Default exports should retain their name

[JasonHK]

Search Terms

default exports

Problem

Currently, the name of default exports will be removed and renamed to default, which could cause confusion like the screenshot below.

The default of payload is default is NOT the default export of this module.

Suggested Solution

If the default export is named (like function named() {...}, class Named {...}, const named = ..., etc.), TypeDoc should retain its name and add a default badge to indicate it's a default export. Any types that referencing it should use the original name as well, and not default.

[Gerrit0]

I am fairly strongly against this - docs should reflect what is actually exported, not what names are used locally to refer to the exports.

However, most people who run into the issue of to many symbols named default are giving TypeDoc a directory to document rather than a single entry point. If you use the TypeDoc command I just sent a PR for, I think you'll find that the docs are far more to your liking.

If this still isn't good enough, you could do the name change with a plugin.

[JasonHK]

I am fairly strongly against this - docs should reflect what is actually exported, not what names are used locally to refer to the exports.

However, most people who run into the issue of to many symbols named default are giving TypeDoc a directory to document rather than a single entry point. If you use the TypeDoc command I just sent a PR for, I think you'll find that the docs are far more to your liking.

If this still isn't good enough, you could do the name change with a plugin.

@Gerrit0 What if it's the reverse? Similar to the screenshot below:

[felipecrs]

This is more like a bug introduced by the newer versions. Before, the proper field name was used rather than default.

Example:

export default class SaveImage extends Command 

With TypeDoc 0.19:

With TypeDoc 0.20:

[Gerrit0]

@Gerrit0 What if it's the reverse? Similar to the screenshot below:

I guess I'd be okay with this... would rather have it be a plugin, but there isn't a good way of doing that right now. It should be possible (and fairly easy) to do with a plugin in 0.22, since that's being planned with extensibility built into the themes.

This is more like a bug introduced by the newer versions. Before, the proper field name was used rather than default.

Only if you consider a generating documentation that accurately reflects your code to be a bug! 0.19 and earlier included an incredible amount of hackiness in order to get results that produced decent docs... 0.20's approach is far superior once you understand how it works. I think your question in #1526 should help with that.

[felipecrs]

So, there is no way to work around it for now, and the best option is to wait for TypeDoc 0.22 and then create a plugin for that?

[Gerrit0]

So, there is no way to work around it for now, and the best option is to wait for TypeDoc 0.22 and then create a plugin for that?

You could create a plugin today - it just won't integrate as cleanly into the architecture. This will rename default exports using their local name, if available, but it doesn't provide any indication that the value was a default export.

// TypeDoc 0.20.x, CC0
const { Converter } = require("typedoc")

exports.load = function({ application }) {
        application.converter.on(Converter.EVENT_CREATE_DECLARATION, (_context, reflection, node) => {
                if (!node || !node.name || reflection.name !== "default") return;

                reflection.name = node.name.getText();
        });
};

[felipecrs]

@Gerrit0 thank you SO MUCH. It's a plugin now: https://github.com/felipecrs/typedoc-plugin-rename-defaults

[claviska]

I found this thread debugging another issue that the plugin doesn't appear to solve. Consider two classes:

// menu.ts
import { event, EventEmitter } from './decorators';

export default class Menu {
  @event() select: EventEmitter<MenuItem>
}

// menu-item.ts
export default class MenuItem {
  // ...
}

The select property on Menu has no mention of EventEmitter in its type arguments. Instead, the name shows up only as default and I haven't found a way to solve for that yet. 😕

Update: I stand corrected...the id points to the respective class, so it's possible to reference that way. Apologies for the noise!