createLoader promise error ignored in aurelia-bootstrapper.js

[rhencke]

If the function createLoader fails in aurelia-bootstrapper.js, its error is ignored.

A naive fix is to change https://github.com/aurelia/bootstrapper/blob/master/src/index.js#L136 to run().catch(console.error.bind(console)); but I'm not sure exactly how you'd want errors here to be handled - that change at least worked for me to diagnose the underlying error.

[EisenbergEffect]

What is the easiest way to reproduce this error?

[EisenbergEffect]

I've tried a few things but I always see the error in the console, at least in Chrome. If you can provide a bit more information, we can move forward trying to improve this.

[rhencke]

I'm pretty sure what I'm trying is not something you're officially supporting, but... :)

What I'm attempting to do is write an application using Electron. (basically, if you squint, it's Chromium + Node = desktop GUI apps)

My attempt that was producing this error was to use Node's native require() with Aurelia, which seemed like a good fit at first glance. However, the form of require the bootstrapper wished to see at https://github.com/aurelia/bootstrapper/blob/master/src/index.js#L51 expected the ability to do the require asynchronously, which Node does not support.

I can put up a Gist later tonight with a minimal reproduction, if that helps?

[EisenbergEffect]

Well, we definitely support Aurelia + Electron. I and a number of members of the community have done that successfully. However, you will still want to use system.js. Basically, let system.js handle your client modules and let node's require handle everything else. You can use them together. In one of my projects, I actually wrote a system.js plugin so I could use native es6 imports on the client side and "redirect" them to node. Here's the plugin source:

System.set('npm', System.newModule({
  'fetch': function(load, fetch) {
    var id = load.name.substring(0, load.name.indexOf('!'));
    load.metadata.requiredModule = require(id);
    return '';
  },
  'instantiate':function(load) {
    return load.metadata.requiredModule;
  }
}));

I put that in my main.js file before anything else ran. Then I used it in my code like this:

import fs from 'fs!npm';
import path from 'path!npm';
import shell from 'shell!npm';
import clipboard from 'clipboard!npm';
import ChildProcess from 'child_process!npm';
import wrench from 'wrench!npm';

[rhencke]

Oh, wow, thanks - I appreciate the example! I'll bite the bullet and kick things over to System.js and go with that.