Arguments to path.join must be string.

[jzvelc]

I am unable to implement grunt-ts in my grunt due to following error when running task:
Compiling...
Warning: Arguments to path.join must be strings Use --force to continue.

I have tried almost everything without success.

[basarat]

@jzvelc I suspect it is because of grunt-contrib-watch

[jzvelc]

Well it is not, I tried running ts task alone and I get same error. I have tried all different configurations without success (even specifying src and outDir alone).

[basarat]

Well it is not, I tried running ts task alone and I get same error.

cool. Thanks for that, I'll investigate

[basarat]

@jzvelc have you found an easy way to reproduce this?

[basarat]

This snippet at the top of your ts.js file would be nice :

var oldJoin = path.join;
path.join = function () {
    _.forEach(arguments, function (argument) {
        if (typeof argument !== 'string') {
            try {
                console.log('why no string!'.red);
                console.log('BAD path.join called', arguments);
                throw new Error('why no string!');
            } catch (ex) {
                console.log(ex.stack);
            }
        }
    });

    return oldJoin.apply(path, arguments);
};

So the start of you ts.js looks like :

/// <reference path="../defs/tsd.d.ts"/>
/// <reference path="./modules/interfaces.d.ts"/>
/*
* grunt-ts
* Licensed under the MIT license.
*/
// Typescript imports
var _ = require('underscore');
var path = require('path');
var fs = require('fs');

var oldJoin = path.join;
path.join = function () {
    _.forEach(arguments, function (argument) {
        if (typeof argument !== 'string') {
            try {
                console.log('why no string!'.red);
                console.log('BAD path.join called', arguments);
                throw new Error('why no string!');
            } catch (ex) {
                console.log(ex.stack);
            }
        }
    });

    return oldJoin.apply(path, arguments);
};

[basarat]

I have a stacktrace

It seems targetName is undefined here : https://github.com/grunt-ts/grunt-ts/blob/master/tasks/modules/compile.ts#L60 i.e. grunt.task.current.target is undefined

Seems like a grunt bug : gruntjs/grunt#994 (comment)

[basarat]

lesson learnt, grunt.task.current.target is not reliable. The reason is that it might not point to grunt-ts at the time of code completion is completed e.g. in this case it was pointing to grunt-contrib-watch which obviously does not have the target member :

This itself is probably because for some reason done of the grunt-ts task is called before we try to clear the cache which is why grunt moves back to watch task.

Possible Solutions:

a.) Store and pass the targetname around : simple to do and guaranteed to work
b.) track down why grunt moved on without completing us (grunt-ts). I suspect its because of the way watch interruption is setup and it may not be in our control.

I'll go with a.) since it is bound to work.

[basarat]

I'll assign this issue to myself if I work on it. PRs welcome

[basarat]

worth mentioning based on the analysis that it should have no bad side effect. Its simply failing when grunt has moved on which means that whatever is trying to complete shouldn't even be there.

[basarat]

fixed in v1.11.5

[basarat]

Store and pass the targetname around : simple to do and guaranteed to work

This is what I did because grunt.task.current.target seemed to be always undefined in my latest npm install for some reason.