TypeScript function return type based on input parameter

Question

I have a few different interfaces and objects that each have a type property. Let's say these are objects stored in a NoSQL db. How can I create a generic getItem function with a deterministic return type based on its input parameter type?

interface Circle {
    type: "circle";
    radius: number;
}

interface Square {
    type: "square";
    length: number;
}

const shapes: (Circle | Square)[] = [
    { type: "circle", radius: 1 },
    { type: "circle", radius: 2 },
    { type: "square", length: 10 }];

function getItems(type: "circle" | "square") {
    return shapes.filter(s => s.type == type);
    // Think of this as items coming from a database
    // I'd like the return type of this function to be
    // deterministic based on the `type` value provided as a parameter. 
}

const circles = getItems("circle");
for (const circle of circles) {
    console.log(circle.radius);
                       ^^^^^^
}

Property 'radius' does not exist on type 'Circle | Square'.

Answer 1

Conditional Types to the rescue:

interface Circle {
    type: "circle";
    radius: number;
}

interface Square {
    type: "square";
    length: number;
}

type TypeName = "circle" | "square"; 

type ObjectType<T> = 
    T extends "circle" ? Circle :
    T extends "square" ? Square :
    never;

const shapes: (Circle | Square)[] = [
    { type: "circle", radius: 1 },
    { type: "circle", radius: 2 },
    { type: "square", length: 10 }];

function getItems<T extends TypeName>(type: T) : ObjectType<T>[]  {
    return shapes.filter(s => s.type == type) as ObjectType<T>[];
}

const circles = getItems("circle");
for (const circle of circles) {
    console.log(circle.radius);
}

Thanks Silvio for pointing me in the right direction.

Answer 2

You're looking for overload signatures

function getItems(type: "circle"): Circle[]
function getItems(type: "square"): Square[]
function getItems(type: "circle" | "square") {
    return shapes.filter(s => s.type == type);
}

Putting multiple type signatures before the actual definition allows you to list different "cases" into which your function's signature can fall.

Edit after your comment

So it turns out, what you're wanting is possible, but we may have to jump through a few hoops to get there.

First, we're going to need a way to translate each name. We want "circle" to map to Circle, "square" to Square, etc. To this end, we can use a conditional type.

type ObjectType<T> =
  T extends "circle" ? Circle :
  T extends "square" ? Square :
  never;

(I use never as the fallback in the hopes that it very quickly creates a type error if you somehow end up with an invalid type)

Now, I don't know of a way to parameterize over the type of a function call like you're asking for, but Typescript does support parameterizing over the keys of an object by means of mapped typed. So if you're willing to trade in the getItems("circle") syntax for getItems["circle"], we can at least describe the type.

interface Keys {
  circle: "circle";
  square: "square";
}

type GetItemsType = {
  [K in keyof Keys]: ObjectType<K>[];
}

Problem is, we have to actually construct an object of this type now. Provided you're targeting ES2015 (--target es2015 or newer when compiling), you can use the Javascript Proxy type. Now, unfortunately, I don't know of a good way to convince Typescript that what we're doing is okay, so a quick cast through any will quell its concerns.

let getItems: GetItemsType = <any>new Proxy({}, {
  get: function(target, type) {
    return shapes.filter(s => s.type == type);
  }
});

So you lose type checking on the actual getItems "function", but you gain stronger type checking at the call site. Then, to make the call,

const circles = getItems["circle"];
for (const circle of circles) {
    console.log(circle.radius);
}

Is this worth it? That's up to you. It's a lot of extra syntax, and your users have to use the [] notation, but it gets the result you want.

Answer 3

I ran into a similar issue. If you don't want to have both TypeName and ObjectType types, this can also be done using a single interface:

interface TypeMap {
  "circle": Circle;
  "square": Square;
}

function getItems<T extends keyof TypeMap>(type: T) : TypeMap[T][]  {
  return shapes.filter(s => s.type == type) as TypeMap[T][];
}