generate-ts

The purpose of this repository is to provide a simple, Typescript native way to dynamically generate Typescript code based on a pattern from a markdown file.

Getting started

Typescript version ^4.8.4 needs to be installed globally via:

npm install -g typescript

Then you can simply run this package via an npx command:

npx generate-ts

It will pick up any <NAME>.generator.md files in your project and generate patterns based on a particular format.

How to structure the generator.md files

Create some .md files with the name <NAME>.generator.md and structure them like so:

filePath
`src/example/test.ts`

fileNamePattern
`.screen.ts`

codePatterns

```TypeScript
import { $nameScreen } from './$importName'; // pattern
```

```TypeScript
const test = () => {
  // variable assignment
  const $nameVariable = "$name"; // pattern
  return {
    $nameVariable, // pattern
  };
};
```

Run npx generate-ts, and the resulting test.ts file will look like this:

import { ExampleScreen } from './Example.screen';
import { SecondScreen } from './Second.screen';

const test = () => {
  // variable assignment
  const ExampleVariable = 'Example';
  const SecondVariable = 'Second';
  return {
    ExampleVariable,
    SecondVariable,
  };
};

API

Markdown file structure

Code patterns

Pattern Variables

Using the library programmatically

You can install this package and use it programmatically instead of using npx:

npm install generate-ts

And then use it like so:

import { generatePattern, GeneratePatternOptions } from 'generate-ts';

const options: GeneratePatternOptions = {
  filePath: 'src/Example/test.ts',
  fileNamePattern: '.screen.ts',
  codePatterns: [
    {
      pattern: `// import code block`
      static: true,
    },
    {
      pattern: `import { $nameScreen } from './$importName';`
      static: false,
    }
  ],
};

generatePattern(options);

Options

Motivation

Over a year ago I wrote a blog post going over how the vscode-generate-index plugin has helped solve a lot of tedious problems we may face in the Typescript world. However, if I wasn't following my own advice about continuous improvement, I would have never thought to start working on this project.

The vscode-generate-index plugin has been helpful in the short-term. However, in the long-term we identified several issues that this plugin's approach created. Here is a breakdown of the problems we faced, and how this project solves them: