typescript-to-lua

TypescriptToLua

A generic TypeScript to Lua transpiler. Write your code in TypeScript and publish Lua!

Documentation

More detailed documentation and info on writing declarations can be found on the wiki.

Usage Guide

Install

npm install -g typescript-to-lua

Compile Files

tstl path/to-my-file.ts path/to-my-other-file.ts

Compile Projects

tstl -p path/to-my/tsconfig.json

Options

Syntax:  tstl [options] [files...]

In addtion to the options listed below you can also pass options for the
typescript compiler (For a list of options use tsc -h). NOTE: The tsc options
might have no effect.

Options:
  --version        Show version number
  --luaTarget, -l  Specify Lua target version: 'JIT' (Default), '5.1', '5.2',
                   '5.3'
  --project, -p    Compile the project given the path to its configuration file,
                   or to a folder with a 'tsconfig.json'
  --help           Show this message

Optionally: Add the lualib files from dist/ to your project. This helper library unlocks additional typescript functions:

• Ternary operator
• Functional-style list operations (forEach/map/filter/every/some)
• Includes lua Map<S,T> and Set<T> implementations Add require("typescript") in your code code if you want to use the lualib functionality.

Sublime Text integration

This compiler works great in combination with the Sublime Text Typescript plugin (available through the package manager as TypeScript).

You can simply open your typescript project assuming a valid tsconfig.json file is present. The default TypeScript plugin will provide all functionality of a regular TypeScript project.

Setting up a custom build system

To add the option to build with the Lua transpiler instead of the regular typescript compiler, go to Tools > Build System > New Build System.... In the new sublime-build file that opens, enter the following (adjust path to tstl if not installed globally):

{
    "cmd": ["tstl", "-p", "$file"],
    "shell": true
}

Save this in your Sublime settings as a TypeScriptToLua.sublime-build. You can now select the TypeScriptToLua build system in Tools > Build System to build using the normal hotkey (ctrl+B), or if you have multiple TypeScript projects open, you can choose your compiler before building by pressing ctrl+shift+B.