Error importing CommonJS module that works with --experimental-modules

[dandv]

Bug Report

Current Behavior
I'm trying to use the default import with node-influx. This works with node --experimental-modules, but not with Babel and the transform-modules-commonjs plugin.

Input Code

import-influx.mjs

import InfluxDB from 'influx';
console.log(InfluxDB.FieldType.STRING);  // 2

Expected behavior/code

$ node --experimental-modules import-influx.mjs (node:3614) ExperimentalWarning: The ESM module loader is experimental.
2
$ ./node_modules/.bin/babel-node ./import-influx.mjs 
/home/dandv/prg/v12/a/import-influx.mjs:7
console.log(_influx.default.FieldType.STRING); // 2
                            ^

TypeError: Cannot read property 'FieldType' of undefined

Babel Configuration (babel.config.js)

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    '@babel/plugin-transform-modules-commonjs',
  ],
};

Environment

• Babel version(s): 7.4.4
• Node 12/npm 6.9.0
• OS: Ubuntu 18
• Monorepo: no
• How you are using Babel: cli (babel-node)

[babel-bot]

Hey @dandv! We really appreciate you taking the time to report an issue. The collaborators
on this project attempt to help as many people as possible, but we're a limited number of volunteers,
so it's possible this won't be addressed swiftly.

If you need any help, or just have general Babel or JavaScript questions, we have a vibrant Slack
community that typically always has someone willing to help. You can sign-up here
for an invite.

[nicolo-ribaudo]

That module doesn't have a default export; only named imports: https://github.com/node-influx/node-influx/blob/master/src/index.ts.

With node you can only import it as default because node doesn't know about Babel/TypeScript/Webpack way of handling transpiled es modules.

[dandv]

I found the same problem with other modules, e.g. faast.js and graphql-tools.

Is there a TypeScript transpilation setting that these modules could enable?

[nicolo-ribaudo]

They could this code to their entry point

import * as mod from "./this-file.js";
export default mod;

By doing so, everythins is exported both as a named export and as a property of the default export.

Another option is that they also ship untranspiled ES modules (which should not
be done until they are no more --experimental), so that you can properly use named imports.