How to build and run fable compiler from source?

Question

I'm trying to use fable powerpack in a fable elmish template project. During compilation there is a warning:

 warning FABLE: Nested option in option won't work at runtime

The compiled code (using the fable powerpack code in test) does not work either.

The code:

let openCursor(index: Browser.IDBIndex, keyCursor: bool, range: Browser.IDBKeyRange option, direction: DBCursorDirection option, step: uint32 option) =
    let range = defaultArg range Unchecked.defaultof<Browser.IDBKeyRange>
    let direction = (defaultArg direction DBCursorDirection.Default).ToString()
    let step = defaultArg step 1u
    let request =
        match keyCursor with
        | false -> index.openCursor(range, direction) //warning here
        | true -> index.openKeyCursor(range, direction)//warning here

Translates to:

    function openCursor(index, keyCursor, range, direction, step) {
        var range_1 = range != null ? range : null;
        var direction_1 = Object(__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_3__nuget_packages_fable_core_1_2_4_fable_core_Util__["y"/* toString */
        ])(direction != null ? direction : DBCursorDirection.Default);
        var step_1 = step != null ? step : 1;
        var request = keyCursor ? index.openKeyCursor(Object(__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_3__nuget_packages_fable_core_1_2_4_fable_core_Util__["x"/* some */
        ])(range_1), direction_1) : index.openCursor(Object(__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_3__nuget_packages_fable_core_1_2_4_fable_core_Util__["x"/* some */
        ])(range_1), direction_1);

range_1 is null, no problem but

Object(__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_3__nuget_packages_fable_core_1_2_4_fable_core_Util__["x"/* some */])(null)

returns {} instead of undefined, if it returns undefined (or null?) then it would be no problem

Cloned the powerpack project and that works, openCursor is translated to:

function openCursor(index, keyCursor, range, direction, step) {
  var range_1 = range != null ? range : null;
  var direction_1 = __webpack_require__.i(__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_1__nuget_packages_fable_core_1_2_0_beta_003_fable_core_Util__["f" /* toString */])(direction != null ? direction : DBCursorDirection.Default);
  var step_1 = step != null ? step : 1;
  var request = keyCursor ? index.openKeyCursor(range_1, direction_1) : index.openCursor(range_1, direction_1);

I could see it uses a different dotnet-fable (1.2.4 from fable elmish template) so changed the paket.lock to downgrade (1.2.0-beta-005 from fable-powerpack) and did a dotnet restore.

Now it won't compile at all with the error (maybe fable react cannot work with fable versions used by powerpack):

ERROR in /home/harm/.nuget/packages/fable.react/1.2.1/fable/Fable.Helpers.React.fs /home/harm/.nuget/packages/fable.react/1.2.1/fable/Fable.Helpers.React.fs(588,53): (588,62) error FSHARP: The type 'ParamList' is not defined. @ ./src/App.fs 5:0-107 @ ./src/sale.fsproj @ multi (webpack)-dev-server/client?http://localhost:8080 webpack/hot/dev-server ./src/sale.fsproj

Cloned the Fable compiler and build it (does not generate nuget package but some folders with binaries).

In the fable powerpack linked to the build:

ln -s ../Fable/build/fable ./fable

Then tried to build the power pack indexeddb (changed tests/Main.fs and Tests.fsproj to use Program.fs of indexeddb)

dotnet ./fable/dotnet-fable.dll yarn-run pretest

Sure enough that doesn't work either:

ERROR in ./src/IndexedDB.fs Module not found: Error: Can't resolve '../../../.nuget/packages/fable.core/1.2.0-beta-003/fable-core/Option' in '/home/harm/dev/fable-powerpack/src' @ ./src/IndexedDB.fs 9:0-102 @ ./tests/Program.fs @ ./tests/Main.fs @ ./tests/Tests.fsproj

ERROR in ./src/PromiseSeq/Module.fs Module not found: Error: Can't resolve '../../../../.nuget/packages/fable.core/1.2.0-beta-003/fable-core/Option' in '/home/harm/dev/fable-powerpack/src/PromiseSeq' @ ./src/PromiseSeq/Module.fs 10:0-99 @ ./src/PromiseSeq/Extensions.fs @ ./tests/Program.fs @ ./tests/Main.fs @ ./tests/Tests.fsproj

The directory ~/.nuget/packages/fable.core/1.2.0-beta-003/fable-core/ exist but I guess the relative path is incorrect. Also where does it get the 1.2.0 from, the fable core from Fable build is version 1.3.0-beta-002 so even though I'm using dotnet-fable version 1.3.0-beta-002 for some reason it does not use the fable core generated by the build to compile.

Is dotnet-fable using paket.lock? If so then why doesn't building Fable provide a nuget package because you have to install it if you don't want to spend the next 3 days fiddling around copying/linking files and messing with the packet.lock.

The fable compiler is missing some instructions on how to actually use it. I can compile it but since it doesn't generate a nuget there is no way to install it. Running the binaries directly doesn't seem to work either.

Is there a way to build a project using the binaries generated by the latest build from the fable compiler git repo and use that to transpile a project?

I tried installing the newer versions by changing paket.dependencies:

source https://www.nuget.org/api/v2

nuget Fable.Compiler 1.3.0-beta-002 beta
nuget FSharp.Core
nuget Fable.Core prerelease
nuget Fable.Import.Browser

clitool dotnet-fable 1.3.0-beta-002

group Build
framework: net46

    source https://nuget.org/api/v2
    nuget FSharp.Core  redirects:force, content:none
    nuget FAKE

Then tried the following command

dotnet restore

That doesn't seem to do anything so tried:

mono .paket/paket.exe update

That changed the paket.lock to:

dotnet-fable (1.3.0-beta-002) - clitool: true
   ...
Fable.Compiler (1.3.0-beta-002)
   ...
Fable.Core (1.3.0-beta-002)

But still dotnet fable will not run 1.3.0:

[harm@localhost fable-powerpack]$ dotnet fable yarn-run pretest
Fable (1.2.0-beta-005) daemon started on port 61225

Source is still transpiled with fable core 1.2.0 so just for the hell of it tried the following command again:

dotnet restore

And now try to transpile:

[harm@localhost fable-powerpack]$ dotnet fable yarn-run pretest
Fable (1.3.0-beta-002) daemon started on port 61225

That results in warnings:

WARNING in ./src/IndexedDB.fs
157:30-34 "export 'Some' was not found in '../../../.nuget/packages/fable.core/1.2.0-beta-003/fable-core/Util'

And code that doesn't work:

TypeError: __WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_1__nuget_packages_fable_core_1_2_0_beta_003_fable_core_Util__.Some is not a constructor at openCursor (file:///home/harm/dev/fable-powerpack/build/tests.bundle.js:3527:191) at IDBObjectStore_openCursorAsync (file:///home/harm/dev/fable-powerpack/build/tests.bundle.js:3668:10) at file:///home/harm/dev/fable-powerpack/build/tests.bundle.js:4685:123 at file:///home/harm/dev/fable-powerpack/build/tests.bundle.js:4642:28 at Object.then (file:///home/harm/dev/fable-powerpack/build/tests.bundle.js:1936:22) at IDBOpenDBRequest.request.onsuccess (file:///home/harm/dev/fable-powerpack/build/tests.bundle.js:3803:36)
message
:
"__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_1__nuget_packages_fable_core_1_2_0_beta_003_fable_core_Util__.Some is not a constructor"
stack
:
"TypeError: __WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_1__nuget_packages_fable_core_1_2_0_beta_003_fable_core_Util__.Some is not a constructor↵    at openCursor (file:///home/harm/dev/fable-powerpack/build/tests.bundle.js:3527:191)↵    at IDBObjectStore_openCursorAsync (file:///home/harm/dev/fable-powerpack/build/tests.bundle.js:3668:10)↵    at file:///home/harm/dev/fable-powerpack/build/tests.bundle.js:4685:123↵    at file:///home/harm/dev/fable-powerpack/build/tests.bundle.js:4642:28↵    at Object.then (file:///home/harm/dev/fable-powerpack/build/tests.bundle.js:1936:22)↵    at IDBOpenDBRequest.request.onsuccess (file:///home/harm/dev/fable-powerpack/build/tests.bundle.js:3803:36)"
__proto__
:
Error

Still stubbornly trying fable core 1.2.0

So looking for this version:

[harm@localhost fable-powerpack]$ grep -rl "1.2.0.beta.003"
obj/fsac.cache
tests/obj/project.assets.json
tests/obj/fsac.cache
build/tests.bundle.js

The tests/obj/project.assets.json has over 5400 lines so not going to fiddle with that one.

So tried the following:

[harm@localhost fable-powerpack]$ cd tests/
[harm@localhost tests]$ mono ../.paket/paket.exe update
[harm@localhost tests]$ dotnet restore

That seems to take care of that:

[harm@localhost fable-powerpack]$ grep -rl "1.2.0.beta.003"
obj/fsac.cache
tests/obj/fsac.cache
build/tests.bundle.js

...

That seems to use latest fable but latest fable compiles to:

function openCursor(index, keyCursor, range, direction, step) {
  var range_1 = range != null ? range : null;
  var direction_1 = __webpack_require__.i(__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_1__nuget_packages_fable_core_1_3_0_beta_002_fable_core_Util__["g" /* toString */])(direction != null ? direction : DBCursorDirection.Default);
  var step_1 = step != null ? step : 1;
  var request = keyCursor ? index.openKeyCursor(new __WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_1__nuget_packages_fable_core_1_3_0_beta_002_fable_core_Util__["f" /* Some */](range_1), direction_1) : index.openCursor(new __WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_1__nuget_packages_fable_core_1_3_0_beta_002_fable_core_Util__["f" /* Some */](range_1), direction_1);

Same as 1.2.4 so errors when running script.

HMR HMR · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-11T02:32:08

Nested option warning and error in compiled JavaScript is solved.

Installing paket dependencies you can do (takes versions from paket.dependencies and re creates paket.lock):

mono .paket/paket.exe update
dotnet restore

If paket update gives you timeout exceptions you can try this command before the paket update:

export PAKET_RESOLVER_TASK_TIMEOUT=-1

In this case you need to run dotnet restore again in the test direcectory

How to build and run fable compiler from source?

1 Answers