tern.js not loading three.js plugin

Question

Problem

I'm currently trying to build a 3D web app based on three.js.

I'm using neovim as my development environment and YouCompleteMe as a completion system.

I installed tern to complete JS, and I added .tern-project file like this.

{
    "libs": [
        "browser",
        "ecmascript",
    ],
    "loadEagerly": [
    ],
    "plugins": {
        "threejs": {}
    }
}

I also copied threejs.js and threejs.json to my project's directory generated by tern-threejs.

However, YouCompleteMe doesn't show semantic completion compared to tern-threejs's demo codemirror

Comparison:

codemirror:

neovim:

Note: I can't see any completion at all.

What seems to be the problem?

Answer 1

threejs.js is a tern plugin file and threejs.json is a tern library file. plugin files should be copied in tern/plugin directory and library files needs to be placed within tern/defs directory. These two directory exists within tern directory.

With 'YouCompleteMe' installed this dir path is: ~/.vim/YouCompleteMe/third_party/ycmd/third_party/tern-runtime/node‌​_modules/tern. You only need to copy one of aforementioned files. Plugin file or lib file; and update your .tern-project file accordingly. so:

1. First ensure that you have enabled the Tern completer on YouCompleteMe. For example on my Mac, I had to run the following:

   cd ~/.vim/bundle/YouCompleteMe
   ./install.py --tern-completer
   

   See YouCompleteMe installation guide for details on how to do it on other environments.

2. Copy threejs.js then navigate to

   ~/.vim/YouCompleteMe/third_party/ycmd/third_party/tern-runtime/node‌​_modules/tern/plugin/
   

   and paste.

3. Update your project's .tern-project file as follows:

   {
       "libs": [
           "browser",
           "ecmascript",
       ],
       "plugins": {
           "es_modules": {},
           "threejs": {}
       }
   }
   

   Note that i've also included es_modules plugin (which is a plugin shipped with tern itself) as you are using ES6 module pattern system.