Use local version of node.js package - javascript

I'm digging into a node package that uses a CLI, and am trying to extend it by adding some functionality. I've cloned the repo from github, but I've also installed it via npm.
How can I use my local version, instead of the one that's been installed via npm?
Thanks!

When you install a package using npm, it just puts it into the node_modules folder in the folder where you ran it (or if you pass -g, into a global node_modules folder).
require() uses a particular search order to find modules. To get a specific version of a module to load you can take two paths:
Specify a relative path to the module: require("./path/to/myfork/of/module")
Delete the version of the module installed by npm into mode_modules and put your fork of it in there
Make sure that your fork of that module is in a "closer" node_modules folder. Node searches the node_modules in same folder as the file calling require() and then works its way up the folder hierarchy to find a module.
For more information, take a look at http://nodejs.org/docs/v0.4.11/api/modules.html

Related

`npm link` inside a monorepo adds the dependency always to the root

I have a mono repo and want to link a component library inside a package which contains this library as a dependency. But as we control this library and make changes, I want to be able to test it locally.
cd <library_path>
npm link
cd <monorepo_path>
npm link --workspace <target_package> <library>
When I execute find: find -name '<library>' I can find the library in the <target_package> node_modules directory as well as in the roots node_modules directory, which means the one in the <target_package> will take precedence, but this is the published one, not the linked one. The linked one lives in the root.
When I install my node_modules without linking the package, the library lives only inside the root node_modules.
I tried several things without success.
How can I override the workspace dependency temporarily to use the local library from npm link?
EDIT:
I found a temporary workaround in our webpack configuration with hardcoding which path to use for this dependency.
However, this is not a satisfying solution in my opinion.

How to imitate my library is a node module without uploading to the NPM?

If I'm developing a library which work is based a lot around of current working directory and the filesystem generally, a lot of paths resolution, and I want to see how it will behave when will be installed as a node module, I don't want to get unexpected results when I'll upload it to the npm. How do I test my library behavior pretending it's a node module? Is placing its folder in node_modules enough?
Make a local package and install it everywhere:
$ npm pack
it will generate a zipped file, so you can copy somewhere and install it.
// another project
$ npm install /path/to/pack
Resources:
npm pack,
Add local package
Absolutely you can use npm link too. link

How to run my local angular project by using globally installed npm packages?

I want to do something like this, where, I want to keep all my packages globally just like node package itself. So for example in my package.json I have a package name called "Highcharts" I want to install it globally I don't want to create a local node_modules folder and use it but I want to access it from outside so next time whenever I want to create a copy of my project folder I should be able to use highcharts directly without using npm install. Is it possible?
globally installed node_modules - > Users/user/AppData/Roaming/node_modules/highcharts
app
src
node_modules (I don't want to keep it)
package.json
tsconfig.json
angular.json
How to link these globally installed node_modules with the current app or any app which we want to create?
Any help will be appreciated. Thank you so much :)
local packages are installed in the project directory
global packages are installed in a single place in your system
Usually it is a good idea to have all npm packages required for your project installed locally (project folder). This makes sure, that you can have dozens of applications which are running a different versions of each package if needed.
export NODE_PATH='yourdir'/node_modules
Hello, if am getting right, you want to keep all dependencies global.
You can just run install with -g command. Those libraries will be available in node installation folder.
From the Node docs
If the NODE_PATH environment variable is set to a colon-delimited list of absolute paths, then node will search those paths for modules if they are not found elsewhere. (Note: On Windows, NODE_PATH is delimited by semicolons instead of colons.)
Additionally, node will search in the following locations:
1: $HOME/.node_modules
2: $HOME/.node_libraries
3: $PREFIX/lib/node
Where $HOME is the user's home directory, and $PREFIX is node's configured node_prefix.
These are mostly for historic reasons. You are highly encouraged to place your dependencies locally in node_modules folders. They will be loaded faster, and more reliably.
I hope I answered, you just need to manage the paths to node_modules wherever you have kept it.

Linking local library into Angular 5 Project

What i want is to have a library locally that when i change it those changes are reflected in the project that is using the library.
i have check out this library here in my local machine: https://github.com/manfredsteyer/angular-oauth2-oidc
So what i'm doing right now, is that i go to the library directory and then
npm link
And then get in my project directory and do
npm link angular-oauth2-oidc
The library folder appears inside my node_modules folder but i can't manage to use it, since when i start the app ng serve it says:
Cannot find module 'angular-oauth2-oidc'
I'm importing like this:
import { OAuthModule } from 'angular-oauth2-oidc';
I've tried to add the the path under the compilerOptions of the tsconfig.json file but haven't been sucessful.
Any ideas on what i'm missing here? I've tried several suggestions i've found on angular github issues but none solved my problem.
Thanks in advance
npm link in a package folder will create a symlink in the global folder {prefix}/lib/node_modules/ that links to the package where the npm link command was executed
Dont use npm link to add a library to your project, use npm install :
npm install angular-oauth2-oidc --save
You have to install it not just link it, so use this line to with flag --save to ensure that it will be saved in your package.json
npm install [package_name] --save
You can get the package name from the source website or from
https://www.npmjs.com/package/angular2
When you say:
So what i'm doing right now, is that i go to the library directory and
then npm link
Do you mean you are executing npm link in the folder you cloned the repository in? Because if so, that's likely your issue as that's the source directory and not what's actually published as a package. You must build the library, change directory into the distribution folder for the package, and then run npm link. Then when you run builds of that library, any Angular applications with that linked will automatically have the last version of your build in their node_modules.
Also, in your Angular applications where you are using the linked library you'll want to make sure you are setting preserveSymlinks to true in your angular.json.
While you can create multiple projects (e.g. an Angular app and an Angular library) under one Angular project to make this process a bit easier, I prefer to separating these two since I like one git repository to present one module.
First, you need to link your modules to your project's package.json file. Here's how to link files locally in general:
Local dependency in package.json
Linking a plain Typescript library is pretty straight forward as you just create an entry point (usually index.ts) file and export everything you want from there. This file needs to be in the same folder as the package.json file in your project.
An Angular library is a bit different as angular modules needs to be compiled before it can be properly exported. If you just import the module to your project without compiling you will get an error stating this: cannot read property 'ɵmod'. This happens at least at the time of writing this.
So we need to compile the library and then link it:
open two terminal windows
in the first terminal, go to your Angular library's root folder and run ng build --watch
check the output folder of the compiled module, usually something like dist/[library name]
change your Angular project's package.json to point to the output folder e.g. "my-angular-library": "file:../my-angular-library/dist/my-angular-library"
run npm install in the same folder
Add path to your Angular project's tsconfig.json e.g:
compilerOptions: {
"paths": {
"my-angular-library": ["./node_modules/my-angular-library"]
}
}
Otherwise you'll get errors like Error: Symbol MyComponent declared in /path/to/library/my.component.d.ts is not exported from my-angular-library
in the second terminal, go to your Angular project's root folder and run ng serve. Make sure you serve the project only after you have installed the local dependency.
You should now be able to use components, services etc. exported via your library module.
TL;DR
for the library ng build --watch
make the library dependency to point to the output folder e.g. "my-angular-library": "file:../my-angular-library/dist/my-angular-library"
npm i
Add path to your Angular project's tsconfig.json e.g:
compilerOptions: {
"paths": {
"my-angular-library": ["./node_modules/my-angular-library"]
}
}
ng serve

How to add local dependency to npm project

How do I make javascript project depended of local javascript project using package.json? The project I must depend on doesn't have any npm configuration files in directory.
The dependency you wish to specify in the dependent's package.json must itself have a properly constructed package.json. Otherwise, it does not function as an npm package and you cannot specify it in another package's package.json in a meaningful way.
If you are able to add a package.json to the dependency, then you can include it as a local package by specifying its local path. Otherwise, if the dependency cannot contain a package.json, I recommend creating a symlink to it in the dependent's directory.

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