Make datasource imports work with ts-node

[bforbis]

Currently the lb4 datasource command will create a {name}.datasource.ts file and a {name}.datasource.json file. Since these files have the same base name, it causes issues with imports while running with ts-node (useful for development). By default, ts-node will import the JSON file over the TS file, causing datasource construction to fail. For more info on how ts-node works, see TypeStrong/ts-node#769

I was able to workaround this issue by manually renaming the json file, but it would be good if the datasource generator didn't create two files with the same base name.

[dougal83]

Hey, Please excuse my ignorance but why do you use ts-node? Curious as to the necessity, are you doing something that specifically requires it?

[bforbis]

It's not really necessary, but it makes certain things in development have a quicker feedback loop.

1. I can throw together quick ts scripts and test them with a single command
2. It allows me to skip some more complex steps of my normal build phase that involves moving static files around, as executing within ts-node will operate under the same directory structure within src/, instead of in dist/

[dougal83]

quicker feedback loop.

Ah like build times with the watch flag? I just use ts-node for scripts like building .env files. Fair dos, I think this'll be low priority until lb4 has feature parity with lb3.

[bajtos]

@bforbis thank you for starting this discussion. I was looking into ts-jest and ts-node recently and discovered a similar problem: by default, LoopBack booters look for .js files only, and therefore don't discover .ts files.

I think it would be great to improve LoopBack to support ts-node. Would you like to help?

For example, we can modify our CLI templates to use the following naming convention: {name}.datasource-config.json.

Thoughts?

/cc @strongloop/loopback-maintainers

[achrinza]

@bajtos This has probably been fixed by #4060

[bajtos]

@achrinza thank you for the comment. I am going to close this issue as resolved then.