TypeScript Importing external libraries Finding definition files
Example
for typescript 2.x:
definitions from DefinitelyTyped are available via @types npm package
npm i --save lodash
npm i --save-dev @types/lodash
but in case if you want use types from other repos then can be used old way:
for typescript 1.x:
Typings is an npm package that can automatically install type definition files into a local project. I recommend that you read the quickstart.
npm install -global typings
Now we have access to the typings cli.
-
The first step is to search for the package used by the project
typings search lodash NAME SOURCE HOMEPAGE DESCRIPTION VERSIONS UPDATED lodash dt http://lodash.com/ 2 2016-07-20T00:13:09.000Z lodash global 1 2016-07-01T20:51:07.000Z lodash npm https://www.npmjs.com/package/lodash 1 2016-07-01T20:51:07.000Z -
Then decide which source you should install from. I use dt which stands for DefinitelyTyped a GitHub repo where the community can edit typings, it's also normally the most recently updated.
-
Install the typings files
typings install dt~lodash --global --save
Let's break down the last command. We are installing the DefinitelyTyped version of lodash as a global typings file in our project and saving it as a dependency in the typings.json. Now wherever we import lodash, typescript will load the lodash typings file.
-
If we want to install typings that will be used for development environment only, we can supply the
--save-devflag:typings install chai --save-dev
