Redefine window.console with typescript

Question

I had the following javascript in my error logging code, which defines console.log for certain browsers where it doesn't exist (IE doesn't/didn't have it defined unless the debug tools are open).

if (typeof console == "undefined")
{
    window.console = { log: function (msg) { } };
}

The problem when trying to upgrade the js to Typescript is that window.console is defined as being of the Console interface type and since I'm not specifying everything it (obviously) doesn't compile.

interface Console {
    info(message?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]): void;
    profile(reportName?: string): void;
    assert(test?: boolean, message?: string, ...optionalParams: any[]): void;
    msIsIndependentlyComposed(element: Element): boolean;
    clear(): void;
    dir(value?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]): void;
    warn(message?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]): void;
    error(message?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]): void;
    log(message?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]): void;
    profileEnd(): void;
}

How can tell it to ignore this interface and just let me redefine window.console.

My best effort guess doesn't work

window.console = { log: function (msg) { } } : any;

Answer 1

A shorter solution is to just use a type assertion:

window.console = <any>{ log: function (msg) { } };

And even use a lambda:

window.console = <any>{ log: () => { } };

Answer 2

The interface is going to force you to create all functions. If you try to override the interface, it will give you a Duplicate Identifier error. So, here's the full stub to save you time :)

window.console =
{
    info: (message?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]) =>
    {
        // ...
    },

    profile: (reportName?: string) =>
    {
        // ...
    },

    assert: (test?: boolean, message?: string, ...optionalParams: any[]) =>
    {
        // ...
    },

    msIsIndependentlyComposed: (element: Element) =>
    {
         return false;
    },

    clear: () =>
    {
        // ...
    },

    dir: (value?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]) =>
    {
        // ...
    },

    warn: (message?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]) =>
    {
        // ...
    },

    error: (message?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]) =>
    {
        // ...
    },

    log: (message?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]) =>
    {
        // ...
    },

    profileEnd: () => 
    {
        // ...
    },

    count: (countTitle?: string) => 
    {
        // ...
    },

    groupEnd: () => 
    {
        // ...
    },

    time: (timerName?: string) => 
    {
        // ...
    },

    timeEnd: (timerName?: string) =>
    {
        // ...
    },

    trace: () => 
    {
        // ...
    },

    group: (groupTitle?: string) => 
    {
        // ...
    },

    dirxml: (value: any) => 
    {
        // ...
    },

    debug: (message?: string, ...optionalParams: any[]) => 
    {
        // ...
    },

    groupCollapsed: (groupTitle?: string) => 
    {
        // ...
    },

    select: (element: Element) => 
    {
        // ...
    },
};

---

Alternate Solution

If you don't want to write out all methods, you can fool TypeScript like this.

var x: any = 
{
    log: (msg) =>
    {
        //...
    }
};
window.console = <Console>x;

Answer 3

I suppose I could do this :-/

 var w:any = window;
 w.console = { log: function (msg) { } };