[Bug]: Cannot use import statement outside a module

[thany]

Version

28.1.2

Steps to reproduce

1. Install jest & babel-jest
2. Add "targets": { "node": "current" } to the options for @babel/preset-env in the babel.config.json
3. Add transform: { "\\.js$": "babel-jest" } to the jest.config.js
4. Add any test that contains import X from X at the top
5. Run jest

Expected behavior

According to the documentation on how to deal with code that is 4 years old, i.e. contains import, it should now work.

I would actually expect it to Just Work without any additional config. I mean, how can import not work? It works natively in Node.js absolutely fine, so why wouldn't it in Jest??

Actual behavior

This is a relevant excerpt from the error message:

    C:\Projects\<blah>\options.test.js:1
    ({"Object.<anonymous>":function(module,exports,require,__dirname,__filename,jest){import { parseScriptTags } from './options';
                                                                                      ^^^^^^

    SyntaxError: Cannot use import statement outside a module

      at Runtime.createScriptFromCode (../node_modules/jest-runtime/build/index.js:1796:14)

Additional context

I also can prove that the babel-jest transform produces code that still contains that top-level import that Jest doesn't seem to like. So the problem (and perhaps the solution) might be in the babel-jest package.

But more to the point, it should just work without needing any configuration. It's 2022 and this should've worked in 2018 without any config. Everything I "have to" configure to get this stuff to work, can be auto-detected. Or there should be more practical defaults to ship in Jest itself, that allow it to deal with modern code.

Environment

System:
    OS: Windows 10 10.0.19044
    CPU: (12) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-8950HK CPU @ 2.90GHz
  Binaries:
    Node: 16.15.1 - C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.EXE
    Yarn: 1.22.18 - ~\AppData\Roaming\npm\yarn.CMD
    npm: 8.13.2 - C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.CMD

[thany]

Or alternatively, if the error message itself is accurate, then why is my options.test.js not being treated as a "module"? If it so desperately wants it to be a module, then fine - make it a module, I don't give a fluff. As long as the tests execute, right?

[thany]

Same problem with await, even though it doesn't complain on async...

SyntaxError: C:\<blah>\card.test.js: Unexpected reserved word 'await'. (19:4)

      17 |     });
      18 |
    > 19 |     await component.setProps({ msg: 'foo' })
         |     ^
      20 |
      21 |     expect(component.html()).toContain('<p>foo</p>');
      22 |   });

No bit of the documentation explains what to do to get Jest to understand this syntax, yet this part just willy-nilly assumes you've got some kind of magical configuration set up (that, again, is not mentioned anywhere) that makes Jest understand async/await. Very disappointing.

[markcellus]

@thany not sure if this helps, but setting experimental-vm-modules before calling jest fixed issue for me:

NODE_OPTIONS=--experimental-vm-modules npx jest

Got it from this page. Hope this helps

[thany]

Yes, I know, but it's 2022 and there's nothing experimental about this syntax. It should just work by itself.

Edit: to clarify, the goal of this issue is not intended to get my tests to run. It got it. The intent is to actually fix this problem once and for all. It's well overdue, iyam.

[markcellus]

Yeah, they're already working on it. See #9430.

the goal of this issue is not intended to get my tests to run.

Might be best to close this issue and add your support in 9430 above then. Good luck!

[thany]

That issue dates from 2.5 years ago. Can I just ask how such a thing is taking that much time?

I'm not impatient or anything, but 2.5 years is a long time...

[SimenB]

Feel free to follow nodejs/node#37648 and/or put in the work necessary in v8 in order for node to stabilise the API Jest uses. There is nothing jest can do here without the underlying platform moving forward.

https://jestjs.io/docs/ecmascript-modules has instructions for how to use native ESM today.

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