Using Webpack proxy for API images

When trying to migrate an Aurelia app to Webpack 5, it seems that accessing remote images through API does not work anymore.

If I create the sample app by au new (aurelia-cli 3.0.1) and modify its files in this way:

  • adding <img src="/styles/images/aurelia-icon.svg" /> line to app.html
  • and adding proxy configuration to webpack.config.js to the devServer part:
proxy: {
    '/styles': {
        target: "https://aurelia.io",
        changeOrigin: true
    }
},

I get the Module not found: Error: Can't resolve '/styles/images/aurelia-icon.svg' build error when trying to run dev server by npm run start.

Previously, i.e. if I create the sample app by au new with aurelia-cli 1.3.1, npm run build runs successfully and the image is shown in the application.

Is this supposed to work? Not sure if it is Aurelia or Webpack issue - any hints will be appreciated.

This can be workarounded by setting binding for the image attribute, but this is something I would like to avoid.

My guess would be that one of the other rules already takes care of these images.

Is it possible to share the parts that handle the loader configuration, in the order you have them in the webpack.config.js (specific, module → rules[…])?

Sure, here is the complete config, it is the default generated by au new (excepting the proxy settings):

const path = require('path');
const HtmlWebpackPlugin = require('html-webpack-plugin');
const CopyWebpackPlugin = require('copy-webpack-plugin');
const MiniCssExtractPlugin = require('mini-css-extract-plugin');
const DuplicatePackageCheckerPlugin = require('duplicate-package-checker-webpack-plugin');
const project = require('./aurelia_project/aurelia.json');
const { AureliaPlugin } = require('aurelia-webpack-plugin');
const { BundleAnalyzerPlugin } = require('webpack-bundle-analyzer');
const { CleanWebpackPlugin } = require('clean-webpack-plugin');

// config helpers:
const ensureArray = (config) => config && (Array.isArray(config) ? config : [config]) || [];
const when = (condition, config, negativeConfig) =>
  condition ? ensureArray(config) : ensureArray(negativeConfig);

// primary config:
const outDir = path.resolve(__dirname, project.platform.output);
const srcDir = path.resolve(__dirname, 'src');
const baseUrl = '/';

const cssRules = [
  {
    loader: 'css-loader'
  }
];

module.exports = ({ production }, { analyze, hmr, port, host }) => ({
  resolve: {
    extensions: ['.ts', '.js'],
    modules: [srcDir, 'node_modules'],

    alias: {
      // https://github.com/aurelia/dialog/issues/387
      // Uncomment next line if you had trouble to run aurelia-dialog on IE11
      // 'aurelia-dialog': path.resolve(__dirname, 'node_modules/aurelia-dialog/dist/umd/aurelia-dialog.js'),

      // https://github.com/aurelia/binding/issues/702
      // Enforce single aurelia-binding, to avoid v1/v2 duplication due to
      // out-of-date dependencies on 3rd party aurelia plugins
      'aurelia-binding': path.resolve(__dirname, 'node_modules/aurelia-binding')
    }
  },
  entry: {
    app: [
      // Uncomment next line if you need to support IE11
      // 'promise-polyfill/src/polyfill',
      'aurelia-bootstrapper'
    ]
  },
  mode: production ? 'production' : 'development',
  output: {
    path: outDir,
    publicPath: baseUrl,
    filename: production ? '[name].[chunkhash].bundle.js' : '[name].[fullhash].bundle.js',
    chunkFilename: production ? '[name].[chunkhash].chunk.js' : '[name].[fullhash].chunk.js'
  },
  optimization: {
    runtimeChunk: true,  // separates the runtime chunk, required for long term cacheability
    // moduleIds is the replacement for HashedModuleIdsPlugin and NamedModulesPlugin deprecated in https://github.com/webpack/webpack/releases/tag/v4.16.0
    // changes module id's to use hashes be based on the relative path of the module, required for long term cacheability
    moduleIds: 'deterministic',
    // Use splitChunks to breakdown the App/Aurelia bundle down into smaller chunks
    // https://webpack.js.org/plugins/split-chunks-plugin/
    splitChunks: {
      hidePathInfo: true, // prevents the path from being used in the filename when using maxSize
      chunks: "initial",
      // sizes are compared against source before minification

      // This is the HTTP/1.1 optimized maxSize.
      maxSize: 200000, // splits chunks if bigger than 200k, adjust as required (maxSize added in webpack v4.15)
      /* This is the HTTP/2 optimized options.
      maxInitialRequests: Infinity, // Default is 3, make this unlimited if using HTTP/2
      maxAsyncRequests: Infinity, // Default is 5, make this unlimited if using HTTP/2
      minSize: 10000, // chunk is only created if it would be bigger than minSize, adjust as required
      maxSize: 40000, // splits chunks if bigger than 40k, adjust as required (maxSize added in webpack v4.15)
      */

      cacheGroups: {
        default: false, // Disable the built-in groups default & vendors (vendors is redefined below)
        // You can insert additional cacheGroup entries here if you want to split out specific modules
        // This is required in order to split out vendor css from the app css
        // For example to separate font-awesome and bootstrap:
        // fontawesome: { // separates font-awesome css from the app css (font-awesome is only css/fonts)
        //   name: 'vendor.font-awesome',
        //   test:  /[\\/]node_modules[\\/]font-awesome[\\/]/,
        //   priority: 100,
        //   enforce: true
        // },
        // bootstrap: { // separates bootstrap js from vendors and also bootstrap css from app css
        //   name: 'vendor.bootstrap',
        //   test:  /[\\/]node_modules[\\/]bootstrap[\\/]/,
        //   priority: 90,
        //   enforce: true
        // },

        // This is the HTTP/1.1 optimized cacheGroup configuration.
        vendors: { // picks up everything from node_modules as long as the sum of node modules is larger than minSize
          test: /[\\/]node_modules[\\/]/,
          name: 'vendors',
          priority: 19,
          enforce: true, // causes maxInitialRequests to be ignored, minSize still respected if specified in cacheGroup
          minSize: 30000 // use the default minSize
        },
        vendorsAsync: { // vendors async chunk, remaining asynchronously used node modules as single chunk file
          test: /[\\/]node_modules[\\/]/,
          name: 'vendors.async',
          chunks: 'async',
          priority: 9,
          reuseExistingChunk: true,
          minSize: 10000  // use smaller minSize to avoid too much potential bundle bloat due to module duplication.
        },
        commonsAsync: { // commons async chunk, remaining asynchronously used modules as single chunk file
          name: 'commons.async',
          minChunks: 2, // Minimum number of chunks that must share a module before splitting
          chunks: 'async',
          priority: 0,
          reuseExistingChunk: true,
          minSize: 10000  // use smaller minSize to avoid too much potential bundle bloat due to module duplication.
        }

        /* This is the HTTP/2 optimized cacheGroup configuration.
        // generic 'initial/sync' vendor node module splits: separates out larger modules
        vendorSplit: { // each node module as separate chunk file if module is bigger than minSize
          test: /[\\/]node_modules[\\/]/,
          name(module) {
            // Extract the name of the package from the path segment after node_modules
            const packageName = module.context.match(/[\\/]node_modules[\\/](.*?)([\\/]|$)/)[1];
            return `vendor.${packageName.replace('@', '')}`;
          },
          priority: 20
        },
        vendors: { // picks up everything else being used from node_modules that is less than minSize
          test: /[\\/]node_modules[\\/]/,
          name: "vendors",
          priority: 19,
          enforce: true // create chunk regardless of the size of the chunk
        },
        // generic 'async' vendor node module splits: separates out larger modules
        vendorAsyncSplit: { // vendor async chunks, create each asynchronously used node module as separate chunk file if module is bigger than minSize
          test: /[\\/]node_modules[\\/]/,
          name(module) {
            // Extract the name of the package from the path segment after node_modules
            const packageName = module.context.match(/[\\/]node_modules[\\/](.*?)([\\/]|$)/)[1];
            return `vendor.async.${packageName.replace('@', '')}`;
          },
          chunks: 'async',
          priority: 10,
          reuseExistingChunk: true,
          minSize: 5000 // only create if 5k or larger
        },
        vendorsAsync: { // vendors async chunk, remaining asynchronously used node modules as single chunk file
          test: /[\\/]node_modules[\\/]/,
          name: 'vendors.async',
          chunks: 'async',
          priority: 9,
          reuseExistingChunk: true,
          enforce: true // create chunk regardless of the size of the chunk
        },
        // generic 'async' common module splits: separates out larger modules
        commonAsync: { // common async chunks, each asynchronously used module a separate chunk file if module is bigger than minSize
          name(module) {
            // Extract the name of the module from last path component. 'src/modulename/' results in 'modulename'
            const moduleName = module.context.match(/[^\\/]+(?=\/$|$)/)[0];
            return `common.async.${moduleName.replace('@', '')}`;
          },
          minChunks: 2, // Minimum number of chunks that must share a module before splitting
          chunks: 'async',
          priority: 1,
          reuseExistingChunk: true,
          minSize: 5000 // only create if 5k or larger
        },
        commonsAsync: { // commons async chunk, remaining asynchronously used modules as single chunk file
          name: 'commons.async',
          minChunks: 2, // Minimum number of chunks that must share a module before splitting
          chunks: 'async',
          priority: 0,
          reuseExistingChunk: true,
          enforce: true // create chunk regardless of the size of the chunk
        }
        */
      }
    }
  },
  performance: { hints: false },
  devServer: {
    proxy: {
      '/styles': {
        target: "https://aurelia.io",
        changeOrigin: true
      }
    },
    // serve index.html for all 404 (required for push-state)
    historyApiFallback: true,
    open: project.platform.open,
    hot: hmr || project.platform.hmr,
    port: port || project.platform.port,
    host: host
  },
  devtool: production ? undefined : 'cheap-module-source-map',
  module: {
    rules: [
      // CSS required in JS/TS files should use the style-loader that auto-injects it into the website
      // only when the issuer is a .js/.ts file, so the loaders are not applied inside html templates
      {
        test: /\.css$/i,
        issuer: { not: [ /\.html$/i ] },
        use: [ { loader: MiniCssExtractPlugin.loader }, ...cssRules ]
      },
      {
        test: /\.css$/i,
        issuer: /\.html$/i,
        // CSS required in templates cannot be extracted safely
        // because Aurelia would try to require it again in runtime
        use: cssRules
      },
      // Skip minimize in production build to avoid complain on unescaped < such as
      // <span>${ c < 5 ? c : 'many' }</span>
      { test: /\.html$/i, loader: 'html-loader', options: { minimize: false } },
      { test: /\.ts$/, loader: "ts-loader" },
      // embed small images and fonts as Data Urls and larger ones as files:
      { test: /\.(png|svg|jpg|jpeg|gif)$/i, type: 'asset' },
      { test: /\.(woff|woff2|ttf|eot|svg|otf)(\?v=[0-9]\.[0-9]\.[0-9])?$/i,  type: 'asset' },
      { test: /environment\.json$/i, use: [
        {loader: "app-settings-loader", options: {env: production ? 'production' : 'development' }},
      ]}
    ]
  },
  plugins: [
    new DuplicatePackageCheckerPlugin(),
    new AureliaPlugin(),
    new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
      template: 'index.ejs',
      metadata: {
        // available in index.ejs //
        baseUrl
      }
    }),
    // ref: https://webpack.js.org/plugins/mini-css-extract-plugin/
    new MiniCssExtractPlugin({ // updated to match the naming conventions for the js files
      filename: production ? '[name].[contenthash].bundle.css' : '[name].[fullhash].bundle.css',
      chunkFilename: production ? '[name].[contenthash].chunk.css' : '[name].[fullhash].chunk.css'
    }),
    new CopyWebpackPlugin({
      patterns: [
        { from: 'static', to: outDir, globOptions: { ignore: ['.*'] } }
      ]
    }), // ignore dot (hidden) files
    ...when(analyze, new BundleAnalyzerPlugin()),
    /**
     * Note that the usage of following plugin cleans the webpack output directory before build.
     * In case you want to generate any file in the output path as a part of pre-build step, this plugin will likely
     * remove those before the webpack build. In that case consider disabling the plugin, and instead use something like
     * `del` (https://www.npmjs.com/package/del), or `rimraf` (https://www.npmjs.com/package/rimraf).
     */
    new CleanWebpackPlugin()
  ]
});

I tried to disable / use different images handling in the rules before, but with no effect…