Gnome Extension Skeleton/Starter in TypeScript

This starter serves as a reference for a base new extension written in typescript

It contributes to the proposal of GNOME Shell's JS/extensions transition to TypeScript

Requirements

• GNU Make
• Yarn
• Node (Preferably > 12.x.x)

Usage

Outside of actual development of the extension (on which you can find a guide here), every action is supposed to be used using the Makefile :

Install the project/dependencies

make install

Build the project's JS files (in target folder)

make build

Deploy the target files to local user's GNOME Extensions folder (Tested in Ubuntu 22.04, be careful as this folder can change depending on your configuration) (NOTE: the deploy action does not reload GNOME Shell for stability purpose, this action has to be done manually by the user to take changes in effect using Alt + F2 => r => Enter)

make deploy

Every of those actions (install, build, deploy) are run by default using only make without any recipe

Why TypeScript ?

TypeScript is now a worldwide known and used language that aims to fix some of javascript's major problems, including lack of type-safety, security, code structure etc.

It allows the code to be :

• More readable

• Easily maintainable

• More Stable

• Easier to scale

It also gives IDE support and tightier integration for an enhanced development experience

Read more about TypeScript and its advantages here