Loading modules with require in Cordova - javascript

I am new to javascript trying out cordova which heavily makes use of the module require(). I went through some tutorials for this like here .
I tried out a very simple example from this tutorial and there is something missing it seems.
This is my html code.
<script>
var abc = require("js/greeting.js");
function mod() {
try{
var g = abc.sayHelloInEnglish();
console.log("reached the call");
document.getElementById("modl").innerHTML = g;
}
catch(err){
console.log("error is" + err.message);
}
}
</script>
<button onclick="mod()">click</button>
This is the code for my greeting.js
//var exports = module.exports = {};
exports.sayHelloInEnglish = function() {
return "HELLO";
};
exports.sayHelloInSpanish = function() {
return "Hola";
};
When I click on the button click, it gives an error that abc is not defined. Is there something I am missing here to use the module?
Thanks a lot.

Actually module.require is not for browser. You can't use it like you do right inside script-tag. The require is for node.js (server-side javascript).
If you want to use it inside a browser you should use preprocessing. For example you can use browserify.
To learn more - great 3 min video CommonJS modules

You cannot use require/module.exports natively in the browser. It is built into Node.js/io.js and can be run on the server.
If you want to use require()/CommonJS modules in the browser, look at RequireJS.
If you want to run Node/io.js code in the browser in general (including but not limited to require()/CommonJS), look at Browserify or webpack.
Since you say you are using cordova, my guess is that you don't really need require() at all. Just write your HTML/CSS/JavaScript like you would normally and use cordova to package it up. cordova uses require() a lot but that should not affect your app's code.

Now you can use this npm package
https://www.npmjs.com/package/cordova-import-npm
Import files from npm packages into your cordova www/ directory
automatically, upon cordova prepare, cordova build or cordova run, and
before anything else is processed.
Oftentimes we want to import the latest files available in npm
packages into our www/ directory in cordova projects. With this module
you can do it automatically without building your own scripts.

You could use define in require.js is a way of passing a function or the result of. I was struggling with cordova cause one needs to be very carefull the Code needs to be clean. Define will help you if you only need to put your result as a object or anything inside the defined function and call it at a later time.
// obj.js script
define(function(){
{name: "joe",
lastname:"doe"}
})
In the other script you only require the file and pass it to a variable. I guess you could even get rid of the inner brackets in obj script.
//other.js
var string = require(["obj"])
console.log(string.name) // joe

Related

Passing data between javascript

Want to link one javascript file in index and exports it function to another javascript file
Index.html
<script src="test.js"></script>
test.js
var config = {};
config.server_ip = "127.0.0.1";
module.exports = config; //Error, module not defined
console.log("Hello World, I should be showing up in chrome console");
show.js
var config = require('./test');
console.log(config);
I want to run index.html and at the same time using node.js to run my show.js file.
Apparently I can only choose one, if I do not export, my console.log works, if i export, my console.log do not work.
Is there any other method to pass data like this?
Do note that the workflow has to be like this, and I do not want to link 2 javascript file into my index.html
I tried using import and export function via mozila guide, however it seems that chrome does not support that as well.
I want to run index.html and at the same time using node.js to run my show.js file.
If you want to use NodeJS to run the JavaScript, then you have to actually run it on NodeJS.
If you are loading the script through a <script> element in an HTML document then you are running it in the browser and not NodeJS (it is possible that you are using NodeJS to run a webserver that supplies the .js file to the browser as a static file, but that isn't the same as running it on NodeJS).
console.log("Hello World, I should be showing up in chrome console");
If you want to display something in the Chrome console then you need to run it browser-side and not in NodeJS.
Browsers don't have native support for AMD style modules, so to use the approach you are taking you would need to add something like RequireJS.

Require JS files dynamically on runtime using webpack

I am trying to port a library from grunt/requirejs to webpack and stumbled upon a problem, that might be a game-breaker for this endeavor.
The library I try to port has a function, that loads and evaluates multiple modules - based on their filenames that we get from a config file - into our app. The code looks like this (coffee):
loadModules = (arrayOfFilePaths) ->
new Promise (resolve) ->
require arrayOfFilePaths, (ms...) ->
for module in ms
module ModuleAPI
resolve()
The require here needs to be called on runtime and behave like it did with requireJS. Webpack seems to only care about what happens in the "build-process".
Is this something that webpack fundamentally doesn't care about? If so, can I still use requireJS with it? What is a good solution to load assets dynamically during runtime?
edit: loadModule can load modules, that are not present on the build-time of this library. They will be provided by the app, that implements my library.
So I found that my requirement to have some files loaded on runtime, that are only available on "app-compile-time" and not on "library-compile-time" is not easily possible with webpack.
I will change the mechanism, so that my library doesn't require the files anymore, but needs to be passed the required modules. Somewhat tells me, this is gonna be the better API anyways.
edit to clarify:
Basically, instead of:
// in my library
load = (path_to_file) ->
(require path_to_file).do_something()
// in my app (using the 'compiled' libary)
cool_library.load("file_that_exists_in_my_app")
I do this:
// in my library
load = (module) ->
module.do_something()
// in my app (using the 'compiled' libary)
module = require("file_that_exists_in_my_app")
cool_library.load(module)
The first code worked in require.js but not in webpack.
In hindsight i feel its pretty wrong to have a 3rd-party-library load files at runtime anyway.
There is concept named context (http://webpack.github.io/docs/context.html), it allows to make dynamic requires.
Also there is a possibility to define code split points: http://webpack.github.io/docs/code-splitting.html
function loadInContext(filename) {
return new Promise(function(resolve){
require(['./'+filename], resolve);
})
}
function loadModules(namesInContext){
return Promise.all(namesInContext.map(loadInContext));
}
And use it like following:
loadModules(arrayOfFiles).then(function(){
modules.forEach(function(module){
module(moduleAPI);
})
});
But likely it is not what you need - you will have a lot of chunks instead of one bundle with all required modules, and likely it would not be optimal..
It is better to define module requires in you config file, and include it to your build:
// modulesConfig.js
module.exports = [
require(...),
....
]
// run.js
require('modulesConfig').forEach(function(module){
module(moduleAPI);
})
You can also try using a library such as this: https://github.com/Venryx/webpack-runtime-require
Disclaimer: I'm its developer. I wrote it because I was also frustrated with the inability to freely access module contents at runtime. (in my case, for testing from the console)

Use Browserify with JavaScript libraries such as Backbone or Underscore?

I know I can install underscore using npm but that's not what I can do in my work environment. I need to be able to download the Underscore.js library and then make it "browserify-compatible".
So let's assume Underscore.js looks something like this:
(function() {
var root = this;
// Rest of the code
}.call(this));
I downloaded that file on my hard drive and saved it as under.js.
My file that requires underscore looks like this:
var underscore = require("./under");
console.log(underscore);
And then I run browserify from the cli.
I have an HTML page called test.html and basically all it does is load the generated bundle.js.
However, the console.log(underscore) line fails - says that underscore is undefined.
What have I tried?
Obviously I added module.exports to the first line - right before the function definition in under.js, and that's how I got the error mentioned above. I also tried the method from this answer , still got the same error.
So, how would I use Browserify to load libraries such as Underscore.js or Backbone without using npm-installed modules?
That's because browserify does not add variables to the global scope. The version you download is identical to the version that you install via NPM.
You need to explicitly attach it to the window to export it to the top level scope.
If you create a file called "expose_underscore.js" and put this in it:
var _ = require('./under');
window._ = _;
Will do it, followed by: browserify expose_underscore.js > bundle.js and then add bundle.js as a <script> tag you will be able to do the following in your console:
HOWEVER, you shouldn't do this if you're using browserify. The point behind it (and Node's version of commonJS) is that you explicitly require it everywhere you need it. So every file you have that needs underscore should import it to a local variable.
Don't worry -- you will still only have one copy loaded.
I typically add my vendor libs like Underscore as script tags. Underscore will attach itself to the global scope, so then you don't need to require it anywhere to use it.
If you do want to use it in a Browserified fashion, verify that you have the correct path in your require statement (browserify requires are relative paths) and move the module.exports statement to the end of the file.

browserify detect custom require()

I want to use a custom require() function in my application.
Namely I have node's standard require() and a custom one I wrote to require files starting from the root called rootRequire() which internally all it does is:
// rootRequire.js
var path = require('path');
var rootPath = __dirname;
global.rootRequire = function (modulePath) {
var filepath = path.join(rootPath, modulePath);
return require(filepath);
};
module.exports = rootRequire;
But even though rootRequire() internally uses node's require(), it does not pick up any files required through that method
Example:
require('rootRequire.js');
rootRequire('/A.js'); // server side it works, in the browser I get an error saying can't find module A.js
Perhaps, this will answer your question on why it is not working on browser.
Quoting the owner's comment: "Browserify can only analyze static requires. It is not in the scope of browserify to handle dynamic requires".
Technically, you are trying to load files dynamically from a variable with your custom require. Obviously, node.js can handle that.
In case of browserify, all requires are statically loaded and packaged when you run the CLI to build the bundle.
HTH.
What i recommend doing here is this:
First create a bundle to be required of anything you might use in rootRequire().
Something like browserify -r CURRENT_PATH/A.js -r CURRENT_PATH/B.js > rootRequirePackages.js
Then, in your webpage, you can include both rootRequirePackages.js and your regular browserified file.
Perhaps just use RequireJS ? It's simple to set up and relatively easy to use.

Basic requirejs concept needed to make work musicjson package

I'd like to use the musicjson.js package that helps to convert musicXML files into json notation, looking if it's a good way to import for example exported musicXML Finale scores into a browser playing with the Fermata/VexFlow class.
https://github.com/saebekassebil/musicjson
The thing is that this module works with require (calling for
nodes packages like fs) and I'm just a newbee in requirejs...Even if I spent few time in understanding the tutorial in the website, I don't still get how to solve this kind of basic problem when the dependencies of my musicjson.js need to be called like :
var xmldom = require('flat-xmldom'),
fs = require('fs'),
path = require('path'),
util = require('util');
My index.php page does the classic require call:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<head>
<!-- javascript head -->
<!-- REQUIRE -->
<script data-main="scripts/main" src="bower_components/requirejs/require.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
In my scripts/main.js, I'd like to do simply what it is told from musicjon :
var music = require('musicjson');
music.musicJSON(xml, function(err, json) {
// Do something with the MusicJSON data
});
I putted also, in the same directory scripts/, the flat-xmldom folder, fs.js, path.js, util.js
When I do this, I've just obtain this classic error of :
*Error: Module name "musicjson" has not been loaded yet for context: _. Use require([])*
...That looks like a common error referenced in the requirejs website,
but if I try things that I guess it should be written, I get a bit lost to determine where is the fundamental conceptual mistake here :
require.config({
baseUrl: '/scripts/',
paths: {
flatxmldom:'./flat-xmldom/__package__',
fs: 'fs',
path:'path',
util:'util',
musicjson: 'musicjson'
}
});
require(['flatxmldom','fs','path','util','musicjson'],function(flatxmldom,fs,path,util,musicjson){})
Error returned in this case for example :
*Module name "fs" has not been loaded yet for context: _. Use require([])*
Thanks a lot for your attention.
So, this is not a RequireJS problem per-se. The package you want to use is a Node.js package. It is intended to run in node (a server/desktop execution environment for JavaScript). It cannot/will not run in web page in a browser.
The packages it is trying to use (fs in particular) provide access to system resources such as the file system. Node provides these packages as part of its core libraries to any package that runs in node. A browser is specifically designed for security reasons never to allow direct access to such resources to any code that run in the browser because who knows where it came from or might try to do.
I haven't really tried to do this myself, but browserify (alternative to requirejs) claims that it will allow you to use any node package in your application.
If musicjson is at the heart of what your app should achieve and requirejs is a small step on the way to getting there, you could try your luck with browserify instead.

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