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rnrneverdies
Asked: 2020-01-21 06:47:29 +0800 CST 2020-01-21 06:47:29 +0800 CST

Local dependencies using the tools for NodeJS in VS2015

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I am trying to compile a nodejs project , with VS2015.

The main project has sub projects in sub folders, that is to say that in each sub-folder there is one package.jsonwith its own code and each one declares the dependencies to the other projects.

The problem I have is that when I try to run any example from the main project, instead of using the packages from the sub-folders, it downloads all the packages from the npm registry .

My question is: How can I configure visual studio to use the code of the sub-projects without downloading the packages from the internet?

nodejs

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    The functionality you are looking for is provided by npm-link which allows you to symlink a package's source code so you can debug it without going crazy. (This article in English is very interesting: npm link: developing your own npm modules without tears )

    The way to use it in your case would be the following:

    • In each of the subprojects you runnpm link
    • In the main project npm link subproyecto1...npm link subproyectoN

    I have made a test with Visual Studio 2015 creating a solution with two projects

    nodejs-projectdeps
|- nodejs-projectdeps-main
|- nodejs-projectdeps-module1

    nodejs - projectdeps-main package.json file

    {
  "name": "nodejs-projectdeps-main",
  "version": "0.0.0",
  "description": "nodejs-projectdeps-main",
  "main": "app.js",
  "dependencies": {
    "azure": "^0.10.6",
    "nodejs-projectdeps-module1": "0.0.0"
  }
}

    nodejs - projectdeps-module1 package.json file

    {
  "name": "nodejs-projectdeps-module1",
  "version": "0.0.0",
  "description": "nodejs-projectdeps-module1",
  "main": "app.js",
  "dependencies": {
    "dockerctl": "0.0.0"
  }
}

    Then I have executed npm linkin the project card nodejs-projectdeps-module1with the following result:

    C:\Users\...\npm\node_modules\nodejs-projectdeps-module1 
  -> C:\src\nodejs-projectdeps\nodejs-projectdeps-module1

    Then I have executed npm link nodejs-projectdeps-module1in the project folder nodejs-projectdeps-mainand the result has been:

    C:\src\nodejs-projectdeps-main\node_modules\nodejs-projectdeps-module1 
  -> C:\Users\...\npm\node_modules\nodejs-projectdeps-module1 
    -> C:\src\nodejs-projectdeps\nodejs-projectdeps-module1

    This is how the solution looks in Visual Studio 2015 showing the dependencies between packages:

    Node dependencies in VS2015

    Update : The source code of the tests I have performed is published on GitHub

    • 1

  2. You can specify in your file package.jsonthe dependency to a local repository instead of specifying the version.

    For example :

    {
    ...
    "dependencies": {
        "bar": "file:ruta/a/tu/proyecto"
    }
}

    More information at: package.json - Local Paths

    • 0