ts-xor

The tiny npm package ts-xor introduces the new mapped type XOR that helps you compose your own custom TypeScript types containing mutually exclusive keys for zero runtime overhead.

Description

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ts-xor implements the well-known exclusive or (a.k.a. XOR) logical operator from boolean algebra:

| A | B | XOR | union operator (\|) | ts-xor |
| :-: | :-: | :-: | :-: | :-: |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 ✅ | 0 ✅ |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 ✅ | 1 ✅ |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 ✅ | 1 ✅ |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 ❌ | 0 ✅ |

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Typescript's union operator allows combining two object types A and B, into a _superset_ type C which _can_ contain all the keys of both A and B.

But sometimes the requirements dictate that we combine two types with _mutually exclusive_ keys.

For example: assume two objects with with keys A.a and B.b. Given type C = A | B then we want to impose the restriction that we can set _either_ C.a _or_ C.b _but never both_ AND _always at least one of the two_!

Typescript does not have this feature built-in.

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If we use the union operator

``ts
type A_OR_B = A | B
`

then the derived type is shown in VS Code like so:

!Resulting type when using the union operator

Whereas if we use XOR:

`ts
type A_XOR_B = XOR
`

then the derived type is shown quite differently in VS Code:

!Resulting type when using the XOR mapped type

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Notice in the example above, that when using XOR, each union branch of the resulting type contains all keys of one source type plus all keys of the other. At the same time, in each variant, those keys of the other type are defined as _optional_ while additionally they are also typed as _undefined_.

This trick will not only forbid having keys of both source types defined at the same time (since the type of each key is explicitly undefined), but also _allow_ us to not need to define all keys all of the time since each set of keys is optional on each variant.

>_Fun fact: The actual TypeScript code for XOR is generated programmatically using the TypeScript Compiler API._ 🦾

Installation

In your typescript powered, npm project, run:

`sh
npm install -D ts-xor
`

Usage

`typescript
import type { XOR } from 'ts-xor'

interface A { a: string }
interface B { b: string }

let test: XOR

test = { a: '' } // OK
test = { b: '' } // OK
test = { a: '', b: '' } // error
test = {} // error
`

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If you want to create a type as the product of the logical XOR operation between multiple types (more than two and even up to 200), then just pass them as additional comma-separated generic params.

`typescript
let test: XOR
`

ts-xor can easily handle up to 200 generic params. 💯

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Using XOR we can type a function that returns either the data requested from an API or a response object like so:

`ts
type FetchResult

= XOR<
{ data: P },
{ error: FetchError

},
>
`

Now TypeScript has all the necessary information to infer if the FetchResult contains a data or error key _at compile time_ which results in very clean, yet strictly typed, handling code.

!data or error intellisense demo

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Let's assume that we have the following spec for a weather forecast API's response:

1. A weather forecast object _always_ contains the id _and_ station members
2. A weather forecast object _always_ contains either a member rain _or_ a member snow, but _never_ both at the same time.
3. The rain, snow members are objects containing additional forecast accuracy data
4. The rain, snow members _always_ contain either a member 1h or a member 3h with a number value, but _never_ both keys at the same time.

`typescript
type ForecastAccuracy = XOR<{ '1h': number }, { '3h': number }>

interface WeatherForecastBase {
id: number
station: string
}

interface WeatherForecastWithRain extends WeatherForecastBase {
rain: ForecastAccuracy
}

interface WeatherForecastWithSnow extends WeatherForecastBase {
snow: ForecastAccuracy
}

type WeatherForecast = XOR

const test: WeatherForecast = {
id: 1,
station: 'Acropolis',
// rain: { '1h': 1 }, // OK
// rain: { '2h': 1 }, // error
// rain: { '3h': 1 }, // OK
// rain: {}, // error
// rain: { '1h': 1 , '3h': 3 }, // error
// lel: { '3h': 1 }, // error
// rain: { '3h': 1, lel: 1 }, // error
// snow: { '3h': 1 }, // OK
// error when BOTH rain AND snow keys are defined at the same time
}
`

Tests and coverage

The library ts-xor is fully covered with smoke, acceptance and mutation tests against the typescript compiler itself. The tests can be found inside the test folder.

To run all tests locally, execute the following command inside your git-cloned ts-xor folder:

`sh
npm run test
`

NPM

This library is published on NPM.

Licence

Distributed under the MIT license. See LICENSE.md for more information.

Contributing

This project's commits comply with the Conventional Commits guidelines.

1. Fork it ()
2. Create your feature/fix branch (git checkout -b feat/foobar)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'feat(foobar): add support for foobar tricks')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feat/fooBar`)
5. Create a new Pull Request