Cross-project references between two projects

Question

Is it possible to make a reference between two TypeScript projects? Assume we have the following project structure:

Answer 1

If you are compiling with the --out parameter you can simply reference Module1.ts from Module2.ts using /// <reference To learn more about code organization patterns in TypeScript see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDrWLMUY0R0&hd=1

What visual studio language services sees available (which is everything) is different from what you compile and actually have available at runtime.

Answer 2

The solution suggested by @dhsto works but I have found an alternative using linked folders. I have written about it in detail in this article, here is how it can be implemented:

It can be achieved by creating a folder to hold your references, I like to name this “_referencesTS”, the folder will contain all of the links to files from Test1. This can be done individually but would become very cumbersome if it had to be done for each new TS file. Linking a folder however will link all of the files beneath it, this can be done by editing the csproj file.

To edit the file right click the Test2 project and click “Unload Project”, then right click the project and click “Edit Test2.csproj”. Navigate to the <ItemGroup> that contains the <TypeScriptCompile> tags and insert the code below:

<TypeScriptCompile Include="..\Test1\**\*.ts">
   <Link>_referencesTS\%(RecursiveDir)%(FileName)</Link>
</TypeScriptCompile>

Replace the relative path to the location of your TS files in Test1, this uses the wildcarding (*) to link all .ts files (dictated by the *.ts) within all sub folders (dictated by the \**\)..

The TS files within these folders will now appear linked within Test2, allowing for automatic typescript referencing.

Note: The only downside to this approach is that when a new file is added to Test1 within a linked folder, the user has to unload and load the project or close and open the solution for it to appear in Test2.