Getting started with TypeScript, Browserify and Gulp in SharePoint

In my previous post Simple bundle, minify and upload JS to SharePoint using Gulp we saw how Gulp tasks can be used to simplify our JavaScript development experience in SharePoint. I am really impressed with Gulp as it has increased my productivity and I don't remember the last time I used SharePoint Designer :)

Now let's see how can we bring TypeScript into the mix. I have been playing around with TypeScript for a while now and here is my basic development workflow:

1) Create a main app.ts file which will contain the primary code for my application or "WebPart". In addition, app.ts will also have import references to any custom or third party modules e.g. jQuery

3) Use tslint to check the quality of my TypeScript

4) Use browserify and tsify to parse my TypeScript file and create a single JavaScript file (app.js) which includes all the dependencies required to run my app.

5) Minify my app.js using gulp-uglify and rename it to app.min.js using gulp-rename

6) Upload the debug and minified files to the Style Library in SharePoint using gulp-spsave

7) Then the JavaScript files can be used any way I like e.g. embed it using a Custom Action or in a Script Editor or a Content Editor WebPart.

Before we begin, if you are using Visual Studio 2015 like me, make sure you have the latest version of Node installed and Visual Studio is configured to use it. Here is an excellent tutorial on how to do this: How to configure Visual Studio 2015 with the latest version of Node.js and NPM

Now let us have a look at the important bits of my solution. I have uploaded the entire solution on GitHub here: https://github.com/vman/MyTypeScript

1) app.ts file:

At the top, the import statements are used to indicate that the code in this file is dependent on these modules. The first being jQuery and the second being my custom User module. Next, we simply create an object of the User class and call it's getDetails and displayDetails methods.

2) User.ts

There is a bit more going on in my User.ts class. Just like my app.ts, the first line indicates, with an import statement, that this file is dependent on the jQuery module. The getDetails function gets the AccountName, DisplayName and Email of the current user from the SharePoint REST API and stores them as properties of the current instance. The  displayDetails function logs the same properties (of the current instance) to the console.

3) package.json

Here is a list of all npm packages used in my solution. Notice the jQuery package, browserify and tsify use it to include jQuery in the final bundle as it is requested by my app.

4) gulpfile.js

And finally, here is my gulpfile.js which does all the heavy lifting:

5) Gulp tasks:

The watch-ts-upload-to-sp task looks for any changes in the .ts files (app.ts and User.ts). If any changes are noticed, it runs the upload-to-sp task.

The upload-to-sp task has dependencies chained up so that the tasks are run in the following order:

1) lint-ts to check the code quality of TypeScript
2) browserify to import all the required modules and create a single app.js bundle file
3) minify-js to create a minified file.
4) Finally, the upload-to-sp task runs to upload the app.js and app.min.js files to the Style Library.

A note on Typings:

TypeScript uses TypeScript definition '.d.ts' files to provide intellisense while writing a file. The TypeScript Definition Manager"Typings" is the current recommended approach of including definition files in your project: https://github.com/typings/typings

I have included typings as an NPM package in my solution (have a look my package.json file) and then used the following commands to get the required typings in my project:

Thanks for reading!