Best practices for utilizing dotenv / .env to pass parameters in typescript

Question

Best practices for utilizing dotenv / .env to pass parameters in typescript

I am currently working on a typescript application in VS Code and have moved sensitive information to a .env file:

# .env file
NAME='foobar'

Within my main app, which utilizes the .env file, I have included the dotenv npm package. Additionally, I am attempting to pass an environment variable as a parameter to a function in another file.

App.ts

import {
    printName
} from "./printStuff"
import * as dotenv from 'dotenv'
dotenv.config()

await printName(process.env.NAME)

printStuff.ts

export async function printName(name: string){
    console.log(name)
}

An issue arises at this point, as there are red squiggly lines under process.env.NAME in the app.ts file

string | undefined
Argument of type 'string | undefined' is not assignable to parameter of type     'string'.
  Type 'undefined' is not assignable to type 'string'.ts(2345)

To address this, I have used

    await printName(process.env.NAME || '')

However, I feel like there may be a better way to handle this. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, especially since I am new to Typescript.

typescript parameters dotenv .env

Answer 1

Answer №1

Employing the non-null assertion operator:

await displayName(process.env.USERNAME!); // valid

Remember though, this is solely a declaration for TypeScript to acknowledge that it's not null. There's still a possibility of it being null during runtime if the environment variable is not set, leading to potential complications.

Answer 2

Employing the non-null assertion operator:

await displayName(process.env.USERNAME!); // valid

Remember though, this is solely a declaration for TypeScript to acknowledge that it's not null. There's still a possibility of it being null during runtime if the environment variable is not set, leading to potential complications.

Answer 3

Answer №2

It is important to consider that any environment variable passed in could potentially be undefined. This means you must ensure in your code that it exists before passing it to the printName function or make it optional within the function itself.

Here are a few possible approaches:

// Assign value of process.env.NAME to name
const name = process.env.NAME

// Check if name exists before using it
if (name) {
   printName(name)
} else {
   // Implement error handling for when name does not exist
}

// Alternatively, handle errors if name is undefined
if (!name) {
   // Implement error handling for when name does not exist
}
printName(name)

// Make name optional in the printName function, but be cautious as it may lead to issues 
// if not handled properly in other parts of the code
export async function printName(name?: string){
    console.log(name)
}

Answer 4

It is important to consider that any environment variable passed in could potentially be undefined. This means you must ensure in your code that it exists before passing it to the printName function or make it optional within the function itself.

Here are a few possible approaches:

// Assign value of process.env.NAME to name
const name = process.env.NAME

// Check if name exists before using it
if (name) {
   printName(name)
} else {
   // Implement error handling for when name does not exist
}

// Alternatively, handle errors if name is undefined
if (!name) {
   // Implement error handling for when name does not exist
}
printName(name)

// Make name optional in the printName function, but be cautious as it may lead to issues 
// if not handled properly in other parts of the code
export async function printName(name?: string){
    console.log(name)
}

Best practices for utilizing dotenv / .env to pass parameters in typescript

Answer №1

Answer №2

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