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Typescript
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.. admonition:: Attention

	IIFE has been deprecated. We encourage TypeScript users to consider :doc:`ESM </overview/esm>`.
	

About TypeScript
================

TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript with additional language features that make it easier to develop and maintain large-scale applications. TypeScript adds to JavaScript a number of extremely useful features such as type annotations, compile-time error detection, and a source map for debugging. Its features allow for high-confidence app development as an application's size and complexity grow. TypeScript code compiles to pure JavaScript that runs in any browser or Node.js.

TypeScript's type checking system means that errors can be detected and corrected before the problematic code runs in the browser.

.. image:: images/typescript_error_checking.png

*TypeScript error detection*

TypeScript also makes debugging in the browser easier by automatically generating source maps for mapping the JavaScript output to the original TypeScript files. With this feature enabled, we can step through the actual TypeScript source code instead of the generated JavaScript:

.. image:: images/typescript_browser_debugging.png

*TypeScript debugging in the browser*

To learn more about TypeScript, visit https://www.TypeScriptlang.org.


Definition files
================

The TypeScript definition files for HOOPS Communicator are located in the *web_viewer/typescript* folder of the release package. These files contain definitions for the HOOPS Web Viewer API and default user interface. The files are described below:

.. csv-table::
	:header: "File", "Purpose"
	
	"*hoops_web_viewer.d.ts*", "Definition for the HOOPS Web Viewer API. This should be included for all HOOPS Communicator uses."
	"*tcc.d.ts*", "Definition for HOOPS Web Viewer dependencies. This should be included for all HOOPS Communicator uses."
	"*hoops_web_viewer_ui.d.ts*", "Definition for the HOOPS Web Viewer User Interface. This only needs to be included if you want to interact with default user interface components. Since default user interface components make use of `jQuery UI <https://jqueryui.com/>`_, you will need to install the `jQuery UI TypeScript definitions <https://www.npmjs.com/package/@types/jqueryui>`_ in order to use this file."

With HOOPS Communicator TypeScript definition files, the code editor can provide inline documentation assistance for HOOPS Web Viewer components:

.. image:: images/typescript_inline_docs_assistance.png

*TypeScript inline documentation assistance*


Adding TypeScript support
=========================

We have provided a brief tutorial demonstrating how to add TypeScript support to HOOPS Communicator and take advantage of Visual Studio Code's IntelliSense feature. For full instructions, download our `official tutorial project <https://bitbucket.org/techsoft3d/ts-webviewer-basic-app/src/master/>`_.


Building the UI
===============

The Typescript source files used to generate the UI for the sample viewer are included in the package for reference. They can be found at *web_viewer/typescript/ui*. To build them, first you will need to copy the contents of *web_viewer/src/js* into *web_viewer/typescript/ui/js* you will also need to copy *hoops_web_viewer.d.ts* and *tcc.d.ts* located in *web_viewer/typescript* into *web_viewer/typescript/ui/js*. After those files are copied you should be able to simply execute ``tsc`` from within *web_viewer/typescript/ui*.

HOOPS Communicator supports TypeScript version 3.5.3.


Operator source
===============

The Typescript source files used to generate the operators are also included in the package at *web_viewer/typescript/operators*. This code is just included for reference and cannot be built from the package.
