Can I tell the interface to default the properties I don't supply to null? What would let me do this

No. You cannot provide default values for interfaces or type aliases as they are compile time only and default values need runtime support

Alternative

But values that are not specified default to undefined in JavaScript runtimes. So you can mark them as optional:

interface IX {
  a: string,
  b?: any,
  c?: AnotherType
}

And now when you create it you only need to provide a:

let x: IX = {
    a: 'abc'
};

You can provide the values as needed:

x.a = 'xyz'
x.b = 123
x.c = new AnotherType()
Answer from basarat on Stack Overflow
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/typescript › how do i pass a default value if object is undefined
r/typescript on Reddit: how do I pass a default value if object is undefined
March 30, 2022 -

I have a class like this but I want to initialize a default value for Id and email when there is no data. How do I do that? As you see, I want to set the default value if I pass new Recipient ()

const user = this.options.find(x=>x.id == 1);

return user? new Recipient (id:user.id, email:user.email): new Recipient ();

export class Recipient {
    id: number;
    email?: string;
    constructor(data?: Partial<Recipient>) {
        Object.assign(this, data);
    }
}

=======================Update======================

eventually I chose one of two options

export class Recipient {
    id: number;
    email?: string;
    constructor(data?: Partial<Recipient>) {
        this.id = data?.id || 0;
        this.email = data?.email || null;
    }
}
export class Recipient {
    id: number;
    email?: string;
    constructor(data?: Partial<Recipient>) {
        Object.assign(this,{id:0, email :null}, data);
    }
}

Top answer
1 of 2
11
I don't really understand why you loosely Type something when the whol point of TS is to use strict typing. But assuming you have a genuine use case here you can assign defulat values when declaring properties inside the class. Like so export class Recipient { id: number = 1; email?: string = somedfault@email.com; } Here 1 will be assigned a default value to number and same goes for the email ass well. And if you pass in a value in the constructor during the instantiatio of the class that will override the id and the email. Do remeber to check and assign values in the constructor toneaxh of these properties else they will always default to the above values.👍
2 of 2
2
The Recipient type export class Recipient { id: number; email?: string; constructor(data?: Partial) { this.id = data?.id || 0; this.email = data?.email || null; } } allows to create the following combinations: id | email | 0 | undefined | 0 | null | number | undefined | number | null | number | string If any of those combinations are invalid in your domain, then it's a possible bug waiting to happen. Not to count, you need to handle both null and undefined. With strict enabled, two combinations are gone because this.email = data?.email || null; wouldn't compile . Then, you'd be left with something like: id | email | 0 | undefined | number | undefined | number | string Do they all make sense in your domain? Could you misuse any of them? I could imagine that a Recipient with id 0 represents one to save in the database: const saveRecipient = (recipient: Recipient) => // ... The issue is that you can now call saveRecipient with an id 0 and, if you forget to check what's the value of the id, the database would either raise an error or do something silly (eg, actually use id 0). Personally, I like to be really strict with types so that I don't have to remember to perform checks—the compiler reminds me: type PersistedRecipient = { id: number, email: string } type NewRecipient = { email: string } // or Omit const saveRecipient = (recipient: Recipient) => // ... Notice, I cannot call saveRecipient with a value of type PersistedRecipient.
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bobbyhadz.com › blog › typescript-interface-default-values
How to set up TypeScript interface Default values | bobbyhadz
February 26, 2024 - If you want to set the properties of an interface to have a default value of undefined, you can simply make the properties optional.
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TypeScript Tutorial
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TypeScript Default Parameters
June 2, 2020 - Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn about TypeScript default parameters. JavaScript supported default parameters since ES2015 (or ES6) with the following syntax: function name(parameter1=defaultValue1,...) { // do something }Code language: JavaScript (javascript) In this syntax, if you don’t pass arguments or pass the undefined into the function when calling it, the function will take the default initialized values for the omitted parameters.
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October 14, 2023 - In TypeScript, default values are used to assign a value to a variable or parameter if no value or undefined is provided.
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Documenting default interface values in typescript, or trying to... - DEV Community
May 9, 2022 - Surely the declaration file will point your numerous future library users to this class, and if they examine it with a careful eye, they will be able to determine the default values of your optional arguments. You hold your breath, run tsc, and open index.d.ts · interface PartialOptions { id: string excellence: number color?: string isAdmin?: boolean } export declare function addUser(options: PartialOptions): void export {}
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Defaulting Unspecified Interface Properties to Null in TypeScript - Ask a Question - TestMu AI Community
July 25, 2024 - I have the following TypeScript interface: interface IX { a: string; b: any; c: AnotherType; } I declare a variable of this type and initialize all the properties with default values: let x: IX = { a: 'abc', b: null, c: null }; Later, I assign actual values to these properties in an init function: x.a = 'xyz'; x.b = 123; x.c = new AnotherType(); I don’t like having to specify default null values for each property when declaring the object, especially since they will...
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TypeScript Interface Default Value | Learn the Syntax and Examples
April 18, 2023 - interface EDUCBA { courseName:string, courseDuration:number, courseCode:number, loginAccess: number, supplementaryCourse: string, greetings: ()=>string } var course1:EDUCBA = { courseName:"Data Science", courseDuration:22, courseCode: 22435, supplementaryCourse: "Data Analyst", loginAccess: 10, greetings: ():string =>{return "Heyoo!
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How To Set Up A TypeScript Interface Default Value? – Tim Mouskhelichvili
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TypeScript Interface Default Value | Gyata - Learn about AI, Education & Technology
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TypeScript optional, nullable, and default parameters
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When an optional parameter is not provided, its value is undefined. function greet(name?: string) { if (name === undefined) { console.log('Hello, stranger!'); } else { console.log(`Hello, ${name}!`); } } greet(); // Hello, stranger!
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This block tag is used to document the default value for a field or property, if a value is not assigned explicitly. This tag should only be used with fields or properties that are members of a TypeScript class or interface.
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February 28, 2024 - Use the nullish coalescing operator (??) to set a default value if null or undefined in TypeScript.
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How to Interface Default Value in TypeScript | Delft Stack
February 2, 2024 - TypeScript has a core principle of type checking that focuses on a value’s shape; sometimes, this is called duck typing or structural subtyping. Interfaces in TypeScript fill the role of defining contracts within the code and the code outside of the project. The following is how you define Interface in TypeScript. interface LabeledVal { label: string; } function printLabelTraces(labeledObject: LabeledVal) { console.log(labeledObject.label); } let myObject = { size: 10, label: "Size 10 Object" }; printLabelTraces(myObject);
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github.com › microsoft › TypeScript › issues › 54979
Interface Default Values · Issue #54979 · microsoft/TypeScript
July 12, 2023 - This feature would agree with the rest of TypeScript's Design Goals. ... The best syntax would be , This suggests x default value is "y" and when x value is not given "y" is used · export interface AccordionColors { x : string = "y" }
Author   wakaztahir
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