Narrowing with in keyword and const identifier

[yeomanse]

🔍 Search Terms

"narrowing", "in", "const", "identifier"

✅ Viability Checklist

• This wouldn't be a breaking change in existing TypeScript/JavaScript code
• This wouldn't change the runtime behavior of existing JavaScript code
• This could be implemented without emitting different JS based on the types of the expressions
• This isn't a runtime feature (e.g. library functionality, non-ECMAScript syntax with JavaScript output, new syntax sugar for JS, etc.)
• This isn't a request to add a new utility type: https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/wiki/No-New-Utility-Types
• This feature would agree with the rest of our Design Goals: https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/wiki/TypeScript-Design-Goals

⭐ Suggestion

Currently narrowing with the in keyword only works with a string literal in the if or if the identifier's type is a string literal. However, a const identifier with the type of a union of string literals feels like it should work the same way.
It can only ever be one of the literals and thus be a good candidate for narrowing.

For example:

export type Obj_Values = {
    values_string: string[];
    values_double: number[];
    values_int: number[];
    values_date: Date[];
    values_boolean: boolean[];
};
export type Obj_Key = keyof Obj_Values;
export type Obj_Choice<SELECTOR extends Obj_Key> = SELECTOR extends any ? Pick<Obj_Values, SELECTOR> : never;
export type Obj = Obj_Choice<Obj_Key>;

const obj: Obj;
const key: Obj_Key;

if (key in obj) {
    console.log(obj[key])  // Error below
    console.log((obj as Obj_Values)[key])  // Unfortunate work around
}

//Element implicitly has an 'any' type because expression of type 'keyof Obj_Values' can't be used to index type 'Obj'.
//  Property 'values_string' does not exist on type 'Obj'.(7053)

This might be easier said than done as there doesn't exist a way to convey what the post narrow type would even look like. But it seems like a good thing to talk about.

📃 Motivating Example

Further improving narrowing in situations where runtime code is dynamic enough to not want to use string literals but the literals are known in the types.

💻 Use Cases

1. What do you want to use this for?
   Code that uses types generated off of schemas but the runtime code doesn't need to be coupled to schema changes by requiring updates where narrowing happens.
2. What shortcomings exist with current approaches?
   Lack of narrowing pushes you towards unsatisfactory workarounds.
3. What workarounds are you using in the meantime?
   Casting to types that are lies or any.

[MartinJohns]

Sounds like a duplicate of #55561 (comment).

[RyanCavanaugh]

I don't see how this could really be made to work except through brute iteration, which would quickly become computationally infeasible in more complex situations. You have a keyof Obj_Values, and you have Obj_Choice<Obj_Key>, but there's nothing concrete tying the original keys to the output keys.

[yeomanse]

Could you explain the brute iteration idea?

I don't know anything about the implementation but perhaps its not necessarily a narrowing because there is no real type to reduce down to. But perhaps its more of a new feature tacked on to the typeof obj within the if block that allows indexing with the identifier used for the in check.

[typescript-bot]

This issue has been marked as "Design Limitation" and has seen no recent activity. It has been automatically closed for house-keeping purposes.

[yeomanse]

I understand a concern of computation if it basically does T[keyof T] by default. But a good compromise could be allowing the index into the obj and then have the dev bring their own resulting type.

...
export type Values = Obj_Values[keyof Obj_Values];

const obj: Obj;
const key: Obj_Key;

if (key in obj) {
    console.log(obj[key] as Values)  // Significantly more preferred
    console.log((obj as Obj_Values)[key])  // Than this
}