Express/TypeORM and TypeScript: SyntaxError: Cannot use import statement outside a module

Question

So I'm using TypeORM in a TypeScript/Express application with ts-node.

I think the problem lies in the ormconfig.ts file. The entities array is not being transpiled correctly, and so the dist/.js version of this file is loading the .ts versions of the entities instead of the .js transpiled ones from the dist folder.

(note: I am not using an ornmconfig.json file instead because I want to dynamically change the config depending on ENV values)

Basically:

This ormconfig.ts gives the error on npm start:

module.exports = {
  type: 'mssql',
  host: process.env.DB_SERVER,
  username: process.env.DB_USER,
  password: process.env.DB_PASSWORD,
  database: process.env.DB_DATABASE,
  port: Number(process.env.DB_PORT),
  entities: ['entities/*.ts'],
  logging: true,
  synchronize: false,
  options: { trustServerCertificate: true },
};

This one works:

module.exports = {
  type: 'mssql',
  host: process.env.DB_SERVER,
  username: process.env.DB_USER,
  password: process.env.DB_PASSWORD,
  database: process.env.DB_DATABASE,
  port: Number(process.env.DB_PORT),
  entities: ['dist/entities/*.js'],
  logging: true,
  synchronize: false,
  options: { trustServerCertificate: true },
};

The thing is, I don't think it is appropiate to run transpiled code in development, plus I have a DEBUG setup with nodemon that I want to keep.

This is my package.json:

{
  "name": "seguimiento-express-server",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "description": "Server en express para exponer endpoints de seguimiento a apps móviles",
  "main": "app.ts",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "tsc && node --unhandled-rejections=strict ./dist/app.js",
    "prepare": "husky install",
    "lint": "eslint . --ext .ts,.tsx",
    "lint:fix": "eslint --fix --ext .ts,.tsx",
    "serve": "nodemon app.ts",
    "debug": "export DEBUG=* && npm run serve",
    "test": "jest"
  },
  "author": "John Doe",
  "license": "ISC",
  "devDependencies": {
    "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^4.31.2",
    "@typescript-eslint/parser": "^4.31.2",
    "cz-conventional-changelog": "^3.3.0",
    "cz-conventional-emoji": "^1.0.2",
    "eslint": "^7.32.0",
    "eslint-config-prettier": "^8.3.0",
    "eslint-config-standard": "^16.0.3",
    "eslint-plugin-import": "^2.24.2",
    "eslint-plugin-node": "^11.1.0",
    "eslint-plugin-prettier": "^4.0.0",
    "eslint-plugin-promise": "^5.1.0",
    "husky": "^7.0.0",
    "jest": "^27.3.1",
    "lint-staged": "^11.1.2",
    "nodemon": "^2.0.13",
    "prettier": "^2.4.1"
  },
  "lint-staged": {
    "*.(js|ts)": "eslint --cache --fix"
  },
  "config": {
    "commitizen": {
      "path": "./node_modules/cz-conventional-emoji"
    }
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@types/jest": "^27.0.2",
    "@types/cors": "^2.8.12",
    "@types/debug": "^4.1.7",
    "@types/express": "^4.17.13",
    "@types/mssql": "^7.1.3",
    "@types/node": "^16.9.6",
    "ts-jest": "^27.0.7",
    "cors": "^2.8.5",
    "debug": "^4.3.2",
    "dotenv": "^10.0.0",
    "express": "^4.17.1",
    "express-winston": "^4.2.0",
    "fetch": "^1.1.0",
    "mssql": "^7.2.1",
    "node": "^17.0.1",
    "reflect-metadata": "^0.1.13",
    "source-map-support": "^0.5.20",
    "ts-node": "^10.2.1",
    "typeorm": "^0.2.38",
    "typescript": "^4.4.3",
    "winston": "^3.3.3"
  }
}

And my tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "commonjs",
    "target": "es2017",
    "rootDir": "./",
    "outDir": "./dist",
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "inlineSourceMap": true,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "types": ["jest", "node"]
  },
  "include": ["**/*.ts", "tests/*.ts"]
}

The error:

import { Entity, Column, PrimaryGeneratedColumn, BaseEntity, OneToMany } from 'typeorm';
^^^^^^

SyntaxError: Cannot use import statement outside a module

Ernesto G · Accepted Answer · 2021-11-17 11:00:58Z

0

I solved it for now with this dirty hack, I would like to know the proper way to do it though:

I forced npm start to run as "production":

"start": "export NODE_ENV=production && tsc && node --unhandled-rejections=strict ./dist/app.js",

And conditionally use one entities array or another depending on if development or production. Now I can compile to deploy with npm start or run my development setup with npm run debug

entities: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production' ? ['dist/entities/*.js'] : ['entities/*.ts'],

answered Nov 17, 2021 at 11:00

Ernesto G

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Comments

MD Jahid Hasan · Accepted Answer · 2023-01-01 13:20:06Z

0

I am also facing the same issue. I was using import {...} from 'typeorm/brower'. After using import {...} from 'typeorm' issue was resolved. From your code snippet, it is not clear why casing this error is. May this answer help you.

answered Jan 1, 2023 at 13:20

MD Jahid Hasan

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