Workspace Schematics: importing a TS file outside the "tools" directory causes a TS error

[jdgarvey]

Expected Behavior

I should be able to import a TS file from an app or lib into my custom workspace schematic and use it.

Current Behavior

When I try importing a file from an app or lib into my custom schematic, I get a 'rootDir' is expected to contain all source files TS error.

Failure Information (for bugs)

Steps to Reproduce

The specific steps to reproduce are as follows:

1. Create a new workspace via npx create-nx-workspace@latest schematics-playground
2. Select Angular as the type of workspace
3. During the process it asks for the name of the first app, set it to default
4. Create a test schematic via ng g workspace-schematic test
5. Inside the index.ts file for that schematic, import the app.module.ts for the default app that was generated (or really any file that requires traversal outside of the tools directory)
6. Run the schematic via ./node_modules/.bin/nx workspace-schematic test

Context

nx report

  @nrwl/angular : 9.0.2
  @nrwl/cli : 9.0.2
  @nrwl/cypress : 9.0.2
  @nrwl/eslint-plugin-nx : Not Found
  @nrwl/express : Not Found
  @nrwl/jest : 9.0.2
  @nrwl/linter : Not Found
  @nrwl/nest : Not Found
  @nrwl/next : Not Found
  @nrwl/node : Not Found
  @nrwl/react : Not Found
  @nrwl/schematics : Not Found
  @nrwl/tao : 9.0.2
  @nrwl/web : Not Found
  @nrwl/workspace : 9.0.2
  typescript : 3.7.5

Reproduction
A minimal reproduction of the error can be found here.
This was generated using the exact steps outlined in "Steps to Reproduce".
Just install dependencies and run the test schematic via nx workspace-schematic test.

Failure Logs

In the repro I am trying to import the AppModule from apps/default/src/app/app.module.ts into my schematic at tools/schematics/test/index.ts and it results in this error:

apps/default/src/app/app.module.ts:4:30 - error TS6059: File '/Users/Garve/projects/schematics-playground/apps/default/src/app/app.component.ts' is not under 'rootDir' '/Users/Garve/projects/schematics-playground/tools'. 'rootDir' is expected to contain all source files.

4 import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

tools/schematics/test/index.ts:4:27 - error TS6059: File '/Users/Garve/projects/schematics-playground/apps/default/src/app/app.module.ts' is not under 'rootDir' '/Users/Garve/projects/schematics-playground/tools'. 'rootDir' is expected to contain all source files.

4 import { AppModule } from '../../../apps/default/src/app/app.module';
                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Found 2 errors.

Other

For reference, here is the resulting structure of the dist folder when I run the schematic and get the error:

Almost positive the error is coming from this function, because I tried running the tsc -p tools/tsconfig.tools.json command myself and got the same error.

[Cammisuli]

When we run workspace schematics we use the tsconfig in the tools directory. This file has a property called rootDir: '.'. Because of this, the TypeScript compiler expects all files to be under the same directory as the tools folder.

You can try changing some of the settings in the tsconfig.tools.json file. You could possibly use the files or include properties. You can see all the options here:
https://www.typescriptlang.org/v2/en/tsconfig#files

[jdgarvey]

Ok, I've tried removing the rootDir but that results in the underlying Nx script not being able to copy over some of the resulting files. I'll keep playing with it.

[juristr]

Hey, thx for reporting this. I'll give it a look tomorrow

[radarsu]

I'm having similar problem. I'd like to use some utility functions in my schematic and they cannot be imported because workspace-schematic script breaks.

[zpydee]

I'm also experiencing this behavor importing @nwrl/workspace:library module files into @nrwl/nest:library modules in version 10.0.7

[asherccohen]

Still an issue? Because I'm still getting this error.

[Tiedye]

I encountered this today, did anyone find a workaround?

[callmeaponte]

@Tiedye It's a bit hacky, but I was able to work around this (until it gets fixed) by using a global require statement.

For example, if you need to import a foo.json file located at the root of the project:

Before

import * as fooData from '../../../foo.json';

After

let fooData;

function init() {
    fooData = require('../../../../../foo.json');
}

init();

... note that the extra ../../ in the global require is needed - because unless you changed the outDir in tsconfig.tools.json - this script gets executed from /dist/out-tsc/tools/generators/your-generator-name.

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it hasn't had any recent activity. It will be closed in 14 days if no further activity occurs.
If we missed this issue please reply to keep it active.
Thanks for being a part of the Nx community! 🙏

[ronnyek]

Sure seems like this still may be a problem... anyone with ideas about a fix. Real easy to create a generator / schematic that attempts to import a nx library into the new application, and ultimately fail when running because of this.

[seadonk]

I found that templated ts files in the generator/schematic were being compiled when they shouldn't be.

They had been excluded in tsconfig.base.json as "exclude": ["node_modules", "tmp", "tools/schematics/*/files/*]", which no longer worked because schematics was renamed to generators in NX 11.

I updated tsconfig.base.json to exclude tools/**/files/* instead to fix the issue.
It would be nice if these exclusions were added with the creation of a generator, and also added to the migration scripts.

[hadrien-toma]

I also would like to be able to use a generator from another generator of the same monorepo 👍

[Jad31]

I also would like to be able to use a generator from another generator of the same monorepo

I would like to do the same as @hadrien-toma

[theres]

Is there any reason why workspace generators are not build in the same way as the apps? It could solve this issue as well as #5548 and allow to have different tsconfig for generators if needed.

[muuvmuuv]

This is kind of annoying. Why was this decision made? We have many utility functions in /libs and /tools. ATM we need to copy and paste them into libs and vice versa...

[hadrien-toma]

Same on our side, we have a bash script to do the copy and need to rerun it each time we need to propagate a change from generator A to generator B (generator B using generator A)

[ruslan-byondxr]

I have the same problem. Can't use "libs/" inside "tools/"

[chenka]

I have the same problem too, I should be able to import libs I've created

[larsilus]

Me too, i cannot access a lib from a workspace-schematic

[raphzandrade]

Still no reason to why we can't use libs inside our generators?

[AgentEnder]

The common use case for this (using a workspace library from a workspace generator) should be solved by #9116. One thing to note is that it doesn't solve it for current workspace generators, but migrating those into a local plugin library (perhaps named workspace or similar) and calling them with nx g {npmScope}/workspace:{generatorName} would work as one would expect.

After this use case is solidified and battle-tested, we may consider migrating existing workspace generators into a similar setup.

[AgentEnder]

I'm going to close this out, since its addressed in the local plugin functionality.

[github-actions]

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