
And then in app.ts
import {Module} from './m';
// ...
let o = new Module(app);
Now we don't have to worry about interfaces and all that. The class itself is a type. This is quite a bit different from what you are likely to see in a typical Node app, but it is the sort of pattern you find all the time in TypeScript.
Hopefully that gives you some ideas.
import {factoryMethod} from './m.ts'
let module = factpryMethod('module');
I know this question is fairly old but I came across the same issue when converting an existing JS project to TypeScript that makes use of this pattern.
Instead of having to pre-define the module definition in an interface we can use the ReturnType helper to get a type definition of the return type of a function!
This is what the module might look like:
function initModule(arg1: number, arg2: number) {
function functionA() {
return arg1;
}
function functionB() {
return arg2;
}
return {
functionA,
functionB,
};
}
export default initModule;
export type SampleModule = ReturnType<typeof initFactory>;
And here is how we could use it:
import initModule, { SampleModule } from './factory';
const newModule: SampleModule = initModule(1, 2);
newModule.functionA(); // 1
newModule.functionB(); // 2
Seriously, how cool is TypeScript? :)
Is it possible to pass options to ES6 imports?
How do you translate this:
var x = require('module')(someoptions);
to ES6?
There is no way to do this with a single import statement, it does not allow for invocations.
So you wouldn't call it directly, but you can basically do just the same what commonjs does with default exports:
// module.js
export default function(options) {
return {
// actual module
}
}
// main.js
import m from 'module';
var x = m(someoptions);
Alternatively, if you use a module loader that supports monadic promises, you might be able to do something like
System.import('module').ap(someoptions).then(function(x) {
…
});
With the new import operator it might become
const promise = import('module').then(m => m(someoptions));
or
const x = (await import('module'))(someoptions)
however you probably don't want a dynamic import but a static one.
Concept
Here's my solution using ES6
Very much inline with #Bergi's response, this is the "template" I use when creating imports that need parameters passed for class declarations. This is used on an isomorphic framework I'm writing, so will work with a transpiler in the browser and in node.js (I use Babel with Webpack):
./MyClass.js
export default (Param1, Param2) => class MyClass {
constructor(){
console.log( Param1 );
}
}
./main.js
import MyClassFactory from './MyClass.js';
let MyClass = MyClassFactory('foo', 'bar');
let myInstance = new MyClass();
The above will output foo in a console
EDIT
Real World Example
For a real world example, I'm using this to pass in a namespace for accessing other classes and instances within a framework. Because we're simply creating a function and passing the object in as an argument, we can use it with our class declaration likeso:
export default (UIFramework) => class MyView extends UIFramework.Type.View {
getModels() {
// ...
UIFramework.Models.getModelsForView( this._models );
// ...
}
}
The importation is a bit more complicated and automagical in my case given that it's an entire framework, but essentially this is what is happening:
// ...
getView( viewName ){
//...
const ViewFactory = require(viewFileLoc);
const View = ViewFactory(this);
return new View();
}
// ...
I hope this helps!
Building on #Bergi's answer to use the debug module using es6 would be the following
// original
var debug = require('debug')('http');
// ES6
import * as Debug from 'debug';
const debug = Debug('http');
// Use in your code as normal
debug('Hello World!');
I've landed on this thread looking up for somewhat similar and would like to propose a sort of solution, at least for some cases (but see Remark below).
Use case
I have a module, that is running some instantiation logic immediately upon loading. I do not like to call this init logic outside the module (which is the same as call new SomeClass(p1, p2) or new ((p1, p2) => class SomeClass { ... p1 ... p2 ... }) and alike).
I do like that this init logic will run once, kind of a singular instantiation flow, but once per some specific parametrized context.
Example
service.js has at its very basic scope:
let context = null; // meanwhile i'm just leaving this as is
console.log('initialized in context ' + (context ? context : 'root'));
Module A does:
import * as S from 'service.js'; // console has now "initialized in context root"
Module B does:
import * as S from 'service.js'; // console stays unchanged! module's script runs only once
So far so good: service is available for both modules but was initialized only once.
Problem
How to make it run as another instance and init itself once again in another context, say in Module C?
Solution?
This is what I'm thinking about: use query parameters. In the service we'd add the following:
let context = new URL(import.meta.url).searchParams.get('context');
Module C would do:
import * as S from 'service.js?context=special';
the module will be re-imported, it's basic init logic will run and we'll see in the console:
initialized in context special
Remark: I'd myself advise to NOT practice this approach much, but leave it as the last resort. Why? Module imported more than once is more of an exception than a rule, so it is somewhat unexpected behavior and as such may confuse a consumers or even break it's own 'singleton' paradigms, if any.
I believe you can use es6 module loaders.
http://babeljs.io/docs/learn-es6/
System.import("lib/math").then(function(m) {
m(youroptionshere);
});
You just need to add these 2 lines.
import xModule from 'module';
const x = xModule('someOptions');
Here's my take on this question using the debug module as an example;
On this module's npm page, you have this:
var debug = require('debug')('http')
In the line above, a string is passed to the module that is imported, to construct. Here's how you would do same in ES6
import { debug as Debug } from 'debug'
const debug = Debug('http');
Hope this helps someone out there.
I ran into an analogous syntax issue when trying to convert some CJS (require()) code to ESM (import) - here's what worked when I needed to import Redis:
CJS
const RedisStore = require('connect-redis')(session);
ESM Equivalent
import connectRedis from 'connect-redis';
const RedisStore = connectRedis(session);
You can pass parameters in the module specifier directly:
import * as Lib from "./lib?foo=bar";
cf: https://flaming.codes/en/posts/es6-import-with-parameters
Is it possible to pass options to ES6 imports?
How do you translate this:
var x = require('module')(someoptions);
to ES6?
There is no way to do this with a single import statement, it does not allow for invocations.
So you wouldn't call it directly, but you can basically do just the same what commonjs does with default exports:
// module.js
export default function(options) {
return {
// actual module
}
}
// main.js
import m from 'module';
var x = m(someoptions);
Alternatively, if you use a module loader that supports monadic promises, you might be able to do something like
System.import('module').ap(someoptions).then(function(x) {
…
});
With the new import operator it might become
const promise = import('module').then(m => m(someoptions));
or
const x = (await import('module'))(someoptions)
however you probably don't want a dynamic import but a static one.
Concept
Here's my solution using ES6
Very much inline with #Bergi's response, this is the "template" I use when creating imports that need parameters passed for class declarations. This is used on an isomorphic framework I'm writing, so will work with a transpiler in the browser and in node.js (I use Babel with Webpack):
./MyClass.js
export default (Param1, Param2) => class MyClass {
constructor(){
console.log( Param1 );
}
}
./main.js
import MyClassFactory from './MyClass.js';
let MyClass = MyClassFactory('foo', 'bar');
let myInstance = new MyClass();
The above will output foo in a console
EDIT
Real World Example
For a real world example, I'm using this to pass in a namespace for accessing other classes and instances within a framework. Because we're simply creating a function and passing the object in as an argument, we can use it with our class declaration likeso:
export default (UIFramework) => class MyView extends UIFramework.Type.View {
getModels() {
// ...
UIFramework.Models.getModelsForView( this._models );
// ...
}
}
The importation is a bit more complicated and automagical in my case given that it's an entire framework, but essentially this is what is happening:
// ...
getView( viewName ){
//...
const ViewFactory = require(viewFileLoc);
const View = ViewFactory(this);
return new View();
}
// ...
I hope this helps!
Building on #Bergi's answer to use the debug module using es6 would be the following
// original
var debug = require('debug')('http');
// ES6
import * as Debug from 'debug';
const debug = Debug('http');
// Use in your code as normal
debug('Hello World!');
I've landed on this thread looking up for somewhat similar and would like to propose a sort of solution, at least for some cases (but see Remark below).
Use case
I have a module, that is running some instantiation logic immediately upon loading. I do not like to call this init logic outside the module (which is the same as call new SomeClass(p1, p2) or new ((p1, p2) => class SomeClass { ... p1 ... p2 ... }) and alike).
I do like that this init logic will run once, kind of a singular instantiation flow, but once per some specific parametrized context.
Example
service.js has at its very basic scope:
let context = null; // meanwhile i'm just leaving this as is
console.log('initialized in context ' + (context ? context : 'root'));
Module A does:
import * as S from 'service.js'; // console has now "initialized in context root"
Module B does:
import * as S from 'service.js'; // console stays unchanged! module's script runs only once
So far so good: service is available for both modules but was initialized only once.
Problem
How to make it run as another instance and init itself once again in another context, say in Module C?
Solution?
This is what I'm thinking about: use query parameters. In the service we'd add the following:
let context = new URL(import.meta.url).searchParams.get('context');
Module C would do:
import * as S from 'service.js?context=special';
the module will be re-imported, it's basic init logic will run and we'll see in the console:
initialized in context special
Remark: I'd myself advise to NOT practice this approach much, but leave it as the last resort. Why? Module imported more than once is more of an exception than a rule, so it is somewhat unexpected behavior and as such may confuse a consumers or even break it's own 'singleton' paradigms, if any.
I believe you can use es6 module loaders.
http://babeljs.io/docs/learn-es6/
System.import("lib/math").then(function(m) {
m(youroptionshere);
});
You just need to add these 2 lines.
import xModule from 'module';
const x = xModule('someOptions');
Here's my take on this question using the debug module as an example;
On this module's npm page, you have this:
var debug = require('debug')('http')
In the line above, a string is passed to the module that is imported, to construct. Here's how you would do same in ES6
import { debug as Debug } from 'debug'
const debug = Debug('http');
Hope this helps someone out there.
I ran into an analogous syntax issue when trying to convert some CJS (require()) code to ESM (import) - here's what worked when I needed to import Redis:
CJS
const RedisStore = require('connect-redis')(session);
ESM Equivalent
import connectRedis from 'connect-redis';
const RedisStore = connectRedis(session);
You can pass parameters in the module specifier directly:
import * as Lib from "./lib?foo=bar";
cf: https://flaming.codes/en/posts/es6-import-with-parameters