Auto Import not working with node_modules

[KirillMetrik]

• VSCode Version: 1.31.0
• OS Version: Windows 10

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Unpack the attached source test-app.zip
2. run npm install
3. Open app.module.ts file
4. Remove NgModule import (the @NgModule will be highlighted with an error)
5. Place cursor on the @NgModule. Here expected behavior is that the light bulb would appear and suggest to add missing import. In reality nothing happens. I am still able to add import manually but it's impossible to use auto import feature for this. When entering import manually Intellisense works without any problems.

This might seem like a minor problem but the example is just a small extract from a big project. It seems that VSCode (or TS server) is not checking for possible typings in node_modules. In the end we have to add imports manually everywhere which is very time consuming and simply kills productivity.

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

[mjbvz]

I confirmed this with typescript@3.4.0-dev.20190221

There do not appear to be any errors in the ts server logs. Once you add any @angular/core import to the file, then we do properly suggest the import quick fix

[RyanCavanaugh]

This is an intentional performance/helpfulness trade-off.

We don't eagerly consume all .d.ts files from node_modules - doing so would be prohibitively expensive in a world where there are regularly possible thousands of definition files in node_modules.

When the Angular .d.ts file isn't consumed, we have no way of knowing that NgModule happens to come from @angular/core, thus can't suggest that auto-import.

[christianbradley]

I have this issue as well, and I'm confused as to why it was closed without further discussion. Is there any workaround you can suggest? For example, I'm using the wonderful fp-ts library by gcanti, and I'm constantly having to type out every import - I don't remember this happening before v3.x.

[RyanCavanaugh]

it was closed without further discussion

I literally explained why it works the way it does, then you commented, now I'm responding. Not sure how that's "without further discussion" ? 😕

I have this issue as well ... I'm constantly having to type out every import

It sounds like you're having a different issue. Once you have the first import, subsequent imports to the same library should be available for automatic importing. Can you (in a new report) outline the steps to reproduce the problem you're describing?

[KirillMetrik]

I am experiencing the same problem as @christianbradley describes. Unfortunately I wasn't able to create a 100% reproduction case, so decided not to post it.

[christianbradley]

@RyanCavanaugh - by "it was closed without further discussion" I'm just referring to the fact that the feature was set to "closed" - without further discussion.

With a library like fp-ts - everything is pulled from lib, ie:

import { Option, fromNullable } from 'fp-ts/lib/Option'

It does look like once I import from that file, anything exported from that file seems to generally be available for auto-import. However, if I start typing out another export from that library, say, scanRight from fp-ts/lib/Array, it doesn't suggest the import, and quick fix doesn't show it either.

Oddly, some exports from other modules are suggested - I'm assuming this is because are referenced by Array.d.ts in some manner. ie: fp-ts/lib/Either

If there was a way to inform the compiler to eager-load everything from a specific folder, module, etc, that would be wonderful.

As a side question - was this always how the compiler worked? I feel like this has only happened recently, but I could be wrong.

[unional]

@RyanCavanaugh is it possible to read only those specified in package.json and go down transitively?