Support wp-scripts --experimental-modules without block.json

[nextgenthemes]

It is my understanding that --experimental-modules is only to read the viewScriptModule from a block.json and compile that as a module. Is this correct? WHY?

When the PHP API for script modules got introduced, the make core post about said devs are encouraged to switch to modules. So why does wp-scripts not let us compile them from normal entry scripts? How are we supposed to compile things that just plain plugin/theme JS that is not related to blocks. I can create a dummy fake block.json to trick it into compiling a generic script, but that seems annoying.

And what does wp-script/webpack actually does differently when using this flag. I found no information about it and why it seems it restricted to a block.json only.

I would also be interested in more information what wp-scripts actually does besides like not compiling certain imports that come with WordPress into the files.

[Mamaduka]

@sirreal will have more details, but as I remember, the flag makes it easier to use with blocks. The non-block usages should be supported by wp-script but might require some manual wiring.

Side note: Here's the latest dev note for Script Modules - https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/10/14/updates-to-script-modules-in-6-7/.

[sirreal]

Scripts and script modules will be found in block.json files when the --experimental-modules flag is provided.

The build scripts use positional arguments to indicate the classic scripts that should be built: wp-scripts build entry-one.js entry-two.js.

I believe the problem you're describing is that there's no way to pass script modules directly to the script for building, like in the example above with classic scripts.

The solution would likely be to add another argument to the build script to allow script modules to be passed, like wp-scripts build --experimenatal-modules --script-module mod1.js --script-module mod2.js classic-script1.js classic-script2.js.

I know @ryanwelcher was asking about this and I thought there was an open issue but I haven't found it.

[sirreal]

To be clear, when I said this:

The solution would likely be to add another argument to the build script to allow script modules to be passed, like wp-scripts build --experimenatal-modules --script-module mod1.js --script-module mod2.js classic-script1.js classic-script2.js.

I was not suggesting that it will address this issue now, I'm suggesting that those --script-module flags, or something similar, would need to be implemented in order to support this behavior. It's not currently supported to the best of my knowledge.

[nextgenthemes]

So I did not read, so it's not possible at all and there is no workaround other than creating a fake block.json? The PHP API for modules is stable to a log time, why is this not done? Not even experimental.