Fails to detect nodeJS environment in the electron main process when using TypeScript and Webpack

[DeveloperBlue]

When using jzz (and it's dependency jazz-midi) in an electron main process written in Typescript and transpiled with Webpack, a dynamic require found in JZZ.js does not work and the library fails to detect that it is in a NodeJS environment.

It is similar to the issue found at jazz-soft/jazz-midi#6

A workaround would be to apply the patch mentioned here as well as the following:

_initNode(require('jazz-midi')); // https://github.com/jazz-soft/JZZ/blob/master/javascript/JZZ.js#L575

should be changed to

const require_dynamic = typeof __webpack_require__ === "function" ? __non_webpack_require__ : require;
_initNode(require_dynamic('jazz-midi'));

I'm not sure if typescript/webpack/electron issues are within the scope of this project, but I thought I would mention the fix I'm using.

[jazz-soft]

Hi! Thank you for the notice! Electron is not a Node.js environment. Did you try https://github.com/jazz-soft/jazz-midi-electron ?

[DeveloperBlue]

Hi! Electron has two process models, the main process (a NodeJS environment) and a renderer process (the browser/chromium environment that you are thinking about). This issue is for the main process, which is a NodeJS environment.

The issue is not really caused by Electron directly, but by Webpack being unable to detect the dynamic require when generating the JavaScript bundles.

Personally, I would not change anything in jzz or jazz-midi because so few people will run into this problem, I recommend just adding a small note in the READMEs for anyone using a JavaScript bundler (Webpack, Gulp, Babel, Browserify, etc.). Even this issue existing is enough, as someone will probably find it while they are troubleshooting.

[jazz-soft]

I made some Webpack fixes. Please check if that resolved your issue...

[nullobject]

The changes made in https://github.com/jazz-soft/JZZ/commit/dab1c62c04a2a0043bba8037080b425704b8badc did not fix the webpack issue for me.

I had to add the jazz-midi package to the externals defined in the webpack.main.config.ts file:

externals: "jazz-midi"

[jazz-soft]

Did it work?

[nullobject]

Did it work?

Only after I made the change to the webpack configuration.

[jazz-soft]

Is your project available online? I'd like to look what the problem was...