ES modules for the modern web

[scottvorthmann]

All of the examples I've found use outmoded global scripts, and your Javascript SDK is not available in ES module form.
I suggest you modernize your SDK packaging, and also modernize your examples.  Not only will this improve security, but it will also enhance the public perception of Dropbox among web developers.

[Jay]

Hi @scottvorthmann, thanks for the message.

Could you clarify this in more detail on how this would affect your workflow and any examples you can provide on what to improve?

[scottvorthmann]

An ES module packaging would allow my app to load the Dropbox SDK dynamically, using now-standard dynamic module imports, which is beneficial since I only need it for certain situations.  I could even use it in a web worker, again loaded dynamically.

I attempted to use the Dropbox SDK and bundle my app using esbuild.  It failed to resolve "crypto" and "utils".  Perhaps this is an issue with your package.json, or perhaps your "module" is just an IIFE that assumes other libraries have been defined globally.  Since the introduction of ES modules, it is a bad practice to pollute the global namespace, or to rely on global definitions from other libraries.

Even Node.js supports ES modules, so older types of modules are not necessary.  For more info, see:

https://auth0.com/blog/javascript-module-systems-showdown/  (6 years old)
https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/03/es-modules-a-cartoon-deep-dive/  (4 years old)

[Greg-DB]

Thanks for the detailed request! I've sent this along to the relevant team.