Problem while compiling smart contract in VScode ( No response in temrinal )

Question

I have a problem while compiling my first smart contract:

Structure of my folder:

in Inbox.sol

pragma solidity ^0.8.9;

contract Inbox {
    string public message;

    function myInbox(string memory initialMessage) public {
        message = initialMessage;
    }

    function setMessage(string memory newMessage) public {
        message = newMessage;
    }

    function getMessage() public view returns (string memory) {
        return message; 
    }
}

In compile.js

const path = require("path");
const fs = require("fs");
const solc = require("solc");

const inboxPath = path.resolve(__dirname, "contracts", "Inbox.sol");
const source = fs.readFileSync(inboxPath, "utf8");

let input = {
    language: "Solidity",
    sources: {
        [inboxPath]: {
            content: source,
        },
    },

    settings: {
        outputSelection: {
            "*": {
                "*": ["*"],
            },
        },
    },
};

var output = JSON.parse(solc.compile(JSON.stringify(input)));

module.exports = {
    abi: output.contracts[[inboxPath]]["Inbox"].abi,
    bytecode: output.contracts[[inboxPath]]["Inbox"].evm.bytecode.object,
};

My package.json

{
  "name": "inbox",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "mocha"
  },
  "author": "Zahraa",
  "license": "ISC",
  "dependencies": {
    "@truffle/hdwallet-provider": "^2.0.6",
    "ganache-cli": "^6.12.2",
    "mocha": "^9.1.2",
    "solc": "^0.8.9",
    "web3": "^1.6.0"
  },
  "directories": {
    "test": "test"
  },
  "keywords": [],
  "description": ""
}

when I type ( node compile.js ) in terminal nothing happens (No bytecode returned)

Output in terminal:

macbookpro@macs-MBP-2 inbox % node compile.js
macbookpro@macs-MBP-2 inbox % 

My questions:

1. How can I compile the file knowing that I used the same compiler version as pragma solidity (0.8.9) ?

2. Is remix.ethereum.org same as Visual Code Studio to create dApps?

Thank you..

Answer 1

One thing that helped me was making sure the inbox.sol and compile.js file were saved before i ran node compile.js. However the bytecode and other data isn't displayed. Just this

{
  contracts: {},
  sourceList: [ '' ],
  sources: { '': { AST: [Object] } }
}