"Unexpected token import" error with Angular4 + Universal + ng-bootstrap - node.js

Question

So I upgraded to angular 4+ just so that I can leverage the universal package for server side rendering for SEO purposes. I implemented that in my existing angular 2+ project by upgrading it to angular 4+ and did all the necessary configuration from https://github.com/evertonrobertoauler/cli-universal-demo/commit/a2610286bd3db5d4f4cce4318d7c220c11963eb6.
There is only one difference I am using ng-bootstrap https://ng-bootstrap.github.io/#/home (v1.0.0-alpha.22). But when I run the node server using npm run start-u-dev I get this error for import keyword in ng-bootstrap.
app-ui#0.0.0 start-u-dev /Users/giric/Projects/apnaDoctor/webapp/appUI
ts-node src/server.ts
/appUI/node_modules/#ng-bootstrap/ng-bootstrap/accordion/accordion.module.js:1
(function (exports, require, module, __filename, __dirname) { import { NgModule } from '#angular/core';
^^^^^^
SyntaxError: Unexpected token import
at createScript (vm.js:53:10)
at Object.runInThisContext (vm.js:95:10)
at Module._compile (module.js:543:28)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:580:10)
at Module.load (module.js:488:32)
at tryModuleLoad (module.js:447:12)
at Function.Module._load (module.js:439:3)
at Module.require (module.js:498:17)
at require (internal/module.js:20:19)
at Object.<anonymous> (/appUI/dist/ngfactory/src/app/app.server.module.ngfa
ctory.ts:18:1)
at Module._compile (module.js:571:32)
at Module.m._compile (/appUI/node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:406:23)
at Module._extensions..js (module.js:580:10)
at Object.require.extensions.(anonymous function) [as .ts]
(/webapp/appUI/node_mod
ules/ts-node/src/index.ts:409:12)
at Module.load (module.js:488:32)
pm ERR! Darwin 16.6.0
npm ERR! argv "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "run" "start-u-dev"
npm ERR! node v7.7.4
npm ERR! npm v4.1.2
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! app-ui#0.0.0 start-u-dev: `ts-node src/server.ts`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the app-ui#0.0.0 start-u-dev script 'ts-node src/server.ts'.
npm ERR! Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm installed.
npm ERR! If you do, this is most likely a problem with the app-ui package,
npm ERR! not with npm itself.
npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
npm ERR! ts-node src/server.ts
npm ERR! You can get information on how to open an issue for this project with:
npm ERR! npm bugs app-ui
npm ERR! Or if that isn't available, you can get their info via:
npm ERR! npm owner ls app-ui
npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.
npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
This is what my package.json looks like
{
"name": "app-ui",
"version": "0.0.0",
"license": "MIT",
"scripts": {
"ng": "ng",
"start": "ng serve",
"build": "ng build",
"test": "ng test",
"lint": "ng lint",
"e2e": "ng e2e",
"prestart": "npm install",
"postinstall": "bower install",
"prestart-u-dev": "npm install && ng build && ngc",
"start-u-dev": "ts-node src/server.ts",
"prestart-u-prod": "npm install && ng build --prod && ngc",
"start-u-prod": "ts-node src/server.ts"
},
"private": true,
"dependencies": {
"#angular/animations": "^4.0.1",
"#angular/cli": "^1.0.0-rc.1",
"#angular/common": "^4.0.1",
"#angular/compiler": "^4.0.1",
"#angular/compiler-cli": "^4.0.1",
"#angular/core": "^4.0.1",
"#angular/forms": "^4.0.1",
"#angular/http": "^4.0.1",
"#angular/platform-browser": "^4.0.1",
"#angular/platform-browser-dynamic": "^4.0.1",
"#angular/platform-server": "^4.0.1",
"#angular/router": "^4.0.1",
"#ng-bootstrap/ng-bootstrap": "^1.0.0-alpha.22",
"angular2-toaster": "^3.0.1",
"core-js": "^2.4.1",
"ng2-webstorage": "^1.5.1",
"rxjs": "^5.1.0",
"rxjs-es": "^5.0.0-beta.12",
"typescript": "^2.2.2",
"ui-router-ng2": "^1.0.0-beta.4",
"zone.js": "^0.7.6"
},
"devDependencies": {
"#types/jasmine": "2.5.38",
"#types/node": "~6.0.60",
"codelyzer": "~2.0.0",
"jasmine-core": "~2.5.2",
"jasmine-spec-reporter": "~3.2.0",
"karma": "~1.4.1",
"karma-chrome-launcher": "~2.0.0",
"karma-cli": "~1.0.1",
"karma-coverage-istanbul-reporter": "^0.2.0",
"karma-jasmine": "~1.1.0",
"karma-jasmine-html-reporter": "^0.2.2",
"node-sass": "^4.5.0",
"protractor": "~5.1.0",
"raw-loader": "^0.5.1",
"sass-loader": "^6.0.3",
"ts-node": "~2.0.0",
"tslint": "~4.4.2"
}
}
Update:
Earlier i removed angular2-toaster, but then i added it again just to make sure it wasn't just toaster module that is throwing the same error. Turns out, both angular2-toaster and ng-bootstrap threw the same error.
Update 2:
When I run the server using ng server, it works fine, no issues with using ng-bootstrap and angular2-toaster with angular 4+
Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

For those trying to understand what the solution is, you basically want to use and whitelist angular2-toaster and other modules giving this issue.
if using angular-cli, use ng eject to create a webpack.config.js
install the webpack-node-externals dependency via npm install and add the following lines in the webpack.config.js file
const nodeExternals = require('webpack-node-externals');
module.exports = {
...
target: 'node',
externals: [nodeExternals({
whitelist: [
/^#ng-bootstrap\/ng-bootstrap/,
/^angular2\-toaster/,
]
})],
...
}

Answer 2

It is clearly a build issue - you don't seem to have a proper transpilation setup for your server-side code. Please note that ng-bootstrap (as any other Angular 2.x+ library!) is shipping code in the following manner:
unbundled ES2015 code (with imports)
UMD-bundled ES5 code (without imports)
If you want to run ng-bootstrap on the server you've got 2 choices: either setup proper transpilation pipeline and used unbundled code or import from a bundle (located in bundles folder).
If you decide to go with a ES5 bundle approach you should be importing from #ng-bootstrap/ng-bootstrap/dist/ng-bootstrap instead of just #ng-bootstrap/ng-bootstrap). But to be clear I wouldn't recommend it as you would have to have different imports in your server-side and client-side code.

Answer 3

I think you can create two module. One is for browser is imported ng-bootstrap, one is for server is not imported ng-bootstrap. I think you have to create one more module common to share component, service for browser module and server module. Modal doesn't render by server to SEO.