I am trying to find an elegant way of assigning keys to symbols without having to do something like the following.
let [<Literal>] North = ConsoleKey.UpArrow // etc.
I'd rather do something like this, using only one attribute. Is there any way I can do that?
[<Literal>]
type Direction =
| North of ConsoleKey.UpArrow
| East of ConsoleKey.RightArrow
| South of ConsoleKey.DownArrow
| West of ConsoleKey.LeftArrow
Assuming your aim is to use these in a pattern match, here is one way to do it:
// Use a type alias to shorten the name for ConsoleKey
type Key = ConsoleKey
// Create a general purpose active pattern that simply tests for equality
let (|Is|_|) a b = if a = b then Some () else None
// This is how you would use it
let describeMovement key =
match key with
| Is Key.UpArrow -> "up"
| Is Key.RightArrow -> "right"
| Is Key.DownArrow -> "down"
| Is Key.LeftArrow -> "left"
| _ -> "invalid"
Related
type GenericResult =
| Ok
| Error of string
type LoginResult =
| Ok
| UserNotFound
| WrongPassword
let check something:GenericResult =
match something with
//| true -> Ok // error:This expression was expected to be of type "GenericREsult" but here has type "LoginResult"
| true -> GenericResult.Ok // I'm forced to specify GenericResult.Ok
| false -> Error "aargg!"
let checkLogin something:LoginResult =
match something with
| true -> Ok // here I don't need to specify the DU because this is defined after
| _ -> WrongPassword
I'd like to use just "Ok" in both the methods, without the need to specify the DU.
I see that in case of clashing of the value the last one is the "predefined".
Ideally I'd like to have a sort of inheritance
to reuse part of a DU in another DU.
For example:
type GenericResult =
| Ok
| Error of string
type LoginResult =
//| GenericResult.Ok
| UserNotFound
| WrongPassword
type SaveResult =
| Created
| Updated
//| GenericResult.Error
let checkLogin something: LoginResult | GenericResult.Ok =
match something with
| true -> Ok
| _ -> WrongPassword
[EDIT]
The real scenario where I feel the need for this feature is this with 3 different results from 3 different logic classes.
There will be in the future more cases so the multiplication of duplicated DU values will increase.
// DUs ordered from the most specific to the most generic
type BalanceUpdateResult =
| Created
| Updated
| InvalidRequest of string
type DeleteResult =
| Ok
| InvalidRequest of string
type Result<'T> =
| Ok of 'T
| NotValid of string
| Error of string
The goal is to have a clean match syntax in the consumer, where the value of the DU will evenctually be used to raise an exception or to return the created value, for example.
// balance update function (result is BalanceUpdateResult):
match result with
| Created -> this.createOkWithStatus 201
| Updated -> this.createOkWithStatus 200
| InvalidRequest error -> this.createErrorForConflict error
// company creation function (result is Result<Company>):
match result with
| Result.Ok newItem ->
context.Logger.Log $"Company created. New Id:{newItem.Id}, Name:{newItem.Name}."
this.createCreated newItem
| NotValid error -> base.createErrorForConflict error
| Error error -> base.createError error
Here, for example, InvalidRequest is not accepted in the second case because it belongs to the wrong DU.
Having to specify the DU everywhere results in a mess like the following example (see the many Result<_>.):
interface ICompanyLogic with
member this.Create(company:Company):Result<Company> =
match normalize company |> validate with
| NotValid msg -> Result<_>.NotValid msg
| Valid validCompany ->
match companyRepository.Exists(validCompany.Name) with
| true -> Result<_>.NotValid($"A company with name \"{validCompany.Name}\" already exists.")
| _ ->
let newCompany = assignNewId validCompany
companyRepository.Create(newCompany)
Result<_>.Ok(newCompany)
member this.Update (company:Company):Result<Company> =
let checkNameExists company =
match companyRepository.GetByName company.Name with
| Some c when c.Id <> company.Id -> NotValid $"A company with name \"{company.Name}\" already exists."
| _ -> Valid company
match normalize company |> validate with
| NotValid msg -> Result<_>.NotValid msg
| Valid c -> match checkNameExists c with
| Valid c -> companyRepository.Update c; Result<_>.Ok c
| NotValid msg -> Result<_>.NotValid msg
I think the best way to achieve what you are trying to do would be to start with a generic Result type that has a type parameter representing the error type:
type Result<'TError> =
| Ok
| Error of 'TError
This allows you to use different types for representing errors, including string, but also another DU to capture more specific error types. You can then define GenericResult and LoginResult as two type aliases:
type LoginError =
| UserNotFound
| WrongPassword
type GenericResult = Result<string>
type LoginResult = Result<LoginError>
To report a login error, you would now use Error WrongPassword to wrap the specific error in the generic Error constructor. The implementation of your two functions looks as follows:
let check something:GenericResult =
match something with
| true -> Ok
| false -> Error "aargg!"
let checkLogin something:LoginResult =
match something with
| true -> Ok
| _ -> Error WrongPassword
Unlike TypeScript union type, F# DU are meant to be composed and not extensible - see Thomas answer for a solution using this approach.
Since F# does not offer a direct solution, you may consider renaming cases like InvalidRequest in order to be more specific and to help differentiate them when reading the code. With these specific names, you can also merge all result types into a big Event DU like what's usually done in an event sourced system:
type Event =
// BalanceUpdateResult
| BalanceCreated
| BalanceUpdated
| BalanceUpdateError of string
// DeleteResult
| DeleteOk
| DeleteError of string
// ...
Ok, as explained by Romain multiple DUs cannot solve my problem.
I decided to use the built-in type Result<'T,'TError>.
It allows me to avoid create many DUs that inevitably will have clash of names, forcing the use the full DU prefix in the code.
I solved the problem that drove me to create custom DUs with the inspiring example from Thomas reply.
(with Result<,>) I have the possibility to have dinstinct Errors or Oks.
(note the Result<unit,_> and the Result<BalanceUpdateRequest,_>)
type ICompanyLogic =
abstract member Create:Company -> Result<Company, string> // CreateResult
abstract member Update:Company -> Result<Company, string> // UpdateResult
abstract member Delete:string -> Result<unit,string> // DeleteResult
type BalanceUpdateResult =
| Created
| Updated
type IBalanceLogic =
abstract member CreateOrUpdate: request:BalanceUpdateRequest -> Result<BalanceUpdateResult, string>
Apart BalanceUpdateResult all the other DUs where replaced buy the Result<'T,'TError>.
I just maintained a couple one for specific tasks:
type CompanyValidation = Valid of Company | NotValid of string
type ValidateResult = Valid | NotValid of string
In the end with this solution:
I don't need to define many DUs
I can customize the Result... within as many values I want (storing a sub-DU in the Ok or Error union case)
I don't need to use prefix or use synonims to avoid clash (code result much cleaner)
I'm de-serializing some mappings from JSON and later on I need to pattern match based on a string field of the de-serialized types like this:
let mappings = getWorkItemMappings
let result =
workItemMappings
|> Seq.find (fun (m: WorkItemMapping) -> m.Uuid = workTime.workItemUuid)
match mapping.Name with
Even if I complete the pattern match for all cases I still get Incomplete pattern matches on this expression.. Which is obvious to me due to the string type of the Name field.
Is there a way tell the compiler which values for the Name field are available?.
I think I could create a union type for the possible mapping types and try to de-serialize the JSON to this union type but I would like to if there's another option.
If you are pattern matching on a string value, the compiler has no static guarantee that it will only have certain values, because it is always possible to construct a string of a different value. The fact that it comes from JSON does not help - you may always have an invalid JSON.
The best option is to add a default case which throws a custom descriptive exception. Either one that you handle somewhere else (to indicate that the JSON file was invalid) or (if you check the validity elsewhere) something like this:
let parseFood f =
match f with
| "burger" -> 1
| "pizza" -> 2
| _ -> raise(invalidArg "f" $"Expected burger or pizza but got {f}")
Note that the F# compiler is very cautious. It does not even let you handle enum values using pattern matching, because under the cover, there are ways of creating invalid enum values! For example:
type Foo =
| A = 1
let f (a:Foo) =
match a with
| Foo.A -> 0
warning FS0104: Enums may take values outside known cases. For example, the value 'enum (0)' may indicate a case not covered by the pattern(s).
Very hard to understand what you're asking. Maybe this snippet can be of help. It demos how literal string constants can be used in pattern matching, and reused in functions. This gives some added safety and readability when adding and removing cases. If you prefer not to serialize a DU directly, then perhaps this is useful as part of the solution.
type MyDu =
| A
| B
| C
let [<Literal>] A' = "A"
let [<Literal>] B' = "B"
let [<Literal>] C' = "C"
let strToMyDuOption (s: string) =
match s with
| A' -> Some A
| B' -> Some B
| C'-> Some C
| _ -> None
let strToMyDu (s: string) =
match s with
| A' -> A
| B' -> B
| C'-> C
| s -> failwith $"MyDu case {s} is unknown."
let myDuToStr (x: MyDu) =
match x with
| A -> A'
| B -> B'
| C -> C'
// LINQPad
let dump x = x.Dump()
strToMyDuOption A' |> dump
strToMyDuOption "x" |> dump
myDuToStr A |> dump
I have a DU and I'm overriding the Equals method. Based on the current DU value, I would like to call the base equality method or my custom one. However, it's not letting me access "base". Any idea on how to work around this?
type Test =
| A of string
| B of int64
override this.Equals(other) =
let other' = other :?> Test
match other' with
| A str -> str = "a"
| B i -> base.Equals this other //how do I do this?
First, any F# discriminated union will have obj as base class, so just use obj.Equals.
Second, Equals is a .NET method, not an F# function, so its arguments must be given in a tupled form - i.e. Equals(x,y) instead of Equals x y.
Finally, if you implement a custom Equals, you also need to add [<CustomEquality; NoComparison>]
So:
[<CustomEquality; NoComparison>]
type Test =
| A of string
| B of int64
override this.Equals(other) =
let other' = other :?> Test
match other' with
| A str -> str = "a"
| B i -> obj.Equals(this, other)
Suppose I have this type:
type T = int option
and an observable of that type:
let o : IObservable<T> = // create the observable
I'm looking for a better way to express this:
o.Where(function | None -> false | Some t -> true)
.Select(function | Some t -> t)
An observable that only propagates the Some case.
There are several things that I don't like.
I'm using 2 operators
I'm pattern matching twice
The second pattern matching isn't exhaustive (makes visual studio show a warning and feels odd)
Too much code. The pattern repeats every time I need pattern matching.
Can't you use Observable.choose ? something like this :
let o1 : IObservable<int option> = // ...
let o2 = Observable.choose id o1
If you have a type that is not an option, say:
type TwoSubcases<'a,'b> = | Case1 of 'a | Case2 of 'b
and a partial active pattern:
let (|SecondCase|_|) = function
| Case1 _ -> None
| Case2 b -> Some b
then you can do:
let o1 : IObservable<TwoSubcases<int, float>> = // ...
let o2 : IObservable<float> = Observable.choose (|SecondCase|_|) o1
Thanks to #Lee I came up with a nice solution.
o.SelectMany(function | None -> Observable.Empty() | Some t -> Observable.Return t)
This works for any union type, not only Option.
In F#, given
type MyType = A | B | C | D | E | F | G
How do I randomly define an instance of MyType?
This ought to work:
let randInst<'t>() =
let cases = Reflection.FSharpType.GetUnionCases(typeof<'t>)
let index = System.Random().Next(cases.Length)
let case = cases.[index]
Reflection.FSharpValue.MakeUnion(case, [||]) :?> 't
This code assumes that the union cases are all nullary and that the type you're using is actually a union type, but it would be easy to explicitly check those assumptions and throw meaningful exceptions if desired.
Select a random number, then pattern match that number with different branches returning a different instant?