ES6 import syntax with Angular 1.5 UI Router

Question

I'm trying to combine Angular 1.5, UI Router using ES6 import modules syntax with Babel & Webpack.

In my app.js I have:

'use strict';

import angular from 'angular';
import uiRouter from 'angular-ui-router';
...
import LoginCtrl from './login/login.ctrl.js'


const app = angular.module("app", [
        uiRouter,
        ...
    ])
    .config(function($stateProvider, $urlRouterProvider) {
        $stateProvider
            .state('login', {
                url: '/login',
                templateUrl: '...', 
                controller: LoginCtrl,
                controllerAs: 'login' 
            })
    });

In login/login.ctrl.js I have:

'use strict';

export default app.controller("LoginCtrl", function() {
    //code here
});

When I started my app I have following error message:

ReferenceError: app is not defined
 bundle.js:35422:2
Error: [$injector:modulerr] Failed to instantiate module app due to:
[$injector:nomod] Module 'app' is not available! You either misspelled the module name or forgot to load it.

And second question. How can I use controller: "loginCtrl as login" syntax with ES6 import/export?

Answer 1

You are referring to 'app' variable inside your 'login/login.ctrl.js' but the variable is not defined (because you are importing the controller before defining it).

EDIT: Anyway each module has its own scope so you can't refer to variable from different module this way.

The solution I have in my mind is following:

1. Inside 'login/login.ctrl.js' create new module

   'use strict';
   
   import angular from 'angular';
   
   angular.module('ctrlsModule', [])
       .controller('LoginCtrl', function () {
   
       });
   

2. Add the module as dependence of your main 'app' module

   'use strict';
   
   import angular from 'angular';
   import uiRouter from 'angular-ui-router';
   ...
   import './login/login.ctrl.js';
   
   angular.module('app', [uiRouter, 'ctrlsModule', ...])
       .config(function ($stateProvider, $urlRouterProvider) {
           $stateProvider
                .state('login', {
                   url: '/login',
                   templateUrl: '...', 
                   controller: 'LoginCtrl',
                   controllerAs: 'login' 
               });
       });
   

I haven't tested the code but I believe you can see what I mean. Not sure what you mean with the second question but controllerAs in ES6 should work the same way as in ES5.