Data Mapping with TypeScript

Data Types Mapping

Simple Types

The following code snippet may illustrate the mapping between .NET simple types and TypeScript types.

        static readonly Dictionary<string, string> typeMap = new Dictionary<string, string>()
        {
            {typeof(int).FullName, "number"},
            {typeof(uint).FullName, "number"},
            {typeof(long).FullName, "number"},
            {typeof(ulong).FullName, "number"},
            {typeof(short).FullName, "number"},
            {typeof(ushort).FullName, "number"},
            {typeof(float).FullName, "number"},
            {typeof(double).FullName, "number"},
            {typeof(decimal).FullName, "number"},
            {typeof(byte).FullName, "number"},
            {typeof(sbyte).FullName, "number"},
            {typeof(string).FullName, "string"},
            {typeof(char).FullName, "string"},
            {typeof(Guid).FullName, "string"},
            {typeof(bool).FullName, "boolean"},
            {typeof(void).FullName, "void"},
            {typeof(object).FullName, "any"},
            {typeof(DateTime).FullName, "Date"},
            {typeof(DateTimeOffset).FullName, "Date"},
            //TimeSpan is not so supported in Javascript
        };

Array

In addition to CLR array, the types illustrated in the following code snippet are translated into TypeScript array.

        static readonly System.Collections.Generic.HashSet<string> arrayTypeNames = new System.Collections.Generic.HashSet<string>(
        new string[]() {
            typeof(IEnumerable<>).FullName,
            typeof(IList<>).FullName,
            typeof(ICollection<>).FullName,
            typeof(IQueryable<>).FullName,
            typeof(IReadOnlyList<>).FullName,
            typeof(List<>).FullName,
            typeof(System.Collections.ObjectModel.Collection<>).FullName,
            typeof(IReadOnlyCollection<>).FullName
       }
       );

Hints:

Since Javascript supports only single dimensional array, this article "Tricky Array" may help you to deal with multidimensional array.

Dictionary and KeyValuePair

A dictionary is based on a hash table available only at run time, and it is generally impossible to transport a hash table over wire. However, common practices are to transport the key / value pairs in a list, and it is up to the client programs to decide whether to reassemble the list into a dictionary, or just use the list through indexer.

.NET Client API

IDictionary<K,V> and Dictionary<K,V> are translated into Dictionary<ClientK, ClientV>.

Remarks:

Such transportation and transformation are done by Newtonsoft.JSON which can reassemble the key / value pairs into a dictionary.

TypeScript Client API

IDictionary<K,V> and Dictionary<K,V> are translated into an indexer like

{[id: string]: DemoWebApi_DemoData_Client.Person }

KeyValuePair<K, V> is translated into a structure like

{Key: string, Value: DemoWebApi_DemoData_Client.Person }

Remarks:

In Javascript, the key of an indexer must be string.

Nullable or Required

By default, all members generated in a TypeScript interface are optional, unless the members in the .NET classes are decorated with one of the following:

[DataMember(IsRequired =true)]
...
[JsonProperty(Required = Required.Always)]
...
[Required]
...