Create a new object from type parameter in generic class

Question

I'm trying to create a new object of a type parameter in my generic class. In my class View, I have 2 lists of objects of generic type passed as type parameters, but when I try to make new TGridView(), TypeScript says:

Could not find symbol 'TGridView

This is the code:

module AppFW {
    // Represents a view
    export class View<TFormView extends FormView, TGridView extends GridView> {
        // The list of forms 
        public Forms: { [idForm: string]: TFormView; } = {};

        // The list of grids
        public Grids: { [idForm: string]: TGridView; } = {};

        public AddForm(formElement: HTMLFormElement, dataModel: any, submitFunction?: (e: SubmitFormViewEvent) => boolean): FormView {
            var newForm: TFormView = new TFormView(formElement, dataModel, submitFunction);
            this.Forms[formElement.id] = newForm;
            return newForm;
        }

        public AddGrid(element: HTMLDivElement, gridOptions: any): GridView {
            var newGrid: TGridView = new TGridView(element, gridOptions);
            this.Grids[element.id] = newGrid;
            return newGrid;
        }
    }
}

Can I create objects from a generic type?

Answer 1

To create a new object within generic code, you need to refer to the type by its constructor function. So instead of writing this:

function activatorNotWorking<T extends IActivatable>(type: T): T {
    return new T(); // compile error could not find symbol T
}

You need to write this:

function activator<T extends IActivatable>(type: { new(): T ;} ): T {
    return new type();
}

var classA: ClassA = activator(ClassA);

See this question: Generic Type Inference with Class Argument

Answer 2

Because the compiled JavaScript has all the type information erased, you can't use T to new up an object.

You can do this in a non-generic way by passing the type into the constructor.

class TestOne {
    hi() {
        alert('Hi');
    }
}

class TestTwo {
    constructor(private testType) {

    }
    getNew() {
        return new this.testType();
    }
}

var test = new TestTwo(TestOne);

var example = test.getNew();
example.hi();

You could extend this example using generics to tighten up the types:

class TestBase {
    hi() {
        alert('Hi from base');
    }
}

class TestSub extends TestBase {
    hi() {
        alert('Hi from sub');
    }
}

class TestTwo<T extends TestBase> {
    constructor(private testType: new () => T) {
    }

    getNew() : T {
        return new this.testType();
    }
}

//var test = new TestTwo<TestBase>(TestBase);
var test = new TestTwo<TestSub>(TestSub);

var example = test.getNew();
example.hi();

Answer 3

All type information is erased in JavaScript side and therefore you can't new up T just like @Sohnee states, but I would prefer having typed parameter passed in to constructor:

class A {
}

class B<T> {
    Prop: T;
    constructor(TCreator: { new (): T; }) {
        this.Prop = new TCreator();
    }
}

var test = new B<A>(A);

Answer 4

I know late but @TadasPa's answer can be adjusted a little by using

TCreator: new() => T

instead of

TCreator: { new (): T; }

so the result should look like this

class A {
}

class B<T> {
    Prop: T;
    constructor(TCreator: new() => T) {
        this.Prop = new TCreator();
    }
}

var test = new B<A>(A);

Answer 5

export abstract class formBase<T> extends baseClass {

  protected item = {} as T;
}

Its object will be able to receive any parameter, however, type T is only a typescript reference and can not be created through a constructor. That is, it will not create any class objects.

Answer 6

I was trying to instantiate the generic from within a base class. None of the above examples worked for me as they required a concrete type in order to call the factory method.

After researching for awhile on this and unable to find a solution online, I discovered that this appears to work.

 protected activeRow: T = {} as T;

The pieces:

 activeRow: T = {} <-- activeRow now equals a new object...

...

 as T; <-- As the type I specified. 

All together

 export abstract class GridRowEditDialogBase<T extends DataRow> extends DialogBase{ 
      protected activeRow: T = {} as T;
 }

That said, if you need an actual instance you should use:

export function getInstance<T extends Object>(type: (new (...args: any[]) => T), ...args: any[]): T {
      return new type(...args);
}


export class Foo {
  bar() {
    console.log("Hello World")
  }
}
getInstance(Foo).bar();

If you have arguments, you can use.

export class Foo2 {
  constructor(public arg1: string, public arg2: number) {

  }

  bar() {
    console.log(this.arg1);
    console.log(this.arg2);
  }
}
getInstance(Foo, "Hello World", 2).bar();

Answer 7

I'm adding this by request, not because I think it directly solves the question. My solution involves a table component for displaying tables from my SQL database:

export class TableComponent<T> {

    public Data: T[] = [];

    public constructor(
        protected type: new (value: Partial<T>) => T
    ) { }

    protected insertRow(value: Partial<T>): void {
        let row: T = new this.type(value);
        this.Data.push(row);
    }
}

To put this to use, assume I have a view (or table) in my database VW_MyData and I want to hit the constructor of my VW_MyData class for every entry returned from a query:

export class MyDataComponent extends TableComponent<VW_MyData> {

    public constructor(protected service: DataService) {
        super(VW_MyData);
        this.query();
    }

    protected query(): void {
        this.service.post(...).subscribe((json: VW_MyData[]) => {
            for (let item of json) {
                this.insertRow(item);
            }
        }
    }
}

The reason this is desirable over simply assigning the returned value to Data, is say I have some code that applies a transformation to some column of VW_MyData in its constructor:

export class VW_MyData {
    
    public RawColumn: string;
    public TransformedColumn: string;


    public constructor(init?: Partial<VW_MyData>) {
        Object.assign(this, init);
        this.TransformedColumn = this.transform(this.RawColumn);
    }

    protected transform(input: string): string {
        return `Transformation of ${input}!`;
    }
}

This allows me to perform transformations, validations, and whatever else on all my data coming in to TypeScript. Hopefully it provides some insight for someone.

Answer 8

This is what I do to retain type info:

class Helper {
   public static createRaw<T>(TCreator: { new (): T; }, data: any): T
   {
     return Object.assign(new TCreator(), data);
   }
   public static create<T>(TCreator: { new (): T; }, data: T): T
   {
      return this.createRaw(TCreator, data);
   }
}

...

it('create helper', () => {
    class A {
        public data: string;
    }
    class B {
        public data: string;
        public getData(): string {
            return this.data;
        }
    }
    var str = "foobar";

    var a1 = Helper.create<A>(A, {data: str});
    expect(a1 instanceof A).toBeTruthy();
    expect(a1.data).toBe(str);

    var a2 = Helper.create(A, {data: str});
    expect(a2 instanceof A).toBeTruthy();
    expect(a2.data).toBe(str);

    var b1 = Helper.createRaw(B, {data: str});
    expect(b1 instanceof B).toBeTruthy();
    expect(b1.data).toBe(str);
    expect(b1.getData()).toBe(str);

});

Answer 9

Not quite answering the question, but, there is a nice library for those kind of problems: https://github.com/typestack/class-transformer (although it won't work for generic types, as they don't really exists at run-time (here all work is done with class names (which are classes constructors)))

For instance:

import {Type, plainToClass, deserialize} from "class-transformer";

export class Foo
{
    @Type(Bar)
    public nestedClass: Bar;

    public someVar: string;

    public someMethod(): string
    {
        return this.nestedClass.someVar + this.someVar;
    }
}

export class Bar
{
    public someVar: string;
}

const json = '{"someVar": "a", "nestedClass": {"someVar": "B"}}';
const optionA = plainToClass(Foo, JSON.parse(json));
const optionB = deserialize(Foo, json);

optionA.someMethod(); // works
optionB.someMethod(); // works

Answer 10

I'm late for the party but this is the way I got it working. For arrays we need do some tricks:

   public clone<T>(sourceObj: T): T {
      var cloneObj: T = {} as T;
      for (var key in sourceObj) {
         if (sourceObj[key] instanceof Array) {
            if (sourceObj[key]) {
               // create an empty value first
               let str: string = '{"' + key + '" : ""}';
               Object.assign(cloneObj, JSON.parse(str))
               // update with the real value
               cloneObj[key] = sourceObj[key];
            } else {
               Object.assign(cloneObj, [])
            }
         } else if (typeof sourceObj[key] === "object") {
            cloneObj[key] = this.clone(sourceObj[key]);
         } else {
            if (cloneObj.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
               cloneObj[key] = sourceObj[key];
            } else { // insert the property
               // need create a JSON to use the 'key' as its value
               let str: string = '{"' + key + '" : "' + sourceObj[key] + '"}';
               // insert the new field
               Object.assign(cloneObj, JSON.parse(str))
            }
         }
      }
      return cloneObj;
   }

Use it like this:

  let newObj: SomeClass = clone<SomeClass>(someClassObj);

It can be improved but worked for my needs!

Answer 11

i use this: let instance = <T>{}; it generally works EDIT 1:

export class EntityCollection<T extends { id: number }>{
  mutable: EditableEntity<T>[] = [];
  immutable: T[] = [];
  edit(index: number) {
    this.mutable[index].entity = Object.assign(<T>{}, this.immutable[index]);
  }
}

Answer 12

Here is example if you need parameters in constructor:

class Sample {
    public innerField: string;

    constructor(data: Partial<Sample>) {
        this.innerField = data.innerField;
    }
}

export class GenericWithParams<TType> {
    public innerItem: TType;

    constructor(data: Partial<GenericWithParams<TType>>, private typePrototype: new (i: Partial<TType>) => TType) {
        this.innerItem = this.factoryMethodOnModel(data.innerItem);
    }

    private factoryMethodOnModel = (item: Partial<TType>): TType => {
        return new this.typePrototype(item);
    };
}

const instance = new GenericWithParams<Sample>({ innerItem : { innerField: 'test' }}, Sample);