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For my team, we're between projects, but I'm performing some basic research on TypeScript and how to use Angular 1.x with it, considering that Angular 2 is still being baked. I usually use Plunkr to make small-scale prototypes so that we can see how something works and mess with it in-situ during tech demos and stuff.

The problem, though, is I tried to make a very basic Angular 1.x + TS setup in this plunker, but have been running into issues getting it to work properly. I think some of the problem is the client-side transpilation, but I'm sure that's not the only thing I'm messing up. Specifically...

View Code:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" ng-app="app">
  <head>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="//maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.1/css/bootstrap.min.css" />
  </head>

  <body>
    <div ng-controller="testController as ctrl">
      <h1>{{ ctrl.testMethod() }}</h1>
    </div>

    <!-- Scripts... -->
    <script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.4.7/angular.js"></script>
    <script type="text/typescript" src="app.ts"></script>
    <script type="text/typescript" src="controllers.ts"></script>
    <script type="text/typescript" src="registrations.ts"></script>

    <!-- Required for web transpilation... -->
    <script type="text/javascript" src="//niutech.github.io/typescript-compile/js/typescript.min.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="//niutech.github.io/typescript-compile/js/typescript.compile.js"></script>
  </body>
</html>

I got the client-side transpilation from this StackOverflow question, but that question's resolution was either, 'Just do it in Visual Studio!' or 'transpile your TypeScript, then plug the JavaScript into Plunkr,' which doesn't work for me, because my team is considering transitioning to TypeScript in the first place - we need to be able to work with typescript, thus the prototype to help us understand how it works. Additionally, that question notes that the transpilation parts are actually significantly outdated.

Question: First, is there an updated clientside TypeScript-to-JavaScript transpiler that I can link to in my prototype plunker? Second, are there any better resources to refer to on how to get Angular 1 to work with TypeScript? I've had very, very little luck finding anything that talks about how to make TypeScript work with Angular 1.x...

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Andrew Gray
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    If your team is new to TS, the lack of proper development environment will only hold you back. And the example supports this point: it is being transpiled. And you get a bunch of compilation errors in console. – Estus Flask Nov 04 '15 at 19:51

3 Answers3

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Edit: Turns out you can use typescript on plnkr, which I just learned from the comments below http://embed.plnkr.co/suu7Yg/preview

For implicit mode all this requires is creating a file with the appropriate extension, i.e. script.ts or style.scss, and then referencing it in the head with the expected compiled extension, i.e. script.js or style.css. Very cool, plnkr!

I'm fairly certain Plunker doesn't support typescript (though of course I could be wrong) (edit: yup I was wrong, it's just not obvious that this is a feature). However, I can offer an idea for a possible solution of what you're trying to accomplish.

Try moving your small-scale prototypes and demos over to codepen instead. They're both pretty comparable apps I use all the time, and codepen currently supports typescript so if that's something you need to play with you got it.

It's hidden behind the little gear, along with external js file includes: enter image description here

Turn on typescript:

enter image description here

Boom. Good to go for your live demos. Hope that helps!

wesww
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    @AndrewGray It is there but accidentally throws 'not found'. Here's [another link](https://github.com/ggoodman/plunker-run-plugin/blob/master/README.md). It concerns server-side Plunker TS compilation, which is not exactly your case but may be suitable as well. As opposed to client-side, it will surely require RequireJS (not sure if TS performs well with SystemJS) for module importing. – Estus Flask Nov 04 '15 at 20:10
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As mentioned by @wesww in his amended answer, Plunker supports server-side compilation of TypeScript. What I mean by that is that when your TypeScript code is sent to the preview server, it is sent un-transformed.

Suppose you have a file script.ts, written in TypeScript, but the index.html of your project requests script.js, Plunker's preview server will compile your file on the fly and serve the compiled version.

You can configure how you want the TypeScript compiler to work by creating a tsconfig.json file (consistent with normal CLI usage) to define your settings.

Please see Definitive Guide to Comiplation on Plunker for more information.

Geoff Goodman
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I'm not familiar with plunk is but it's possible to transpile typescript in the browser by just including node_modules/typescript/typescript.js file and use the Compiler API. Checkout my Compiler API playground in the browser: https://cancerberosgx.github.io/typescript-in-the-browser/typescript-compiler/#example=tsTranspilingProject1

See Dynamic execution of TypeScript in the browser for details

cancerbero
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