Webpack [url/file-loader] is not resolving the Relative Path of URL

Question

I am facing a problem in Webpack regarding Relative Path. Let me try to explain the scenario :

I have 2 separate project in Workspace directory :

Answer 1

It seems like it's css-loader fault and the way it resolves paths in @import and url(). It tries to resolve all paths — even those from imported stylesheets — relative to the main CSS file — which in your case is /Project_B/src/assets/stylesheets/index.scss.

Don't cry! There's a solution!

Maybe it's not perfect, but it's the best one I came with so far.

Create a global variable $assetsPath holding a path to assets relative to the current stylesheet. Then prepend this variable to all your url() values.

In your /Project_A/assets/stylesheets/index.scss you'd write:

/*/ Using !default we can override this variable even before the following line: /*/
$assetsPath: '../' !default;

.container {
    /*/ ... /*/
    .content-wrapper {
        /*/ ... /*/
        background-image: url($assetsPath + "images/content-bg.jpg");
    }
}

In your /Project_B/src/assets/stylesheets/index.scss you'd write:

/*/ The following variable will override $assetsPath defined in the imported file: /*/
$assetsPath: '../../../../Project_A/assets/';

/*/ Import Project A SCSS [Common Varibles, Classes, Styling etc] /*/
@import "../../../../Project_A/assets/stylesheets/index";

The Aftermath

If you bundle Project-A with Gulp it's gonna see Project-A's code as:

        /*/ ... /*/
        background-image: url("../images/content-bg.jpg");

Although, when you bundle Project-B with Webpack it's gonna see Project-A's code as:

        /*/ ... /*/
        background-image: url("../../../../Project_A/assets/images/content-bg.jpg");

Therefore, you are saved.

Most definitely I'll look closer at this issue. All of this could be avoided if url-loader would respect a path in the @import statement and apply it to referenced assets accordingly. Either I'm missing something or it should be considered as a bug.

I hope you have a wonderful day!
~Wiktor