Auto imported file path is wrong (absolute vs relative) and raises error at runtime

[DavideViolante]

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

• VS Code Version: 1.62.2
• OS Version: Ubuntu 20.03

Steps to Reproduce:

1. I've a TypeScript project with the following folders: server/validators/* and server/shared/*
2. When I try to automatically import something from server/shared/constants.ts to server/validators/file.ts the import string is:
3. import { usernameRegexp } from 'shared/constants'; that gives me an error because the correct path should be:
4. import { usernameRegexp } from '../shared/constants';

Short vid of what I mean with autoimport:

recordautoimport.mp4

[IllusionMH]

/needsMoreInfo

Do you have these folders in paths in tsconfig.json?
Please provide used configuration

[DavideViolante]

I don't have any paths configured in tsconfig. I tried some configs of paths but without luck. Example:

"baseUrl": "",
"paths": {
  "shared/*": ["shared/*"]
},

But anyway I would like any folder to import correctly, shared is just an example.
I also tried to change baseUrl to something else but same output.

tsconfig is the same as this. Also the project strucure is very similar to that repo.

[mjbvz]

Please share a minimal example project that demonstrates the issue

[DavideViolante]

Ok I found that it happens in the parent project too, so you can repro with this:

1. git clone git@github.com:DavideViolante/Angular-Full-Stack.git
2. Open the project in VS Code
3. Edit controllers/cat.ts, delete line 1
4. Auto import Cat in line 4 using suggested action by VS Code
5. Line added in the top file will be import Cat from 'models/cat'; instead of import Cat from '../models/cat';
6. npm run predev it will compile correctly...
7. npm start
8. Error: Cannot find module 'models/cat'

[mjbvz]

Have you tried configuring "typescript.preferences.importModuleSpecifier": "relative"?

[DavideViolante]

Have you tried configuring "typescript.preferences.importModuleSpecifier": "relative"?

This works! I didn't know about this config. I wonder now if relative should be the default one or not, but I don't have enough knowledge to give credit to either cases.
The only thing I can say is that, using the default option and auto-importing the cat, no error is raised whatsoever during compilation (tsc) but only at runtime, that is quite dangerous to discover and quite "far" from the development cycle.
Would be nice to know your opinion about it or create a small discussion.

[mjbvz]

Thanks for testing! Closing as by-design / question

The type of the path used by default depends on your jsconfig / tsconfig. Try changing it something like es2020 if you don't want node style paths by be allowed

The setting then offers more fine grained control over which path style is selected