can I import the same dependency in two different modules in RequireJS

Question

I have a module (dependencyA) that I want to call from two separate modules (modA & modB) while using RequireJS. In this case, modA is the main.js file. I have mentioned the path of the dependency in the path section of main.js:

    paths: {
        'dependencyA': 'test/dependencyA',
//other paths
}

I added this dependency in my define function (I am using define and not require in the main.js) - I removed references to other modules for this post:

define(['dependencyA'], function (dependencyA) {

I am able to use this dependency from the main.js file. If I wish to use this dependency from moduleB, should I add it over there in the define section or not? If I add it in the define section, my requireJS module code does not seem to be correct (my javascript code does not get called properly). I do not think the dependency code is incorrect since its being called from the main.js file fine.

This is what I tried in moduleB:

define(["require", './test/dependencyA'], 
        function(require, dependencyA) {

If I remove the reference to dependencyA from moduleB, I get the error stating that dependencyA is undefined.

The dependency module dependencyA is defined as follows (I did not pass in the name):

define(function() {

Any suggestions on fixing this will be greatly appreciated.

You should be able to use same module in as many places as you like. Everything looks fine in your sample. Are you sure you are setting up paths correctly? I suggest you to specify baseUrl and then reference modules using url relative to baseUrl. — Tomas Kirda
thanks for the comment and answer - just want to make sure that I communicate all related info. My folder structure is as follows: main.js in parent directory, modB in a child directory 1, dependency in another child directory called test (from parent, not not from the first child directory). I am calling dependency in test directory from modB and am trying to use this syntax: './test/dependencyA' - this works for other modules (not imported in main.js) but does not work for me when I imported dependency in main.js as well. Hope it provides more info. — ali haider
Not sure what you mean by "imported in main.js". In main.js just use same methodology, why need to specify path alias then? — Tomas Kirda

Tomas Kirda Tomas Kirda · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-04T20:14:18

If you set path for a module, just reference it by that alias:

define(["require", 'dependencyA'], 
        function(require, dependencyA) {

can I import the same dependency in two different modules in RequireJS

1 Answers