In this article, we will discuss about how to integrate Typescript into Node.js project such as web project, talk about disadvantages of Typescript that is compared with Javascript.


Table of contents


Why do we need to integrate Typescript into Node.js project

Here are some reasons that we think that we should use Typescript into Node.js project:

  • Typescript is purely object oriented programming.
  • When we are working with large project, use common syntax in Javscript make us confused because we do not know about parameters and their types of javascript.
  • We can easily detect errors at the compile time.
  • Great tooling support with IntelliSense.
  • The ability to compile down to a version of Javascript that runs on all browsers.


Some modules of Typescript that need to add in Node.js project

  • Use typescript package

    Simply, to use Typescript in our Node.js project, we need to install typescript package.

    npm install typescript --save-dev

    In package.json file, we have:

      ...
  "devDependencies": {
      ...
      "typescript": "^3.4.2"
  }

    Node.js is an engine that runs Javascript and not Typescript. The node Typescript package allows us to transpile our .ts file to .js scripts. Babel can also be used to transpile Typescript, however the market standard is to use the official Microsoft package.

    Inside our package.json, we will put a script called tsc:

      "scripts": {
      "tsc": "tsc"
  }

    This modification allows us to call typescript functions from the command line in the project’s folder. So, we can use the following command:

    npm run tsc -- --init

    This command initializes the typescript project by creating the tsconfig.json file. Within this file, we will uncomment the outDir option and choose a location for the transpiled .js files to be delivered

    Output folder of transpiled .ts file

  • Use @types/express package

    Assuming that we were installed the express package for managing server with template engine ejs.

    npm install express ejs --save

    Because Express and Typescript packages are independent. The consequence of this is that Typescript does not know types of Express classes. There is a specific npm package for the Typescript to recognize the Express types. Therefore, @types/express is an type declaration package for Express.

    npm install @types/express --save-dev

  • Use @types/node package

    To assist Typescript developers, library authors and community contributors publish companion libraries called Typescript declaration files.

    So, @types/node package is an type declaration package for Node.js, it has the same name as the package on npm, but prefixed with @types/, but if we need, we can check out https://aka.ms/types to find the package for our favorite library.

    npm install @types/node --save-dev

  • Use @types/passport, @types/passport-jwt and @types/bcryptjs packages

    Similiarly, with the @types/express and @types/node packages that are type declaration packages for Node.js and Express, @types/passport, @types/passport-jwt and @types/bcryptjs packages are also type declaration packages for passport, passport-jwt, and bcryptjs, when we want passport, passport-jwt, and bcryptjs packages that are compatible with Typescript version of these packages.

  • Use ts-node and ts-node-dev packages

    package Description
    ts-node Use to run Typescript files directly
    ts-node-dev Running Typescript without transpiling

    The ts-node package is recommended for development only. ts-node which we will use for live compile + run in node.

    npm install ts-node --save-dev

    To make the final deploy in production, always use the javascript version of our project.

    The ts-node package is already included as a dependency on another package - ts-node-dev package. After installing ts-node-dev, we can run commands that restarts the server whenever a project file changes.

    npm install ts-node-dev --save-dev

    Inside our package.json, we will add two more scripts:

      "scripts": {
      "start": "npm run start:prod",
      "dev": "npm run start:dev",
      "tsc": "tsc",
      "start:dev": "ts-node-dev --respawn --transpileOnly ./server.ts",
      "start:prod": "tsc && node ./dist/server.js",
      "build": "tsc"
  }

    To start the development environment:

    npm run dev

    To run the server in production mode:

    npm start

  • Use tslint package

    TSLint is an extensible static analysis tool that checks Typescript code for readability, maintainability, and functionality errors. It is widely supported across modern editors & build systems and can be customized with our own lint rules, configurations, and formatters.

    TSLint will be deprecated some time in 2019.

      npm install tslint --save-dev

    Sometimes, when using the above command, typing tslint --init is not working. So, to repair this mistake, we can do something like this:

      npm install tslint typescript -g

    or

      npm install tslint typescript --save-dev

    Then,

      tslint --init

    tslint --init will create tslint.json configuration file.

    To do more configurations with TSLint, refer to the link.


Create some scripts for compiling and run Node.js project with Typescript

After adding some scripts into package.json file such as:

"scripts": {
    "start": "npm run start:prod",
    "dev": "npm run start:dev",
    "tsc": "tsc",
    "start:dev": "ts-node-dev --respawn --transpileOnly ./server.ts",
    "start:prod": "tsc && node ./dist/server.js",
    "build": "tsc"
}

Use some command:

npm run dev
npm start


Wrapping up

  • Typescript prefers to use the import module syntax over require, so we’ll start by changing:

    const express = require('express');

    to:

    import express from "express";


Thanks for your reading.


Refer:

https://developer.okta.com/blog/2018/11/15/node-express-typescript

https://basarat.gitbooks.io/typescript/content/docs/quick/nodejs.html

https://developer.okta.com/blog/2018/11/15/node-express-typescript

https://blog.risingstack.com/building-a-node-js-app-with-typescript-tutorial/

https://github.com/DefinitelyTyped/DefinitelyTyped

https://ionicframework.com/docs/v3/developer-resources/typescript/

https://www.upwork.com/hiring/community/the-advantages-of-typescript/

https://palantir.github.io/tslint/usage/cli/

https://hostpresto.com/my/aff.php?aff=964&url=/nodejs-hosting/