TSX Browser Compiler

Transform a set of .tsx (as well as other extensions) files into React elements, extremely useful for the "live edit" feature in component library documents. Try it out in the playground!

Install

You can install tsx-browser-compiler via various package managers.

# using npm
npm i tsx-browser-compiler --save

# using yarn
yarn add tsx-browser-compiler

# using pnpm
pnpm add tsx-browser-compiler

Quick Start

To transform the TSX codes to React elements, just provide them to asyncTsxToElement and render the component field (or errors field if you'd like to display errors) in the returned value.

CSS is also supported and will be auto-injected into the document head. You may use the cleanup field to remove them (e.g. use a useEffect with a dependency component).

// Transforming can be slow, so it's recommended to debounce this call.
// e.g. use `useDebouncedEffect` written in `playground/hooks/use-debounced-effect.ts`.
const { component, errors, cleanup } = await asyncTsxToElement({
  sources: {
    'index.tsx': `
      import React from 'react';
      import './style.css';

      export default function MyComponent() {
        return <div className="my-component">Hello, world!</div>;
      }
    `,
    'style.css': `
      .my-component {
        color: red;
      }
    `,
  },
});

Other Similar Projects

• react-live: edit React code and view the result in real-time. It uses sucrase, a small and fast Babel alternative, to transform the code. If you only have one .tsx file and don't need to emit type errors, this is a better choice.
• @codesandbox/sandpack-react: a general tool to run code in the browser, created by CodeSandbox. It's more powerful and flexible, but also more complex and may be overkill for simple use cases (e.g. the "live edit" feature in component library documents).

Advanced Usage

There are more options you can provide to asyncTsxToElement.

The entryFile Field

• Type: string
• Description: the entry file of the project. By default, it's the first file in the sources object.

The resolve Field

• Type: Partial<ResolveConfig>
• Description: provide custom resolution options: extensions, externals, cdnPrefix.

Extensions

The resolve.extensions field is an array of strings that will be appended to the generated file path when resolving modules. By default, it's ['.js'].

For example, assume we have require('./example'), and the resolve.extensions is set to ['.mjs', '.cjs', '.js'], the resolver will try to load the following files:

• ./example.mjs
• ./example.cjs
• ./example.js
• ./example/index.mjs
• ./example/index.cjs
• ./example/index.js

Note that .tsx, .ts and .json files will all be converted to .js files, please see the code in playground.

Externals

The resolve.externals field is an object that maps module names to global variables. There are several types of externals:

• Window: if window[value] exists, it will be treated as the module.
• URL: if the value starts with https:// or http://, it will be treated as a UMD file URL. The resolver will load the file and get its exports.
• Semver: the resolver will try to load the library from a CDN with the given version. You can specify which CDN to use in the cdnPrefix field (we use UNPKG by default).

Note that if you specify the cdnPrefix field, your CDN must support returning the correct UMD file like UNPKG, e.g. ${cdnPrefix}/axios should be redirected to ${cdnPrefix}/axios@[a.b.c]/dist/axios.min.js or return the file directly without redirection.

Here are some examples.

const { component, cleanup } = await asyncTsxToElement({
  resolve: {
    externals: {
      // assume `window.React` exists
      'react': 'React',
      // load `axios` UMD file from URL
      'axios': 'https://unpkg.com/axios@1.6.8/dist/axios.min.js',
      // load `antd` from CDN with the version `5.16.2`
      'antd': '5.16.2',
    },
    // jsDelivr is a CDN service that returns the correct UMD file directly
    cdnPrefix: 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/',
  },
});

The requireFn Field

• Type: (absolutePath: string) => any
• Description: provide a custom require function to fully control the module resolution. For example, if you already have the exports of module /example1.js and /example2.js, you can provide a custom require function to return them.

import React from 'react';
import { example1, example2 } from './mocks';

const { component, cleanup } = await asyncTsxToElement({
  requireFn: absolutePath => {
    if (absolutePath === 'react') {
      return React;
    }
    if (absolutePath === '/example1.js') {
      return example1;
    }
    if (absolutePath === '/example2.js') {
      return example2;
    }
  },
});

Notice that for most scenarios, you don't need to provide a custom require function, the resolve.externals field is enough.

The rules Field

• Type: ModuleRule[]
• Description: like Webpack's module rules, you can provide custom rules to transform the source code.

Module Rules

Sometimes you may want to transform the source code before it's executed, or you have to use the non-js files. The rules field provides a way to do this.

import less from 'less';

const { component, cleanup } = await asyncTsxToElement({
  rules: [
    {
      test: /\.less$/,
      use: [
        /**
         * @param content The content of the file
         * @param meta Meta information, including `filename`, `options` and other custom fields
         * @param callback The callback function to return the transformed content
         */
        (content, meta, callback) => {
          less.render(
            content,
            { filename: meta.filename },
            (err: Error, result: { css: string }) => {
              if (err) {
                callback(err, '', meta);
              } else {
                callback(null, result.css, meta);
              }
            },
          );
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
});

Here is an example of passing options to the rule.

import less from 'less';

const { component, cleanup } = await asyncTsxToElement({
  rules: [
    {
      test: /\.less$/,
      use: [
        {
          loader: (content, meta, callback) => { ... },
          // will be passwd to the `meta` parameter
          options: { ... },
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
});

Adjust the Order of Rules

By default, the rules are applied in the order they are provided. If you want to adjust the order of the rules, you can use the rules[].enforce field. The value can be 'pre' or 'post'.

const { component, cleanup } = await asyncTsxToElement({
  rules: [
    { test: /\.less$/, use: [Loader1], enforce: 'post' },
    { test: /\.less$/, use: [Loader2], enforce: 'pre' },
    { test: /\.less$/, use: [Loader3] },
    { test: /\.less$/, use: [Loader4] },
  ],
});

All loaders with enforce: 'pre' will be executed before the normal loaders, and all loaders with enforce: 'post' will be executed after the normal loaders, which means the execution order is Loader2 -> Loader3 -> Loader4 -> Loader1.

Pitching Loader

Loaders are much like pure functions that receive the content of the file and return the transformed content. The rules[].use field is like compose in functional programming - the first loader is the last one to be executed, and the last loader, on the contrary, is the first one to be executed.

However, sometimes you may want to gather information before the loaders are executed, or to skip the rest of the loaders and return the content directly. You can use the pitch field in the loader.

const metaKey = Symbol('buildTimeMeasurementLoaderMetaKey');

interface ExtendedLoaderMeta extends LoaderMeta {
  [metaKey]: {
    startTime: number;
    contentLength: number;
  };
}

const BuildTimeMeasurementLoader = (content: string, meta: ExtendedLoaderMeta) => {
  const endTime = Date.now();
  const { startTime, contentLength } = meta[metaKey];
  console.log(`LessLoader: transform ${meta.filename} (${contentLength} chars) cost ${endTime - startTime}ms`);
};

BuildTimeMeasurementLoader.pitch = (content: string, meta: ExtendedLoaderMeta) => {
  if (!meta[metaKey]) {
    meta[metaKey] = {
      startTime: Date.now(),
      contentLength: content.length,
    };
  }
};

const { component, cleanup } = await asyncTsxToElement({
  rules: [
    { test: /\.less$/, use: [BuildTimeMeasurementLoader, LessLoader] },
  ],
});

In this example, BuildTimeMeasurementLoader will measure the time cost of the LessLoader and log it to the console. The execution order is:

1. BuildTimeMeasurementLoader.pitch, which will store the start time and content length in the meta object.
2. LessLoader.pitch (if exists).
3. LessLoader, which should transform the Less content to CSS.
4. BuildTimeMeasurementLoader, which will log the time cost based on the previously stored start time.

An example message in console might be:

LessLoader: transform /style.less (995 chars) cost 4ms

The displayName Field

• Type: string
• Description: the display name of the transformed component. By default, it's TsxToElement.

Roadmap

• Support TSX and TS files.
• Support CSS and JSON files.
• Support externals from window, URL and CDN.
• A simple version of the resolution algorithm.
• A simple version of module rules and loaders implementation.
• A usable playground.
• Let the enforce and pitch fields work more like Webpack.
• Support more file types natively (issues and PRs are welcomed).
• Support changing more options in the playground.
• Export the playground components and hooks.
• Use loaders to refactor TS, CSS and JSON support.
• Add more examples and use cases.
• Add unit tests.

License

MIT