Add typescript support

[sleeyax]

I have an addon written in typescript that I'd like to run locally. Typescript is nothing more than a superset of javascript that compiles to javascript.

PimpMyStremio could check if an addon repo contains .ts files and compile them before starting the addon.

[sleeyax]

We could add the ts-loader and typescript dependencies and add the following configuration snippet to the bundler, according to the webpack docs.

 module: {
	rules: [
	  {
		test: /\.ts?$/,
		use: 'ts-loader'
	  },
	],
  },
  resolve: {
	extensions: ['.ts', '.js', '.json'],
  },
...

And then to check if a repo contains a .ts or .js index file:

const entry = path.join(dest, fs.existsSync(path.join(dest, 'index.ts')) ? 'index.ts' : 'index.js')
const bundled = await bundle(repoData.repo, entry, dest, vm.allModules())

I haven't tested this yet, but I think it's a good starting point.

[sleeyax]

Another option would be to give the programmer the freedom to compile the code to javascript and attach it as an asset on the releases page. Then we could look for a specific asset name (e.g build.zip), so PimpMyStremio can download that instead of downloading the whole source (i.e zipball_url).

This is probably easier to implement, doesn't require additional dependencies and also works with any other transpiler like babel or coffeescript.

The only downside is that the developer could potentially add unwanted (or in the worst case scenario harmful) content to the zipped build.

[sungshon]

The only downside is that the developer could potentially add unwanted (or in the worst case scenario harmful) content to the zipped build.

That's a pretty big downside.. User security should be the priority in all cases, so I can't agree with this..

I would like to support any and all transpilers if possible, but adding them all to PMS might create quite a serious bloat, and then again favoring (or discriminating) a transpiler would be unfair.. I'm really worried about the bloat size here as transpilers and other build tools should normally not be part of released applications, so they may be heavy repositories.

This could obviously also be solved by processing the code before release (to some build folder or something) and prioritising build/index.js (if available) over index.js, yet some devs might not agree with having processed code in their repo..

I'm not entirely sure how to handle this need best.. but everything that causes possible security issues should definitely be avoided. I will think about it..

[sungshon]

I have to say that it breaks my heart that there's an addon out there that isn't in PMS due to transpiling limitations..

[sleeyax]

I have to say that it breaks my heart that there's an addon out there that isn't in PMS due to transpiling limitations..

Too bad I happen to have 3+ addons for PMS written in TypeScript, stored in a monorepo 😅 (#69 - nice)

[sungshon]

I checked, ts-loader + typescript add 16mb to the weight of the binary, which is about a 13% increase in size.

But PMS is a platform for creators, and u are one such creator. Although imo the best place for transpilers to be used would be before releasing on GitHub, as it would add zero weight and all transpilers are obviously supported that way.. If u say u need this, and you seem to have a good idea about where it should be added already and have addons to test this with, if u make a PR for it, i'll accept it.

[danamag]

So what if we create separate repos for each transpiler:

• pms-typescript-addons
• pms-babel-addons
• ...

With a list of addons and a script. The script could download addons and transpile them, then we could use monorepos to point to each transpiled addon folder.

[sungshon]

That can work if @sleeyax thinks it's sufficient. We already have most of the logic to make something like:

• Set addons in addonsList.json
• Update addons: lib/addon.js (update and install methods)
• Webpack addons: lib/bundle.js

We're just missing the monorepos feature.

[sungshon]

@danamag I think I added support for monorepos, but did not test it at all. If you have any way of testing, I would appreciate it.

[sleeyax]

I've made my monorepo public for testing: https://github.com/sleeyax/stremio-addons