@achrinza/strong-type

@achrinza/strong-type

Strongly Typed native JS without a hard requirement for transpiling.

What TypeScript should have been. @achrinza/strong-type will also work in TypeScript.

Type checking module for anywhere javascript can run ES6 modules. This includes node, electron and the browsers. Fully isomorphic. Unlike other solutions like TypeScript, @achrinza/strong-type works natively and does not require transpiling or bundling unless you want to. This make it inclusive of any framework transpiled or not.

npm install --save @achrinza/strong-type

What does @achrinza/strong-type do?

@achrinza/strong-type allows easy type enforcement for all JS types objects and classes. It also supports type unions for multiple types, as well as special types like .any and .defined. It is also extensible and provides simple to use type checks for your own custom classes and types should you want to use them.

It does all this without requiring any additional tooling or transpiling. This leaves you or your organization free to use whatever toolchain or framework you want, or even... to write vanilla native JS.

Testing and Coverage

@achrinza/strong-type is tested using @node-ipc/vanilla-test which is a bare bones testing framework for js that supports ESM, and covered by C8 which is the default coverage tool built into the node runtime. This pair is the most effective and accurate way to test ES6+ modules.

Run the tests and build the coverage files on your local machine by running node-test or see the coverage files on the @achrinza/strong-type CDN home : https://cdn-p939v.ondigitalocean.app/@achrinza/strong-type/

Example | strict vs. non-strict

Using strict and non-strict modes. By default @achrinza/strong-type runs strict and will throw a verbose err you can handle and use if the check fails, or return true if it passes.

To use non-strict mode, simply pass false to the constructor. In this mode, @achrinza/strong-type will return false instead of throwing when the check fails, and will still return true when it passes.

strict

import Is from '@achrinza/strong-type';

//strict
const is = new Is;
const is = new Is();
const is = new Is(true);

//throws
is.string(1);

//union or multiple possible types
//should not throw
is.union(1,'string|number');

//union or multiple possible types
//should throw
function check(any){
    is.defined(any);
}

non-strict

import Is from '@achrinza/strong-type';

//non-strict
const is = new Is(false);

//returns false
is.string(1);

//union or multiple possible types
//should return true
is.union(1,'string|number');

Type check methods

All of these methods take just one arg, the value to check.

Unions can join any of the types supported by Is.

Union	args
is.union	value,pipe|seperated|type|list

Most Common Type Methods	args
is.globalThis	value
is.array	value
is.bigint	value
is.boolean	value
is.date	value
is.finite	value
is.generator	value
is.asyncGenerator	value
is.infinity	value
is.map	value
is.NaN	value
is.null	value
is.number	value
is.object	value
is.promise	value
is.regExp	value
is.set	value
is.string	value
is.symbol	value
is.undefined	value
is.weakMap	value
is.weakSet	value

Function Type Methods	args
is.function	value
is.asyncFunction	value
is.generatorFunction	value
is.asyncGeneratorFunction	value

Error Type Methods	args
is.error	value
is.evalError	value
is.rangeError	value
is.referenceError	value
is.syntaxError	value
is.typeError	value
is.URIError	value

Buffer/Typed Array Type Methods	args
is.arrayBuffer	value
is.dataView	value
is.sharedArrayBuffer	value
is.bigInt64Array	value
is.bigUint64Array	value
is.float32Array	value
is.float64Array	value
is.int8Array	value
is.int16Array	value
is.int32Array	value
is.uint8Array	value
is.uint8ClampedArray	value
is.uint16Array	value
is.uint32Array	value

Intl Type Methods	args
is.intlDateTimeFormat	value
is.intlCollator	value
is.intlDisplayNames	value
is.intlListFormat	value
is.intlLocale	value
is.intlNumberFormat	value
is.intlPluralRules	value
is.intlRelativeTimeFormat	value

Garbage Collection Type Methods	args
is.finalizationRegistry	value
is.weakRef	value

Core methods

You can use these to directly check your own types / classes Or extend the Is class to add your own methods in which you use these for checking more types, especially custom types and classes.

Method	args	description
is.throw	valueType, expectedType	this will use the valueType and expectedValueType to create and throw a new TypeError
is.typeCheck	value, type	this will check the javascript spec types returned from typeof. So the type arg would be a string of 'string', 'boolean', 'number', 'object', 'undefined', 'bigint' etc.
is.instanceCheck	value=new Fake, constructor=FakeCore	The core defaults the args to a Fake instance and the FakeCore class. This allows unsupported js spec types to fail as expected with a TypeError instead of a Reference or other Error (see the ./example/web/ example in firefox which is missing some support for Intl classes). This method compares value with the constructor to insure the value is an instanceof the constructor.
is.symbolStringCheck	value, type	This can be used to check the Symbol.toStringTag it works on all types, but in the core we only use it to check generator, GeneratorFunction, async function, and async GeneratorFunction as these have no other way to check their type. A generator for example has a type of [object generator] this way. So you pass in an expected generator as value and the string 'generator' as the type, and we handle the rest including lowercasing everything to insure cross browser and platform checking
is.compare	value, targetValue, typeName	this will do an explicit compare on the value and targetValue. In the core, we only use this for JS primitives/constants that have no other way to check such as Infinity and globalThis. The type name is the string representation of the class type, or a very explicit error string as the only place this arg is ever used is when the compare results in a throws.
is.defined	value	this will check that a value is not is.undefined any type is valid except undefined.
is.any	value	this is an alias to is.defined which will allow any type except undefined.
is.exists	value	this is an alias to is.defined to determine if something exists. Very useful for feature testing. The alias was created for simplicity and transparency.

Example | Basic type checking

@achrinza/strong-type is intended to be very simple to use.

import Is from '@achrinza/strong-type';

//strict
const is = new Is;

function strongTypeRequired(aNumber,aString,anAsyncFunction){
    is.number(aNumber);
    is.string(aString);
    is.asyncFunction(anAsyncFunction);
}

function unionStrongTypeRequired(aNumberOrString){
    is.union(aNumberOrString,'number|string');
}


//this will throw because we do not pass an async Function, but rather a normal function.
strongTypeRequired(1,'a',function(){})

//these will both pass because we accept both types in a union for the first param. 
unionStrongTypeRequired(1);
unionStrongTypeRequired('a');

browser

node

Example | Generator type checking

Generators are notoriously confusing to type check for many devs. This is why we chose to use them as an example.

import Is from '@achrinza/strong-type';

//strict
const is = new Is;

//empty generator for this example's sake
function* myGenFunc(){};
const myGen=myGenFunc();

//we'll show async as well
async function* myAsyncGenFunc(){}
const myAsyncGen=myAsyncGenFunc();

//empty function
function myFunc(){};

//will pass and allow contunue
is.generator(myGen);

/*
will fail because a generatorFunction is a 
GeneratorFunction, not a Generator
*/
try{
    is.generator(myGenFunc);
}catch(err){
    console.log(err);
}

//will pass and allow contunue
is.generatorFunction(myGenFunc);

//will fail because a function is not a generatorFunction
try{
    is.generatorFunction(myFunc);
}catch(err){
    console.log(err);
}

/*
will fail because this is @achrinza/strong-type, a 
generatorFunction is explicitly a GeneratorFunction,
and not a Function
*/
try{
    is.function(myGenFunc);
}catch(err){
    console.log(err);
}

//will fail because a function is not a generatorFunction
try{
    is.generatorFunction(myFunc);
}catch(err){
    console.log(err);
}

//will pass and allow contunue
is.asyncGeneratorFunction(myAsyncGenFunc);

//will pass and allow contunue
is.asyncGenerator(myAsyncGen);

/*
will fail becase @achrinza/strong-type 
asyncGenerators and generators are explicitly different
this is the same for generatorFunctions and functions
*/
try{
    is.asyncGenerator(myGen);
}catch(err){
    console.log(err);
}

try{
    is.generator(myAsyncGen);
}catch(err){
    console.log(err);
}

browser

node

Date example

import Is from '@achrinza/strong-type';

const is = new Is;

//returns true
is.date(new Date()); 

//throws in strict or returns false in non-strict
is.date(1975);

isNaN() vs is.NaN()

Javascripts types are weak by nature, so the built in isNaN() function returns true for anything that not a number, but is.NaN() only returns true if it is explicitly passed NaN.

import Is from '@achrinza/strong-type';

const is = new Is;

//built in JS isNaN
//returns false
isNaN(1);

//all return true
isNaN(NaN);
isNaN(undefined);
isNaN('a'); 

//@achrinza/strong-type is.NaN all return false in non-strict mode,
//or throw in default strict mode
is.NaN(1);
is.NaN(undefined);
is.NaN('a');

//in @achrinza/strong-type only this returns true
is.NaN(NaN);

browser

node

Running the browser and node type support examples

run npm i in the root dir of this module to make sure you get the devDependencies installed.

node example :

npm run nodeExample The whole screen should be green as all of the types are supported in node.

browser examples and support tests

npm start
this will spin up a node-http-server in this modules root on port 8000. The browser examples are in the ./example/web/ folder. You can see them by going to this local address : http://localhost:8000/

Chrome, Opera, and Edge support all the types so all rows will be green.

You will see some red rows in Firefox as it does not yet support all types. The unsupported types will throw type errors when checked/validated.

Digital Ocean Static App

We use the free Digital Ocean Static Apps to host a version of the local server. It is exactly the same as if you ran npm start on your machine. You can also use this like a CDN as it automatically rebuilds from main/master each time the branch is updated. @achrinza/strong-type CDN home : https://cdn-p939v.ondigitalocean.app/@achrinza/strong-type/

Extending the Is class for your own Types

If you are using type checking on your own types in production, its probably wise for yout to just go ahead and extend the module rather than calling the more cumbersome Core Methods many times.

custom Pizza type

//custom class type constructor
class Pizza{
    constructor(topping){
        this.eat=true;
    }
}

export {default:Pizza, Pizza}

extension

import Is from '@achrinza/strong-type';
import Pizza from 'my-delicious-pizza';

class IsMy extends Is{
    //custom pizza type
    pizza(value){
        return this.instanceCheck(value,Pizza);
    }
}

export={default:IsMy, IsMy};

test

import IsMy from 'my-delicious-typechecks';
import Pizza from 'my-delicious-pizza';

const is=new IsMy;

//will throw because 42 is not a Pizza Type
//and 
is.pizza(42)

browser

node