Directing error messages to a file within tsconfig.json for TypeScript

[wally96334]

I am running the TypeScript transpiler on some code. I want to trap any error messages that the transpiler might emit to a file specified within my tsconfig.json. I do not see an attribute within the specifications for doing that.

Am I missing something?

Thanks!

[m3g4p0p]

Hi @wally96334, with unix you might simply redirect the tsc stdout to a log file… not sure about windows / powershell, but a quick search suggested a similar syntax:

tsc my-app.ts --noEmit > tsc.log

Or, only capture lines containing the word “error” (no idea about windows though ^^):

tsc my-app.ts --noEmit | grep -w error > tsc.log

[wally96334]

Hi M3,

THANKS for the response.

I know about the command line option with redirection.

I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to go into the details of my problem,
that there would be a simple config option that I could set that I am not aware of.

Here is my code, with comments as to what I tried, and what happened.

    static class TypeScriptCompiler
    {
        static string L_file_path;
        static string L_TS_file_spec;
        static string L_bat_TS_file_spec;
        static string L_JS_file_spec;
        static string L_tsc_file_spec;

        public static void Compile(string P_tsPath, CLS_Options P_options = null)
        {
            L_file_path = @"C:\a01_temp";
            L_TS_file_spec = Path.Combine (L_file_path, "test.ts");
            L_JS_file_spec = Path.Combine (L_file_path, "test.js");
            L_tsc_file_spec
              = "C:\\Users\\Ron Smith\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm\\node_modules\\typescript\\bin\\tsc";

            string L_cmd;

            Process L_tsc_process = new Process();
            ProcessStartInfo psi;

            //  THIS ProcessStartInfo set threw the Win32Exception listed below.

            //psi = new ProcessStartInfo
            //            ("tsc",
            //             " --project C:\\a01_temp\\tsconfig.json");

            //    System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception
            //    HResult=0x80004005
            //    Message=The system cannot find the file specified
            //    Source=System
            //    StackTrace:
            //   at System.Diagnostics.Process.StartWithCreateProcess(ProcessStartInfo startInfo)
            //   at NS_TypeScript.TypeScriptCompiler.Compile(String P_tsPath, CLS_Options P_options)
            //     in K:\Software Development\CLS_TypeScript_01.cs:line 235
            //   at NS_TypeScript.Program.Main(String[] args)
            //     in K:\Software Development\CLS_TypeScript_01.cs:line 48

            //  I do not know why the process could not find "tsc" like it should have.
            //  If anyone could figure this out, it might solve my problem.

            //  NEXT APPROACH: Try writing the command to a batch file,
            //  then execute the batch file.

            //  The batch file DID execute properly,
            //  and the errors were displayed in the command box,
            //  but the output was not redirected when this was run from a separate process
            //  within .NET (C#).

            //  The error messages were indeed redirected to the given log file (cmpl_diag.txt)
            //  when the generated batch file was run directly from the command line.

            //  THIS is stuff that was tried before but did not work,
            //  including a pipe to another process that might handle the redirect.
            //L_cmd = L_tsc_file_spec + $" --project C:/a01_temp/tsconfig.json";
            //L_cmd = "cmd tsc" + $" --project C:/a01_temp/tsconfig.json";
            //L_cmd = "tsc" + $" --project C:/a01_temp/tsconfig.json  cmpl_diag.txt 2>&1";
            //L_cmd = "tsc" + $" --project C:/a01_temp/tsconfig.json | more >cmpl_diag_02.txt";
            //L_cmd = "tsc" + " --project C:\\a01_temp\\tsconfig.json | more >cmpl_diag_02.txt";
            //L_cmd = "tsc" + " --project C:\\a01_temp\\tsconfig.json   > cmpl_diag_02.txt 2>&1";

            //  THIS is the most-recent attempt.

            L_cmd = "tsc" + $" --project C:/a01_temp/tsconfig.json  > cmpl_diag_02.txt 2>&1";

            //  Creating the batch file.
            L_bat_TS_file_spec = Path.Combine (L_file_path, "test.bat");
            using (StreamWriter
                   L_SW = new StreamWriter (L_bat_TS_file_spec))
            {
                L_SW.Write (L_cmd);
            }
            psi = new ProcessStartInfo (L_bat_TS_file_spec);

            // run without showing console windows
            psi.CreateNoWindow = true;
            psi.UseShellExecute = false;
            psi.Verb = "runas";

            // redirects the compiler error output, so we can read
            // and display errors if any
            psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
            psi.RedirectStandardError = true;

            L_tsc_process.StartInfo = psi;
            L_tsc_process.Start();

            // SHOULD read the error output
            //  ... but nothing was read.
            var msg = L_tsc_process.StandardError.ReadToEnd();

            // make sure it finished executing before proceeding 
            L_tsc_process.WaitForExit();

            // TRIED moving this down below the "WaitForExit"
            //  ... but still nothing was read.
            //var msg = L_tsc_process.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
        }
    }

C:\a01_temp\tsconfig.json

{
    "compilerOptions": {
        "sourceMap": true,
        "noImplicitAny": true,
        "module": "commonjs",
        "target": "es5",
        "allowJs": true,
        "removeComments": false,
        "typeRoots": [
            "C:\\TypeScript\\a16_bin\\node_modules\\@types"
        ]
    },
    "include": [
        "C:\\a01_temp\\test.ts"
    ]
}

Any help with this would be appreciated.

THANKS AGAIN!

[wally96334]

PROBLEM SOLVED!

Specifying the absolute file path on the output file using the generated batch file approach solved the problem.

THANKS for reading.