Setting up webpack in react for vtk.js

[ghost]

The es6 instructions dont make it clear enough how to update the webpack files especially if you are using a create-react-app boiler plate. I was hoping I could get some sort of help doing it because i have been fumbling around with the configuration and still doesn't want to work. Something I would personally love to see is detailed instructions on how to set up vtk.js with react in general.

The devs on this have been constantly helpful, but its almost as if the instructions for using the vtk.js dependency are pretty outdated. I was hoping if I could get some details or an update or how to do it.

Here is my config file so far:

`'use strict';

const autoprefixer = require('autoprefixer');
const path = require('path');
const webpack = require('webpack');
const HtmlWebpackPlugin = require('html-webpack-plugin');
const CaseSensitivePathsPlugin = require('case-sensitive-paths-webpack-plugin');
const InterpolateHtmlPlugin = require('react-dev-utils/InterpolateHtmlPlugin');
const WatchMissingNodeModulesPlugin = require('react-dev-utils/WatchMissingNodeModulesPlugin');
const eslintFormatter = require('react-dev-utils/eslintFormatter');
const ModuleScopePlugin = require('react-dev-utils/ModuleScopePlugin');
const getClientEnvironment = require('./env');
const paths = require('./paths');

var path = require('path');
var webpack = require('webpack');
var vtkRules = require('vtk.js/Utilities/config/dependency.js').webpack.v2.rules;

var entry = path.join(__dirname, './src/index.js');
const sourcePath = path.join(__dirname, './src');
const outputPath = path.join(__dirname, './dist');

// Webpack uses `publicPath` to determine where the app is being served from.
// In development, we always serve from the root. This makes config easier.
const publicPath = '/';
// `publicUrl` is just like `publicPath`, but we will provide it to our app
// as %PUBLIC_URL% in `index.html` and `process.env.PUBLIC_URL` in JavaScript.
// Omit trailing slash as %PUBLIC_PATH%/xyz looks better than %PUBLIC_PATH%xyz.
const publicUrl = '';
// Get environment variables to inject into our app.
const env = getClientEnvironment(publicUrl);

// This is the development configuration.
// It is focused on developer experience and fast rebuilds.
// The production configuration is different and lives in a separate file.
module.exports = {
  // You may want 'eval' instead if you prefer to see the compiled output in DevTools.
  // See the discussion in https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app/issues/343.
  devtool: 'cheap-module-source-map',
  // These are the "entry points" to our application.
  // This means they will be the "root" imports that are included in JS bundle.
  // The first two entry points enable "hot" CSS and auto-refreshes for JS.
  entry: [
    // We ship a few polyfills by default:
    require.resolve('./polyfills'),
    // Include an alternative client for WebpackDevServer. A client's job is to
    // connect to WebpackDevServer by a socket and get notified about changes.
    // When you save a file, the client will either apply hot updates (in case
    // of CSS changes), or refresh the page (in case of JS changes). When you
    // make a syntax error, this client will display a syntax error overlay.
    // Note: instead of the default WebpackDevServer client, we use a custom one
    // to bring better experience for Create React App users. You can replace
    // the line below with these two lines if you prefer the stock client:
    // require.resolve('webpack-dev-server/client') + '?/',
    // require.resolve('webpack/hot/dev-server'),
    require.resolve('react-dev-utils/webpackHotDevClient'),
    // Finally, this is your app's code:
    paths.appIndexJs,
    // We include the app code last so that if there is a runtime error during
    // initialization, it doesn't blow up the WebpackDevServer client, and
    // changing JS code would still trigger a refresh.
  ],
  output: {
    // Add /* filename */ comments to generated require()s in the output.
    pathinfo: true,
    // This does not produce a real file. It's just the virtual path that is
    // served by WebpackDevServer in development. This is the JS bundle
    // containing code from all our entry points, and the Webpack runtime.
    filename: 'static/js/bundle.js',
    // There are also additional JS chunk files if you use code splitting.
    chunkFilename: 'static/js/[name].chunk.js',
    // This is the URL that app is served from. We use "/" in development.
    publicPath: publicPath,
    // Point sourcemap entries to original disk location (format as URL on Windows)
    devtoolModuleFilenameTemplate: info =>
      path.resolve(info.absoluteResourcePath).replace(/\\/g, '/'),
  },
  resolve: {
    // This allows you to set a fallback for where Webpack should look for modules.
    // We placed these paths second because we want `node_modules` to "win"
    // if there are any conflicts. This matches Node resolution mechanism.
    // https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app/issues/253
    modules: ['node_modules', paths.appNodeModules].concat(
      // It is guaranteed to exist because we tweak it in `env.js`
      process.env.NODE_PATH.split(path.delimiter).filter(Boolean)
    ),
    // These are the reasonable defaults supported by the Node ecosystem.
    // We also include JSX as a common component filename extension to support
    // some tools, although we do not recommend using it, see:
    // https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app/issues/290
    // `web` extension prefixes have been added for better support
    // for React Native Web.
    extensions: ['.web.js', '.mjs', '.js', '.json', '.web.jsx', '.jsx'],
    alias: {

      // Support React Native Web
      // https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2016/08/a-glimpse-into-the-future-with-react-native-for-web/
      'react-native': 'react-native-web',
    },
    plugins: [
      // Prevents users from importing files from outside of src/ (or node_modules/).
      // This often causes confusion because we only process files within src/ with babel.
      // To fix this, we prevent you from importing files out of src/ -- if you'd like to,
      // please link the files into your node_modules/ and let module-resolution kick in.
      // Make sure your source files are compiled, as they will not be processed in any way.
      new ModuleScopePlugin(paths.appSrc, [paths.appPackageJson]),
    ],
  },
  module: {
    strictExportPresence: true,
    rules: [
      // TODO: Disable require.ensure as it's not a standard language feature.
      // We are waiting for https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app/issues/2176.
      // { parser: { requireEnsure: false } },

      // First, run the linter.
      // It's important to do this before Babel processes the JS.
      {
        test: /\.(js|jsx|mjs)$/,
        enforce: 'pre',
        use: [
          {
            options: {
              formatter: eslintFormatter,
              eslintPath: require.resolve('eslint'),

            },
            loader: require.resolve('eslint-loader'),
          },
        ],
        include: paths.appSrc,
      },
      {
        // "oneOf" will traverse all following loaders until one will
        // match the requirements. When no loader matches it will fall
        // back to the "file" loader at the end of the loader list.
        oneOf: [
          // "url" loader works like "file" loader except that it embeds assets
          // smaller than specified limit in bytes as data URLs to avoid requests.
          // A missing `test` is equivalent to a match.
          {
            test: [/\.bmp$/, /\.gif$/, /\.jpe?g$/, /\.png$/],
            loader: require.resolve('url-loader'),
            options: {
              limit: 10000,
              name: 'static/media/[name].[hash:8].[ext]',
            },
          },
          // Process JS with Babel.
          {
            test: /\.(js|jsx|mjs)$/,
            include: paths.appSrc,
            loader: require.resolve('babel-loader'),
            options: {

              // This is a feature of `babel-loader` for webpack (not Babel itself).
              // It enables caching results in ./node_modules/.cache/babel-loader/
              // directory for faster rebuilds.
              cacheDirectory: true,
            },
          },
          // "postcss" loader applies autoprefixer to our CSS.
          // "css" loader resolves paths in CSS and adds assets as dependencies.
          // "style" loader turns CSS into JS modules that inject <style> tags.
          // In production, we use a plugin to extract that CSS to a file, but
          // in development "style" loader enables hot editing of CSS.
          {
            test: /\.css$/,
            use: [
              require.resolve('style-loader'),
              {
                loader: require.resolve('css-loader'),
                options: {
                  importLoaders: 1,
                },
              },
              {
                loader: require.resolve('postcss-loader'),
                options: {
                  // Necessary for external CSS imports to work
                  // https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app/issues/2677
                  ident: 'postcss',
                  plugins: () => [
                    require('postcss-flexbugs-fixes'),
                    autoprefixer({
                      browsers: [
                        '>1%',
                        'last 4 versions',
                        'Firefox ESR',
                        'not ie < 9', // React doesn't support IE8 anyway
                      ],
                      flexbox: 'no-2009',
                    }),
                  ],
                },
              },
            ],
          },
          { test: entry, loader: "expose-loader?MyWebApp" },
          { test: /\.html$/, loader: 'html-loader' },
          // "file" loader makes sure those assets get served by WebpackDevServer.
          // When you `import` an asset, you get its (virtual) filename.
          // In production, they would get copied to the `build` folder.
          // This loader doesn't use a "test" so it will catch all modules
          // that fall through the other loaders.
          {
            // Exclude `js` files to keep "css" loader working as it injects
            // its runtime that would otherwise processed through "file" loader.
            // Also exclude `html` and `json` extensions so they get processed
            // by webpacks internal loaders.
            exclude: [/\.(js|jsx|mjs)$/, /\.html$/, /\.json$/],
            loader: require.resolve('file-loader'),
            options: {
              name: 'static/media/[name].[hash:8].[ext]',
            },
          },
        ]
      },
      // ** STOP ** Are you adding a new loader?
      // Make sure to add the new loader(s) before the "file" loader.
    ].concat(vtkRules),
  },
  plugins: [
    // Makes some environment variables available in index.html.
    // The public URL is available as %PUBLIC_URL% in index.html, e.g.:
    // <link rel="shortcut icon" href="%PUBLIC_URL%/favicon.ico">
    // In development, this will be an empty string.
    new InterpolateHtmlPlugin(env.raw),
    // Generates an `index.html` file with the <script> injected.
    new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
      inject: true,
      template: paths.appHtml,
    }),
    // Add module names to factory functions so they appear in browser profiler.
    new webpack.NamedModulesPlugin(),
    // Makes some environment variables available to the JS code, for example:
    // if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development') { ... }. See `./env.js`.
    new webpack.DefinePlugin(env.stringified),
    // This is necessary to emit hot updates (currently CSS only):
    new webpack.HotModuleReplacementPlugin(),
    // Watcher doesn't work well if you mistype casing in a path so we use
    // a plugin that prints an error when you attempt to do this.
    // See https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app/issues/240
    new CaseSensitivePathsPlugin(),
    // If you require a missing module and then `npm install` it, you still have
    // to restart the development server for Webpack to discover it. This plugin
    // makes the discovery automatic so you don't have to restart.
    // See https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app/issues/186
    new WatchMissingNodeModulesPlugin(paths.appNodeModules),
    // Moment.js is an extremely popular library that bundles large locale files
    // by default due to how Webpack interprets its code. This is a practical
    // solution that requires the user to opt into importing specific locales.
    // https://github.com/jmblog/how-to-optimize-momentjs-with-webpack
    // You can remove this if you don't use Moment.js:
    new webpack.IgnorePlugin(/^\.\/locale$/, /moment$/),
  ],
  // Some libraries import Node modules but don't use them in the browser.
  // Tell Webpack to provide empty mocks for them so importing them works.
  node: {
    dgram: 'empty',
    fs: 'empty',
    net: 'empty',
    tls: 'empty',
    child_process: 'empty',
  },
  // Turn off performance hints during development because we don't do any
  // splitting or minification in interest of speed. These warnings become
  // cumbersome.
  performance: {
    hints: false,
  },
};
`

[floryst]

What build error are you getting?

From your provided config, I see that you re-declare the variables path and webpack, so you can remove your var path ... and var webpack ... lines to avoid a re-declaration error. You've imported and added the vtk rules and everything else seems fine, so I can't quite provide any other advice without seeing the error(s) you are getting.

[ghost]

So this is the error that I keep getting when I try to run it. Ive looked it up but it keeps either telling me its a webpack bug. However it works just fine when I dont try to attach the vtk.js dependancy.

[floryst]

That error complains about not having a webpack.config.js in your root directory, but since you've used react-create-app, those reside in the config/ directory. Did you create your own package.json, or did you eject it from react-create-app?

A quick fix would be to edit your "start" script in package.json to webpack-dev-server --content-base ./dist --config ./config/webpack.config.dev.js, assuming your webpack config is at that location.

[ghost]

I ejected from the react app but editing the package.json file seems to be at least moving in the right direction. Now its telling me that the auto prefixing set up is missing, and after installing it using npm install it seems to show up, and then say that I have another missing dependency. Im going to go ahead and keep doing that for a while.

Thank you so much, this is the most progress I have had for a long while. Im new to react and es6 in general.

[floryst]

You might benefit from running npm install. That will install all dependencies listed in package.json, and hopefully that will take care of all of the missing ones for you.

Glad to help. Hope you enjoy working with react/res6/vtk.js! Let us know whether things work for you.

[ghost]

yah that worked too thanks you have been so much help I really appreciate it.