localizationLoader: SyntaxError 'Unexpected token export' — eval() cannot parse ESM powerbiGlobalizeLocales.js

[chassagne]

Bug

pbiviz start / pbiviz package (without --all-locales) fails to compile any visual that depends on powerbi-visuals-utils-formattingutils >= 7.x:

ERROR in ./node_modules/powerbi-visuals-utils-formattingutils/lib/globalize/powerbiGlobalizeLocales.js
Module build failed (from .../powerbi-visuals-webpack-plugin/src/localizationLoader.js):
SyntaxError: Unexpected token 'export'
    at Object.localizationLoader (.../src/localizationLoader.js:12:37)

Root cause

src/localizationLoader.js filters locales by running eval() on the source of powerbiGlobalizeLocales.js:

const result = Object.entries(eval(source)).filter(...)

In current powerbi-visuals-utils-formattingutils (7.0.0, pulled in by powerbi-visuals-utils-chartutils@9), that file is an ES module:

export const locales = {
    "ar": ["ar", "default", { ...

eval() cannot parse ESM syntax, so it throws SyntaxError: Unexpected token 'export'. The variableDeclaration slicing on the lines above (source.indexOf("locales = {")) also assumes the old non-ESM shape of the file.

The loader is only attached when --all-locales is not passed (WebPackWrap.js → configureLoaders, if (!includeAllLocales)), which is why the flag hides the bug.

Repro

• powerbi-visuals-tools 7.2.1 (powerbi-visuals-webpack-plugin 5.0.3), Node 22.15.0, macOS
• Visual with powerbi-visuals-utils-chartutils@^9.0.0 (→ formattingutils 7.0.0) imported from src
• pbiviz start → webpack 5.110.2 compiled with 1 error (the SyntaxError above)
• pbiviz start --all-locales → compiled successfully (loader skipped)

Workaround

Always pass --all-locales, at the cost of bundling every locale.

Suggested fix

Parse the file instead of eval'ing it — e.g. strip the export const prefix before evaluating (eval(source.replace(/^export\s+/, "") + ";locales")), or import the module properly. Locale filtering currently cannot work at all against ESM formattingutils.