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Using classes to differentiate types in TypeScript

I like types and I like TypeScript, mostly because of the types. Even though it does not go as far as I’d like. After going to one interesting talk regarding safe domain in the code base I have an idea to give it a go in TypeScript. This is going to be a short journey in possible options I had to use types to make my code a bit safer.

I have a piece of code that integrates with two APIs, Bitbucket and Jira, and as usual it uses tokens to do it. The idea is to define a type describing token that would not be mixed up. The compiler would tell me if I made a mistake and passed Jira token into function that expects one from Bitbcuket. Tokens are just strings so thefirst option is type alias.

Type alias

So I had defined two type aliases, one for each API, and then a function that would only accept one of them. If you read TypeScipt documentation on types you know that this would not work.

Aliasing doesn’t actually create a new type – it creates a new name to refer to that type. Aliasing a primitive is not terribly useful, though it can be used as a form of documentation.

The below code will compile and according to tsc there is nothing wrong here. Here is a link to code in TypeScript playground.

function runAlias(a: BitbucketToken) {
    return a;
}

type BitbucketToken = string;
type JiraToken = string;

runAlias("a" as JiraToken);
runAlias("a" as BitbucketToken);

Interface

My second thought was to try and use interface but it was dissapointing as well. TypeScript uses what is called "structural subtyping” and since token types have similar sctructure they were identified as compatible but that was not my goal. Here is a link to code in TypeScript playground

interface BitbucketToken {
    value: string;
}
interface JiraToken {
    value: string;
}

function runInterface(a: BitbucketToken) {
    return a.value;
}

runInterface({ value: "a" } as BitbucketToken)
runInterface({ value: "a" } as JiraToken)

Class

Next in line is class and as you can see boiler plate ramps up. Result is unfortunately same as with inteface version. It should not be a sruprise to me as documentation clearly says what is going on.

TypeScript is a structural type system. When we compare two different types, regardless of where they came from, if the types of all members are compatible, then we say the types themselves are compatible.

Here is a link to code in TypeScript playground

// class version
class BitbucketToken {
    value: string;
    constructor(value: string) {
        this.value = value;
    }
}

class JiraToken {
    value: string;
    constructor(value: string) {
        this.value = value;
    }
}

function runClass(a: BitbucketToken) { }

runClass(new BitbucketToken("a"))
runClass(new JiraToken("a"))

Class with private or protected

Last and final option, as it did the job, was class but with private or protected property. Again documentation helps with understanding why it works.

TypeScript is a structural type system. When we compare two different types, regardless of where they came from, if the types of all members are compatible, then we say the types themselves are compatible. However, when comparing types that have private and protected members, we treat these types differently. For two types to be considered compatible, if one of them has a private member, then the other must have a private member that originated in the same declaration. The same applies to protected members.

This version finally worked and tsc complained when tokens where mixed up so I went with it in my personal project. Both options work private or protected.

Here is a link to code in TypeScript playground.

// class version
class BitbucketToken {
    private value: string;
    constructor(value: string) {
        this.value = value;
    }
}

class JiraToken {
    private value: string;
    constructor(value: string) {
        this.value = value;
    }
}

function runClass(a: BitbucketToken) { }

runClass(new BitbucketToken("a"))
runClass(new JiraToken("a"))

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