ts-enum-util
Strictly typed utilities for working with TypeScript enums.
Contents
What is it?
ts-enum-util
provides utilities to improve the usefulness of enums. Examples include:
- Get a list of an enum's keys, values, or key/value pairs.
- Lookup values by key with run-time key validation and optional result defaulting.
- Reverse lookup of keys by value (for string enums too!) with run-time value validation and optional result defaulting.
- Run-time validation that a specified value or key is valid for a given enum, with compile-time type guards.
- Treat an enum like an Array.
- Treat an enum like a Map.
All of these utilities are very specifically typed for each enum via generics and type inference.
Other TypeScript Enum Projects
ts-string-visitor
[github, npm] - Generic TypeScript Visitor and Mapper for String Enums and String Literal Union Types
Installation
Install via NPM:
npm i -s ts-enum-util
Usage Examples
Several small examples ts-enum-util
's capabilities to give you a quick overview of what it can do, as well as an organized "by example" reference.
Pay special attention to the comments indicating the compile-time type of various results. See Specific Typing for more about data types.
See API Reference for more details about method signatures and behaviors.
Basic setup for all examples
import { $enum } from "ts-enum-util";
enum RGB {
R = "r",
G = "g",
B = "b"
}
Get an EnumWrapper
instance for an enum
Use the $enum function to get an EnumWrapper
instance for a particular enum.
Read about how EnumWrapper
instances are cached: Caching.
const wrappedRgb = $enum(RGB);
Get count of enum entries
See also:
const size = $enum(RGB).size;
const length = $enum(RGB).length;
Get lists of enum data
See also:
const keys = $enum(RGB).getKeys();
const values = $enum(RGB).getValues();
const entries = $enum(RGB).getEntries();
Lookup value by key
const value1 = $enum(RGB).getValueOrThrow("G");
const value2 = $enum(RGB).getValueOrThrow("blah");
const value3 = $enum(RGB).getValueOrDefault("blah");
const value4 = $enum(RGB).getValueOrDefault("blah", RGB.R);
const value5 = $enum(RGB).getValueOrDefault("blah", "BLAH!");
Reverse lookup key by value
const key1 = $enum(RGB).getKeyOrThrow("g");
const key2 = $enum(RGB).getKeyOrThrow("blah");
const key3 = $enum(RGB).getKeyOrDefault("blah");
const key4 = $enum(RGB).getKeyOrDefault("blah", "R");
const key4 = $enum(RGB).getKeyOrDefault("blah", "BLAH!");
Validate/convert enum keys
declare const str: string;
if ($enum(RGB).isKey(str)) {
}
const key1 = $enum(RGB).asKeyOrThrow(str);
const key2 = $enum(RGB).asKeyOrDefault(str);
const key3 = $enum(RGB).asKeyOrDefault(str, "G");
Validate/convert enum values
declare const str: string;
if ($enum(RGB).isValue(str)) {
}
const value1 = $enum(RGB).asValueOrThrow(str);
const value2 = $enum(RGB).asValueOrDefault(str);
const value3 = $enum(RGB).asValueOrDefault(str, RGB.G);
Iteration and Mapping
See also:
const wrappedRgb = $enum(RGB);
wrappedRgb.forEach((value, key, wrappedEnum, index) => {
});
const mapped = wrappedRgb.map((value, key, wrappedEnum, index) => {
return `${key}: ${value}`;
});
Wrapped enums are Array-Like
A wrapped enum can be treated like an array of enum "entry" tuples.
See also:
const wrappedRgb = $enum(RGB);
const length = wrappedRgb.length;
const entry = wrappedRgb[1];
Wrapped enums are Map-Like
A wrapped enum is similar to a read-only Map
of enum name -> enum value.
See also:
const wrappedRgb = $enum(RGB);
const size = wrappedRgb.size;
for (const [key, value] of wrappedRgb) {
}
for (const key of wrappedRgb.keys()) {
}
for (const value of wrappedRgb.values()) {
}
wrappedRgb.forEach((value, key, wrappedEnum, index) => {
});
Requirements
- TypeScript 2.8+: Due to a breaking change to
keyof
in TypeScript 2.9, this version of ts-enum-util
is not compatible with TypeScript prior to 2.8. Use v2 of ts-enum-util
if you require compatibility with earlier TypeScript versions. - ES6 Features: The following ES6 features are used by
ts-enum-util
, so they must exist (either natively or via polyfill) in the run-time environment:
Map
WeakMap
Symbol.iterator
Symbol.toStringTag
Limitations
- Does not work with enums that are merged with a namespace containing values (variables, functions, etc.), or otherwise have any additional properties added to the enum's runtime object.
- Requires the
preserveConstEnums
TypeScript compiler option to work with const enums
. - For certain
Iterable
features of WrappedEnum
to work, you must either compile with a target of es6
or higher, or enable the downlevelIteration
compiler option.
Known Issues
WeakMap
Polyfill
WeakMap
polyfills typically store values directly on the "key" object (the run-time enum
object, in this case) as a non-enumerable "secret" (randomly generated) property. This allows for quick O(1) constant time lookups and garbage collection of the value along with the key object, but does add a property to the object. The WeakMap
secret property will NOT be iterated in for ... in
loops, and will NOT be included in the results of Object.keys()
, but it WILL be included in the result of Object.getOwnPropertyNames()
.
It's hard to imagine this actually causing any problems, and all mainstream browsers have natively supported WeakMap
since about 2014-2015, so I have decided to go ahead with relying on WeakMap
. If you run into a problem caused by this, please report an issue on github.
Read more about the use of WeakMap
for caching EnumWrapper
instances here: Caching
General Concepts
Enum-Like Object
ts-enum-util
technically works with any "enum-like" object, which is any object whose property values are of type string
or number
.
The most obvious example is a TypeScript enum
. It can be a standard enum of numeric values, a string enum, or even an enum with a mix of numeric and string values.
EnumWrapper
The bulk of ts-enum-util
's functionality is implemented via an EnumWrapper
class, which is instantiated with a reference to an enum-like object and implements all the useful utility methods for that enum.
You likely won't ever directly reference the EnumWrapper
class because it's much more convenient to use the $enum function to obtain a reference to an EnumWrapper
instance.
Specific Typing
The various methods of ts-enum-util
are generic and overloaded to ensure that params and results are as specifically-typed as possible. This is acheived through generics, type inference, and overloading of the $enum
function signature that is used to obtain an EnumWrapper
instance for a particular enum.
For example, when obtaining a key or keys from an EnumWrapper
, the data type will be a string literal union containing only the specific key names that exist in the enum.
This helps maximize the usefulness of ts-enum-util
by making it compatible with other strictly typed code related to enums.
Map-Like Interface
A subset of EnumWrapper
's interface overlaps with much of the ES6 Map
interface. EnumWrapper
is similar to a read-only Map
of enum values, keyed by the enum names. The following Map-like features are implemented:
NOTE: The Map
interface's has()
and get()
methods are intentionally NOT implemented in the interest of clarity and consistency of naming with respect to other EnumWrapper
-specific methods. The equivalent methods are isKey and getValueOrDefault (with second param omitted).
Array-Like Interface
EnumWrapper
implements the ArrayLike
interface. It is usable as a readonly array of EnumWrapper.Entry. This allows you to pass an EnumWrapper
instance to any method that is designed read/iterate an array-like value, such as most of lodash's methods for collections and arrays.
Guaranteed Order of Iteration
ECMAScript does not guarantee a specific order when iterating properties/keys of objects. While many implementations do consistently iterate object properties/keys in the order in which they were added to the object, it is not safe to rely upon an assumption that all implementations will do the same.
EnumWrapper
sorts the keys of the enum and uses this sorted order to guarantee consistent ordering of all array/iterator results across all implementations. Just beware that the order may not be what you expect.
Example:
enum ABC = {
B,
A,
C
}
const values = $enum(ABC).getKeys();
const values = $enum(ABC).getValues();
Caching
EnumWrapper
instances are cached using an ES6 WeakMap
for quick subsequent retrieval via the $enum function. This allows you to easily access the EnumWrapper
functionality for a given enum via the $enum
function throughout your codebase without worrying about storing a reference to an EnumWrapper
that is accessible by all of the relevant code.
The use of the WeakMap
means that even if you use ts-enum-util
on temporary, dynamically-generated, enum-like objects, there will be no excessive cache bloat or memory leaks. A cached EnumWrapper
instance will be garbage collected when the enum-like object it is mapped to is garbage collected.
Although WeakMap
lookups can be extremely efficient (constant time lookups in typical implementations), beware that the ECMAScript specification only requires lookups to be "on average" less than O(n) linear time. As such, you should still excercise caution against needlessly obtaining cached references via $enum
when making heavy use of EnumWrapper
functionality. Consider storing the result of $enum()
in a local variable before making multiple calls to its methods, especially if the EnumWrapper
's features are used within a loop.
Despite the above warning, it is noteworthy that even the worst case implementation still produces extremely quick lookups for a relatively small number of items (like the number of enums that you are likely have in a project). For example, see this performance test of lookups into maps containing 500 entries, including a simple Map
polyfill implementation.
Read about a potential WeakMap
Polyfill issue.
Read more about WeakMap
on the MDN website.
API Reference
Also see the source code or the distributed index.d.ts
file for complete details of method signatures/overloads, detailed method/param documentation, etc.
See Usage Examples if you prefer a "by example" reference.
Terminology
Throughout this reference, the following aliases for types will be used:
EnumLike
: An enum-like object type. See Enum-Like Object.KeyType
: The type of the enum's keys. This is usually a string literal union type of the enum's names, but may also simply be string
if an EnumWrapper
was created for an object whose possible property names are not known at compile time.EnumType
: The specific enum type of the enum values. This is usually the enum type itself, but may also simply be the same as ValueType
(see below) if a EnumWrapper
was created for an object that is not actually an enum, but is only "enum-like".ValueType
: The widened type of the enum's values. Will be number
, string
, or number | string
, depending on whether the wrapped enum-like object contains only number, only string, or both number and string values.
$enum
This is where it all begins. This method returns an EnumWrapper instance that provides useful utilities for enumObj
.
See Caching for more about caching of EnumWrapper
instances.
function $enum(enumObj: EnumLike): EnumWrapper;
enumObj
- An enum or "enum-like" object.
Types
EnumWrapper
This is the class that implements all the enum utilities. It's a generic class that requires an overloaded helper function to properly instantiate, so the constructor is private. Use $enum() to get/create an instance of EnumWrapper
.
class EnumWrapper
EnumWrapper.Entry
A generic type alias for a tuple containing a key and value pair, representing a complete "entry" in the enum. The tuple is defined as Readonly
to prevent accidental corruption of the EnumWrapper
instance's data.
type EnumWrapper.Entry = Readonly<[KeyType, EnumType]>
EnumWrapper.Iteratee
A generic type alias for a function signature to be used in iteration methods. This is compliant with the signature of an iteratee for a Map<KeyType, EnumType>.forEach()
method, but also has an additional index
param at the end of the parameter list.
See Guaranteed Order of Iteration for details about the ordering.
type EnumWrapper.Iteratee<R> = (
value: EnumType,
key: KeyType,
enumWrapper: EnumWrapper,
index: number
) => R
R
- Generic type param for the return type of the function. The signifigance of the return type/value depends on teh context in which the iteratee is being used.value
- The value of the enum entry.key
- The key of the enum entry.enumWrapper
- A reference to the EnumWrapper
instance that is being iterated.index
- The index of the enum entry
Array-Like Interface
See also: Array-Like Interface
EnumWrapper.prototype.length
A read-only property containing the number of entries in the enum.
readonly EnumWrapper.prototype.length: number
EnumWrapper.prototype.[index]
The index signature is implemented on EnumWrapper
to allow you to access [key, value]
tuples by index like an array. The values accessed by indexing are readonly.
See Guaranteed Order of Iteration for details about the ordering.
readonly EnumWrapper.prototype.[index: number]: EnumWrapper.Entry
Map-Like Interface
See also: Map-Like Interface
EnumWrapper.prototype.size
A read-only property containing the number of entries in the enum.
readonly EnumWrapper.prototype.size: number
EnumWrapper.prototype.keys
Returns an Iterator
that will iterate all keys of the enum.
See Guaranteed Order of Iteration for details about the ordering.
EnumWrapper.prototype.keys(): IterableIterator<KeyType>
EnumWrapper.prototype.values
Returns an Iterator
that will iterate all values of the enum.
See Guaranteed Order of Iteration for details about the ordering.
EnumWrapper.prototype.values(): IterableIterator<EnumType>
EnumWrapper.prototype.entries
Returns an Iterator
that will iterate all [key, value] pairs of the enum.
See Guaranteed Order of Iteration for details about the ordering.
EnumWrapper.prototype.entries(): IterableIterator<EnumWrapper.Entry>
EnumWrapper.prototype.@@iterator
Same as EnumWrapper.prototype.entries.
Allows an EnumWrapper
to be directly iterated as a collection of [key, value]
tuples.
EnumWrapper.prototype.@@iterator(): IterableIterator<EnumWrapper.Entry>
EnumWrapper.prototype.forEach
Iterates every entry in the enum and calls the provided iteratee
function.
See Guaranteed Order of Iteration for details about the ordering.
EnumWrapper.prototype.forEach(
iteratee: EnumWrapper.Iteratee,
context?: any
): void
iteratee
: See EnumWrapper.Iteratee. The return value of this function is ignored.context
: If provided, then the value will be used as the this
context when executing iteratee
.
Iteration
EnumWrapper.prototype.forEach
See EnumWrapper.prototype.forEach in the Map-Like Interface section.
EnumWrapper.prototype.map
Builds and returns a new array containing the results of calling the provided iteratee
function on every entry in the enum.
See Guaranteed Order of Iteration for details about the ordering.
EnumWrapper.prototype.map<R>(
iteratee: EnumWrapper.Iteratee,
context?: any
): R[]
R
: Generic type param that indicates the type of entries in the resulting array. If not specified, then it will be inferred from the return type of iteratee
.iteratee
: See EnumWrapper.Iteratee.context
: If provided, then the value will be used as the this
context when executing iteratee
.
Get Arrays of Enum Data
EnumWrapper.prototype.getKeys
Returns an array of all keys in the enum.
See Guaranteed Order of Iteration for details about the ordering.
EnumWrapper.prototype.getKeys(): KeyType[]
EnumWrapper.prototype.getValues
Returns an array of all values in the enum. If the enum contains any duplicate values, then so will the returned array.
See Guaranteed Order of Iteration for details about the ordering.
EnumWrapper.prototype.getValues(): EnumType[]
EnumWrapper.prototype.getEntries
Returns a list of [key, value]
tuples representing all entries in the enum.
See Guaranteed Order of Iteration for details about the ordering.
EnumWrapper.prototype.getEntries(): EnumWrapper.Entry[]
Key Validation/Typecasting
EnumWrapper.prototype.isKey
Returns `true` if the provided `key` is a valid key for the enum.
Also acts as a type guard to tell the compiler that the provided `key` is the more specific `KeyType` type.
EnumWrapper.prototype.isKey(
key: string | null | undefined
): key is KeyType
EnumWrapper.prototype.asKeyOrThrow
If the provided key
is a valid key for the enum, then the key
is returned, but cast to the more specific KeyType
type.
If the provided key
is NOT valid, then an Error
is thrown.
EnumWrapper.prototype.asKeyOrThrow(
key: string | null | undefined
): KeyType
EnumWrapper.prototype.asKeyOrDefault
If the provided key
is a valid key for the enum, then the key
is returned, but cast to the more specific KeyType
type.
If the provided key
is NOT valid, then defaultKey
is returned.
This method is overloaded so that its return type is as specific as possible, depending on the type of the defaultKey
param.
EnumWrapper.prototype.asKeyOrDefault(
key: string | null | undefined,
defaultKey?: KeyType | string
): KeyType | string | undefined
Value Validation/Typecasting
EnumWrapper.prototype.isValue
Returns true
if the provided value
is a valid value for the enum.
Also acts as a type guard to tell the compiler that the provided value
is the more specific EnumType
type.
EnumWrapper.prototype.isValue(
value: ValueType | null | undefined
): key is EnumType
EnumWrapper.prototype.asValueOrThrow
If the provided value
is a valid value for the enum, then the value
is returned, but cast to the more specific EnumType
type.
If the provided value
is NOT valid, then an Error
is thrown.
EnumWrapper.prototype.asValueOrThrow(
value: ValueType | null | undefined
): EnumType
EnumWrapper.prototype.asValueOrDefault
If the provided value
is a valid value for the enum, then the value
is returned, but cast to the more specific EnumType
type.
If the provided value
is NOT valid, then defaultValue
is returned.
This method is overloaded so that its return type is as specific as possible, depending on the type of the defaultValue
param.
EnumWrapper.prototype.asValueOrDefault(
value: ValueType | null | undefined,
defaultValue?: EnumType | ValueType
): EnumType | ValueType | undefined
Lookup Key by Value
EnumWrapper.prototype.getKeyOrThrow
Performs a reverse lookup to get the key that corresponds to the provided value
.
If the enum has duplicate values matching the provided value
, then the key for the last duplicate entry (in order specified by the Guaranteed Order of Iteration section) is returned.
If the provided value
is NOT valid, then an Error
is thrown.
EnumWrapper.prototype.getKeyOrThrow(
value: ValueType | null | undefined
): KeyType
EnumWrapper.prototype.getKeyOrDefault
Performs a reverse lookup to get the key that corresponds to the provided value
.
If the enum has duplicate values matching the provided value
, then the key for the last duplicate entry (in order specified by the Guaranteed Order of Iteration section) is returned.
If the provided value
is NOT valid, then defaultKey
is returned.
This method is overloaded so that its return type is as specific as possible, depending on the type of the defaultKey
param.
EnumWrapper.prototype.getKeyOrDefault(
value: ValueType | null | undefined,
defaultKey?: KeyType | string
): KeyType | string | undefined
Lookup Value by Key
EnumWrapper.prototype.getValueOrThrow
Returns the value corresponding to the provided key
.
If the provided key
is NOT valid, then an Error
is thrown.
EnumWrapper.prototype.getValueOrThrow(
key: string | null | undefined
): EnumType
EnumWrapper.prototype.getValueOrDefault
Returns the value corresponding to the provided key
.
If the provided key
is NOT valid, then defaultValue
is returned.
This method is overloaded so that its return type is as specific as possible, depending on the type of the defaultValue
param.
EnumWrapper.prototype.getValueOrDefault(
key: string | null | undefined,
defaultValue?: EnumType | ValueType
): EnumType | ValueType | undefined