syndicate-js/packages/ts-plugin/README.md

# TypeScript plugin for Syndicate

Rewrites Syndicate DSL syntax into plain TypeScript as a `tsserver`
plugin, allowing your IDE to work directly with Syndicate constructs
and not requiring a separate preprocessing step.

Sadly, `tsc` doesn't pay attention to plugins (not as of April 2021,
anyway). If you're using `tsc` as part of your build, you will need to
use `@syndicate-lang/tsc`'s `syndicate-tsc` command instead.

## Installing the plugin

`package.json`:

    {
      "devDependencies": {
        "@syndicate-lang/ts-plugin": "file:../..",
        ...
      },
      ...
    }

then `yarn install`.

## Enabling the plugin in the TypeScript compiler

`tsconfig.json`:

    {
      "compilerOptions": {
        "plugins": [
          { "name": "@syndicate-lang/ts-plugin" }
        ],
        ...
      },
      ...
    }

## Getting it to work with specific editors

### Emacs with Tide

It should Just Work, if the `node_modules` next to `tsconfig.json` has
a `typescript/` subdirectory.

If no such `typescript/` subdirectory exists in `node_modules`, then
because
[tsserver loads plugins from relative to tsserver.js rather than tsconfig.json](https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/issues/42688),
you will have to tell `tide-mode` about where your project's
`tsserver` lives.

One easy way to do that is to create a symlink in your `node_modules`:

```shell
ln -s /FULL/PATH/TO/YOUR/PROJECT/node_modules/typescript ./node_modules/
```

Another way to do it is to put a `.dir-locals.el` file in your project
root, containing

```elisp
((tide-mode
  . ((tide-tsserver-executable
      . "/FULL/PATH/TO/YOUR/PROJECT/node_modules/typescript/bin/tsserver"))))
```

I don't know of any way of automatically resolving a relative path
specification with respect to the directory containing
`.dir-locals.el` without using `eval`, but if you're happy to do so,
you can use the following:

```elisp
((typescript-mode
  . ((eval . (setq tide-tsserver-executable
                   (concat
                    (let ((d (dir-locals-find-file ".")))
                      (if (stringp d) d (car d)))
                    "node_modules/typescript/lib/tsserver.js"))))))
```

If you use the `.dir-locals.el` methods, you may need to run
`tide-restart-server` once after opening the first TypeScript file in
your project (and then close and re-open that TypeScript file).

### Visual Studio Code

After `yarn install`, if you have a `node_modules/typescript`
directory, then the following will work. (Otherwise, there may not be
an option to select "Use Workspace Version", and you may need to
symlink a `typescript` directory into `node_modules` as described for
Emacs Tide above.)

Open VS Code, and select the version of TypeScript contained therein
by following instructions
[here](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/typescript/typescript-compiling#_using-newer-typescript-versions).

Specifically, when selecting a TypeScript version,
[choose "Use Workspace Version"](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/typescript/typescript-compiling#_using-the-workspace-version-of-typescript).

For me, the net effect of this is to create a `.vscode/settings.json`
file containing:

    {
        "typescript.tsdk": "node_modules/typescript/lib"
    }

## Debugging

You can get verbose logs from Tide's tsserver by setting the Emacs
variable `tide-tsserver-process-environment`:

```elisp
(setq tide-tsserver-process-environment '("TSS_LOG=-file /tmp/tss.log"))
```

You can also enable "verbose" output, if that's useful:

```elisp
(setq tide-tsserver-process-environment '("TSS_LOG=-level verbose -file /tmp/tss.log"))
```

Finally, you can set these options in a `.dir-locals.el` file, too:

```elisp
((typescript-mode
  . ((tide-tsserver-process-environment . ("TSS_LOG=-level verbose -file /tmp/tss.log")))))
```