Can a string be used to reference a type in Typescript?

Question

Can a string be used to reference a type in Typescript?

Consider this scenario: I have created a set of interfaces that define the entities within my system:

interface Company {
  name: string
}

interface Employee {
  firstName: string
  lastName: string
}

Now, what I am looking for is a universal function that can retrieve these entities based on the interface specified as a string.

const company = findOne('Company', 1)
const employee = findOne('Employee', 2)

My question is, is it feasible to introduce a dynamic return type in the findOne function? This way, when we use it like shown above, the compiler recognizes company and employee as instances of Company and Employee respectively?

typescript

Answer 1

Answer №1

To achieve this, consider implementing an interface map type and deducing the first argument:

interface Organization {
  name: string
}

interface Staff {
  firstName: string
  lastName: string
}

type InterfaceMap = {
  Organization: Organization,
  Staff: Staff,
}

function findSingle<Key extends keyof InterfaceMap>(key: Key, number: number): InterfaceMap[Key] {
  return null as any
}

const organization = findSingle('Organization', 1) //  Organization
const staffMember = findSingle('Staff', 2) //  Staff

Try it out

Answer 2

To achieve this, consider implementing an interface map type and deducing the first argument:

interface Organization {
  name: string
}

interface Staff {
  firstName: string
  lastName: string
}

type InterfaceMap = {
  Organization: Organization,
  Staff: Staff,
}

function findSingle<Key extends keyof InterfaceMap>(key: Key, number: number): InterfaceMap[Key] {
  return null as any
}

const organization = findSingle('Organization', 1) //  Organization
const staffMember = findSingle('Staff', 2) //  Staff

Try it out

Can a string be used to reference a type in Typescript?

Answer №1

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