Support ESM module (Dual-ESM-CJS-module)

[huan]

Progress

• Wechaty Getting Started
• Wechaty
• WechatyPuppet
• WechatyGrpc
• Helper modules
  • StateSwitch
  • FileBox
  • tstest
  • HotImport
  • CloneClass
  • MemoryCard
  • WatchDog
  • FlashStore
  • Brolog
  • RxQueue
  • Finis
  • AsyncMapLike
  • Ducks
• Puppets
  • PuppetWeChat
  • PuppetWeChat4U
  • PuppetWhatsapp
  • PuppetPadlocal
  • PuppetXp
  • PuppetGitter
  • PuppetLark
  • PuppetDonut
  • PuppetWXWork
  • PuppetOfficialAccount
  • PuppetMock
  • PuppetService
  • PuppetOICQ
• Ecosystem
  • HA Wechaty
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  • CLI
  • Wechaty Plugin Contrib
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  • Wechaty Vorpal
  • Wechaty Vorpal Contrib
  • Wechaty Official Website
  • Matrix AppService Wechaty
  • Wechaty Ducks Contrib
  • WechatyChatOpera
  • Wechaty QnAMaker
  • Wechaty Token
• Wechaty BOTs
  • OSS.Chat BOT
  • Friday BOT

Howto

• Node Modules at War: Why CommonJS and ES Modules Can’t Get Along
• How to Create a Hybrid NPM Module for ESM and CommonJS.
• The ESM move #15
• Publishing Node modules with TypeScript and ES modules

Links

• Get Ready For ESM, Sindre Sorhus, Jan 13, 2021
• ESM support: soliciting feedback TypeStrong/ts-node#1007
• ts-node fails when ES Modules are in the dependency graph in Node.js 13+ TypeStrong/ts-node#935
• Pure ESM Package
• CommonJS to ESM in Node.js
• Hybrid npm packages (ESM and CommonJS)
• Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah, They’re Here! ES Modules in Node.JS - Gil Tayar | Node.TLV 2020
• Joshua's Docs - Building an NPM Package - Notes, Tips, and Troubleshooting
• TypeScript and native ESM on Node.js

Badge

[![ES Modules](https://img.shields.io/badge/ES-Modules-brightgreen)](https://github.com/Chatie/tsconfig/issues/16)

[suntong]

Howto

• Node Modules at War: Why CommonJS and ES Modules Can’t Get Along
• How to Create a Hybrid NPM Module for ESM and CommonJS.
• The ESM move #15
• Publishing Node modules with TypeScript and ES modules

Thanks for providing all those informative links for us to read @huan, So

Switching the default from CJS to ESM would be a big break in backwards compatibility. ...
CJS can’t require() ESM because of top-level await

Would you explain just in high level what your strategy is please @huan? Especially, are you going to follow the recommendation to

Provide a CJS version of your library

Thanks!

[suntong]

I meant, this is how I've been consuming wechaty in my plain JavaScript app:

const {
  Wechaty,
  ScanStatus,
  log,
}               = require('wechaty')

And I presume lots of JavaScript developers are doing the same thing as well.

Would you explain just in high level what your strategy is please

At the very least, what we JavaScript developers should do, after such transition is finished? Hopefully "Dual-ESM-CJS-module" means that we can still use our existing scripts without huge alternations. thx.

[suntong]

Migrating

There are two ways to move your packages to ESM:

1. Pure ESM
   This has the benefit that it's easier to set up. You just add "type": "module" to your package.json, require Node.js 12, update docs & code examples, and do a major release.
2. Dual --- ESM with a build step that transpiles a CommonJS fallback
   This requires you to also set up a build step and add a exports field to your package.json. Read more
   Note that there are many downsides.

Personally, I plan to do 1 as I think it's better to rip off the bandaid and push the ecosystem forward.

(taken from https://blog.sindresorhus.com/get-ready-for-esm-aa53530b3f77 which is now gone but mirrored at here)

Hmm..., maybe it is time to take plan #1... See:

https://ar.al/2021/01/27/commonjs-to-esm-in-node.js/

[huan]

Yes, the ESM is the future and we should take it as soon as possible.

However, for maximum compatibility and a better developer experience, the Wechaty community strategy is to build a Dual-CJS-ESM package, which is what this issue is tracking about: you can use either import or require for our package.

[suntong]

you can use either import or require for our package.

👍👍👍

[suntong]

you can use either import or require for our package

I tried, but one works and one doesn't.
the two code is almost the same. Here are the key changes:

and now it is working. Ref padlocal/wechaty-puppet-padlocal-demo#16

So I'd conclude that the ESM module support is still broken, unfortunately.