# handy-types
> A collection of small utility functions to check variable types
Latest version **2.1.0** (published 2023-12-15) · MIT license · 0 weekly downloads
## Install
```sh
npm install handy-types
pnpm add handy-types
yarn add handy-types
bun add handy-types
```
## Health
**Score 25/100 (F)** — status: abandoned.
Positive: has types; no vulnerabilities; high quality score.
Warnings: low downloads; no esm support.
Negative: abandoned; low maintenance score.
## Facts
| | |
|---|---|
| Version | 2.1.0 |
| Published | 2023-12-15 |
| First published | 2021-10-08 |
| Weekly downloads | 0 |
| License | MIT |
| TypeScript types | bundled |
| Module format | CommonJS |
| Dependencies | 0 |
| Unpacked size | 31.4 KB |
| Known vulnerabilities | 0 |
| Install scripts | no |
| GitHub stars | 3 |
| Author | Sifat Hossain |
| Maintainers | h_sifat |
| Keywords | types, validator, type-checker, type alias |
## Links
- npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/handy-types
- Repository: https://github.com/h-sifat/handy-types
- Homepage: https://github.com/h-sifat/handy-types#readme
- Issues: https://github.com/h-sifat/handy-types/issues
- npm.io page: https://npm.io/package/handy-types
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## Recent versions
- 2.1.0 (latest) — 2023-12-15
- 2.0.0 — 2022-08-22
- 1.4.0 — 2021-11-11
- 1.3.0 — 2021-11-08
- 1.2.0 — 2021-10-30
- 1.1.0 — 2021-10-11
- 1.0.1 — 2021-10-08
- 1.0.0 — 2021-10-08
## README
# Handy-Types
A simple and lite weight validation library to reduce boilerplate in your
JavaScript / TypeScript validation code.
It consists of many utility type predicate functions like `"integer"`,
`"positive_integer"`, `"non_empty_string"`, `"plain_object"` and so on. Still
not impressed? How about `"string[]"` to represent a string array or
`"non_empty_string | non_empty_string[]"` to represent a non empty string or an
array of non empty string(s)? TypeScript type annotation is also supported. The
library is fully tested and has **100%** test coverage.
## Importing
The library uses **UMD** module system so it's compatible with all JavaScript
module systems.
### JavaScript / TypeScript
```js
// es modules
import { is, assert, cache, handyTypes, typeNames } from "handy-types";
// commonjs modules
const { is, assert, cache, handyTypes, typeNames } = require("handy-types");
```
### In HTML with the `
```
## Usages
This library exposes the following 5 entities
1. **handyTypes:** An object containing all the type predicate functions. For
example, `handyTypes.positive_integer(2); // true`.
1. **typeNames:** An object containing all the names of predicate functions of
`handyTypes`.
For example: `typeNames["positive_integer"]; // "Positive Integer"`.
It may be used to generate meaningful error messages.
1. **is:** a predicate function that uses all the functions in `handyTypes`
object to validate data. For example, `is("string", "a string"); // true`. It
has a `cache` method with the same function signature as itself. The
`it.cache()` method can be used to cache parsed schemas to improve
performance.
1. **assert:** a utility function similar to `is` but used for making
assertions. It also has a `cache` method similar to `is`.
1. **cache:** An object used to manage schema caches of `is.cache()` and
`assert.cache()` functions.
### Type schema syntax
A type schema is a string passed into the `is` and `assert` function to
represent a type. There are three types of type schema:
1. **Basic:** Just a simple handy type name such as `"string"`,
`"non_empty_array"` etc.
1. **Array:** If we add the `"[]"` suffix after any handy type name it
represents an array of that type. So `"string[]"` would represent and array
of string.
1. **Union:** We can combine two or more type schema with a pipe `"|"` character
to represent an union. For example, `"string | string[]"` to represent a
string or an array of string(s).
## Usages of `is()`
The `is` predicate function has the following signature.
```ts
interface Is {
(schema: string, value: unknown): value is Type;
cache(schema: string, value: unknown): value is Type;
}
```
The reason it's a generic function with a type parameter named `Type` is to
support typescript type annotation. For example:
#### TypeScript Example
```ts
let value: unknown;
if (is("non_empty_string | non_empty_string[]", value)) {
value; // let value: string | string[]
}
```
In the if block the type of `value` variable is `string | string[]`. We've to
pass the type of value (`string | string[]`) manually because it's not possible
to process an union schema with TypeScript to determine it's actual type.
But if this seems a little bit of extra work to you then you can use the basic
type predicate functions directly from the `handyTypes` object . For
example:
```ts
let value: unknown;
if (handyTypes.integer(value)) {
value; // let value: number
}
```
Here in the if block the type of `value` variable will be set to
`number` automatically. But the downsides of this approach are:
1. We can't use array or union type schemas
2. `handyTypes.integer(value)` doesn't seem intuitive because most of the time
a predicate function starts with the word **is** as a convention.
#### JavaScript Example
For JavaScript just remove the generic type argument.
```js
const hobbies = "programming";
if (is("non_empty_string | non_empty_string[]", hobbies)) {
hobbies;
// so `hobbies` is either a non_empty_string or a
// non_empty_string array
}
```
### Usages of `is.cache()`
Use the `is.cache()` function instead of `is` for **array** and **union**
schemas to improve performance. It will parse and cache the schema so that it
doesn't have to waste time parsing the same schema again and again.
#### TypeScript Example
```ts
if (is.cache("string | string[]", value)) {
value; // here value is of type: string | string[]
}
```
#### JavaScript Example
```ts
if (is.cache("string | string[]", value)) {
value; // here value is of type: string | string[]
}
```
## Usages of `assert`
We can use the `assert` function to make assertions. It has the following
function signature:
```ts
interface Assert {
(
schema: string,
value: unknown,
errorInfo?: ErrorInformation
): asserts value is Type;
cache(
schema: string,
value: unknown,
errorInfo?: ErrorInformation
): asserts value is Type;
}
```
Here `ErrorInformation` refers to the interface below.
```ts
interface ErrorInformation {
name?: string;
message?: string;
code?: string | number;
otherInfo?: object;
}
```
Just like the `is` function it takes a type schema and the variable we're making
assertion on as it's first and second arguments respectively. Then we can
provide more information in the `errorInfo` object to customize the error
object.
Examples:
```ts
let value: unknown;
assert("integer", value);
// throws error: `Value must be of type Integer`
assert("integer", value, {
name: "Age",
code: "INVALID_AGE",
});
// throws error: `Age must be of type Integer`, with code: "INVALID_AGE"
// Use custom message instead of generating one
assert("non_empty_string", value, {
message: "Invalid path",
otherInfo: {
path: value,
errorId: -3,
},
});
// throws error: `Invalid path` , path: undefined, errorId: -3
```
### Usages of `assert.cache()`
It serves the same purpose as `is.cache()`, it caches parsed schemas.
```ts
assert.cache(
"non_empty_string | non_empty_string[]",
value,
{ name: "hobbies" }
); // use caching for improved performance
```
## Usages of the `cache` object
The `cache` object can be used to manage schema caches. It has the following
interface.
```ts
Readonly<{
readonly size: number;
has(schema: string): boolean;
delete(schema: string): boolean;
clear(): void;
}>;
```
Examples:
```ts
console.log(cache.size); // 0
const schema = "integer | integer[]";
is.cache(schema, 23);
console.log(cache.size); // 1
console.log(cache.has(schema)); // true
// use the delete method to delete a specific schema cache
cache.delete(schema); // true
console.log(cache.size); // 0
// clear all caches
cache.clear();
```
## All handy types
Below are the lists of all the type predicates available in the `handyTypes`
object.
### Base Types
| Type Name | Full Name | Implementation |
| ----------- | ----------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| boolean | Boolean | `typeof value === "boolean"` |
| symbol | Symbol | `typeof value === "symbol"` |
| string | String | `typeof value === "string"` |
| object | Object | `typeof value === "object"` |
| big_integer | Big Integer | `typeof value === "bigint"` |
| function | Function | `typeof value === "function"` |
| undefined | Undefined | `typeof value === "undefined"` |
| **number** | Number | `typeof value === "number" && !Number.isNaN(value)` |
**Note:** The type `number` is not just `typeof value === "number"`!
### Number Types
| Type Name | Full Name | Implementation |
| ------------------- | ------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| finite_number | Finite Number | `Number.isFinite(n)` |
| positive_number | Positive Number | `handyTypes.number(n) && n > 0` |
| non_negative_number | Non Negative Number | `handyTypes.number(n) && n >= 0` |
| negative_number | Negative Number | `handyTypes.number(n) && n < 0` |
| non_positive_number | Non Positive Number | `handyTypes.number(n) && n <= 0` |
### Integer Types
| Type Name | Full Name | Implementation |
| -------------------- | -------------------- | ------------------------------- |
| integer | Integer | `Number.isInteger(i)` |
| safe_integer | Safe Integer | `Number.isSafeInteger(i)` |
| positive_integer | Positive Integer | `Number.isInteger(i) && i > 0` |
| non_negative_integer | Non Negative Integer | `Number.isInteger(i) && i >= 0` |
| negative_integer | Negative Integer | `Number.isInteger(i) && i < 0` |
| non_positive_integer | Non Positive Integer | `Number.isInteger(i) && i <= 0` |
### Bytewise Integer Types
| Type Name | Full Name | Range |
| ---------------------- | ----------------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| 8bit_integer | 8 Bit Integer | **-128** to **127** |
| 8bit_unsigned_integer | 8 Bit Unsigned Integer | **0** to **255** |
| 16bit_integer | 16 Bit Integer | **-32,768** to **32,767** |
| 16bit_unsigned_integer | 16 Bit Unsigned Integer | **0** to **65,535** |
| 32bit_integer | 32 Bit Integer | **-2,147,483,648** to **2,147,483,647** |
| 32bit_unsigned_integer | 32 Bit Unsigned Integer | **0** to **4,294,967,295** |
### Array Types
| Type Name | Full Name | Implementation |
| --------------- | --------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| array | Array | `Array.isArray(value)` |
| non_empty_array | Non-Empty Array | `Array.isArray(value) && value.length !== 0` |
### Object Types
| Type Name | Full Name | Implementation |
| --------------- | --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| non_null_object | Non-Null Object | `typeof value === "object" && value !== null` |
| plain_object | Plain Object | `typeof value === "object" && value !== null && !Array.isArray(value)` |
### String Types
| Type Name | Full Name | Implementation |
| ------------------------ | -------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| non_empty_string | Non-Empty String | `typeof value === "string" && value !== ""` |
| trimmed_non_empty_string | Non-Empty String (trimmed) | `typeof value === "string" && !!value.trim().length` |
### Other Types
| Type Name | Full Name | Implementation |
| ----------- | ------------ | ----------------------------------------- |
| nan | Not A Number | `Number.isNaN(value)` |
| any | Any | `true` // returns true for any value |
| nullish | Nullish | `value === null \|\| value === undefined` |
| non_nullish | Non-Nullish | `value !== null && value !== undefined` |
If you find any bug or want to improve something please feel free to open an
issue. Pull requests are also welcomed.
---
_Source: https://npm.io/package/handy-types · Machine-readable twin of the npm.io package page. Health data is recomputed on every publish._