Why not also export `carbon-components-react` components?

Summary

Right now components from carbon-components-react are passed through the mdx provider so that they can be used in .mdx files without having to add carbon-components-react as a dependency. However, those components are not exported.

If a consumer is trying to use any Carbon react components (alongside this theme’s components) in a new component they are creating in a .js file in their downstream site, there’s no way to utilize something from carbon-components-react unless the consumer adds that library as an additional dependency.

So you can have a situation where you are using one version of carbon-components-react in mdx files, and then another version of carbon-components-react if you have to add it as a dependency in order to import something into a .js to create your own component, for example, to use your site.

So my question is – why not export all components (that make sense to export) from carbon-components-react?

[jendowns]

@vpicone Yeah that’s what I was thinking… but in the case where you all have redefined/changed a carbon component in some way, I think it would make sense to export that variation instead, like with the Tabs (i.e., export your Tabs and not the ccr Tabs, to avoid the overlap).

[jendowns]

Okay just tried to experiment with this and I’m not getting ideal results…

Imagine this structure:

- my-components
  - CustomComponent.js
- pages
  - index.mdx

If I want to import StructuredList from carbon-components-react into my CustomComponent.js, I must add carbon-components-react as a dependency and import from there, otherwise I get a big error and the page breaks.

If I want import StructuredList into my index.mdx, I also still have to add carbon-components-react as a dependency and add import statements at the top of the file. If I don’t and if I just try to use StructuredList with no import, the page build won’t fail but the component won’t be there.

Either way, whether using a Carbon component in a js or mdx file, it appears as though I need to add carbon-components-rect as a dependency and import the component from there. 🤔