How should TypeBox types be used with TS type predicates? about typebox

[sinclairzx81]

@nivekh Hi,

You can achieve this by using generic arguments on ValidateBody. I've added a couple of extra value function calls if you're interested. Additionally, I've updated Compile to Check (as this will be more performant than compiling each time)

import { Value } from '@sinclair/typebox/value'
import { Type, Static, TSchema } from '@sinclair/typebox'

function ValidateBody<T extends TSchema>(schema: T, body: unknown): body is Static<T> {
  // note: you can optionally process the value with additional value
  // operations. Default, Convert and Clean are very common.
  const defaulted = Value.Default(schema, body)
  const converted = Value.Convert(schema, defaulted)
  const cleaned = Value.Clean(schema, converted)

  // note: you should use Value.Check instead of compiling the schema
  // for each check. This will be more performant as compilation is
  // very expensive.
  return Value.Check(schema, cleaned)
}


const R = ValidateBody(Type.String(), null) // body is string

If you want to keep Compile, it's recommended to use a closure to hold onto the compiled schematics. The following updates the above to use the TypeCompiler + Function closure.

import { Value } from '@sinclair/typebox/value'
import { TypeCompiler } from '@sinclair/typebox/compiler'
import { Type, Static, TSchema } from '@sinclair/typebox'

function CompileSchema<T extends TSchema>(schema: T) {
  const check = TypeCompiler.Compile(schema)
  return (body: unknown): body is Static<T> => {
    const defaulted = Value.Default(schema, body)
    const converted = Value.Convert(schema, defaulted)
    const cleaned = Value.Clean(schema, converted)
    return check.Check(cleaned)
  }
}

const ValidateBody = CompileSchema(Type.String())

const R = ValidateBody(null) // (body: unknown) => body is string

Hope this helps
S

[nivekh]

I can't thank you enough for the detailed reply, that helps a ton! I came close to the generic setup you've demonstrated when I was experimenting, but I'm still learning new things about TypeScript, so I was kind of approaching it backwards, I think.

I actually had a caching setup for the compiled validators which I didn't include for clarity's sake, but I'll have to play around with Value.Check instead and see if it doesn't beat the comp-and-cache approach (as I imagine it might?)

Thanks again, you've been a huge help!