TypeScript 0.9.x Not Compiling JS Files

Recently I started experimenting with TypeScript, as we started using it at my day job and I wanted to use it for Resgrid. I really like the concept of what TypeScript is and what it brings to the table and for non-JS developers like myself. But recently I have not had a lot of luck getting TypeScript working in my projects.

The first part of the problem is that when you Nuget in DefinitelyTyped definitions they are not set to TypeScriptCompile. Thanks to Jonas Eriksson @joeriks for that tip.

This was using the latest version of TypeScript 0.9.1.1 and the latest version of WebEssentials (the one with TypeScript removed).

But I still couldn’t get JS files generated from the TypeScript files. No errors in the compiler and only a few warnings. Finally I found this blog post from almost a year ago.

I edited my MVC Apps’s web project file (.csproj) and added this BeforeBuild target:

<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
    <Exec Command="&quot;$(PROGRAMFILES)\Microsoft SDKs\TypeScript\tsc&quot; @(TypeScriptCompile ->'&quot;%(fullpath)&quot;', ' ')" />
  </Target>

So it’s still not generating on saving of the TypeScript file, but at least it is now generating them on a build.