LuaLS / LuaLS/lua-language-server

Nested Table Type Narrowing

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enhancement
Dominant language
Lua
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Forks
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PR merge metrics
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Description

It would be super nice to be able to get field suggestions when narrowing an indice of a nested table.

Currently this:

---@class TestClass
---@field test_group_a TestGroupA
---@field test_group_b TestGroupB

---@class TestGroupA : TestGroupCommon
---@field test_field_1 string
---@field test_field_2 string

---@class TestGroupB : TestGroupCommon
---@field test_field_1 string
---@field test_field_3 string

---@class TestGroupCommon
---@field test_field_common string

---@type TestClass
local test_class

---@type 'test_group_a' | 'test_group_b'
local test_group

local test1 = test_class[test_group].test_field_1


---------------------------------------

---@alias TestTable {test_group_a: {test_field_1: string, test_field_2: string}, test_group_b: {test_field_1: string, test_field_3: string}}

---@type TestTable
local test_table

---@type "test_group_a" | "test_group_b"
local test_table_group

local test2 = test_table[test_table_group].test_field_1

The inferred type for test1 and test2 are both unknown. It would be nice if for test1 and test2 the inferred type would be string (as test_field_1 is a string for both, if test_field_1 and test_field_2 differed the inferred the type should be test_field_1_type | test_field_2_type). It would also be nice if on local test1 = test_class[test_group]. there were field suggestions for test_field_1 and test_field_common which are on both TestGroupA and TestGroupB.

Note: to add this for classes would also require doing: https://github.com/LuaLS/lua-language-server/issues/2217

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the two Lua examples in the issue and inspect the language-server paths that handle indexed access, type narrowing, and field completion. Done means both examples infer string for test_field_1 and offer the fields shared by the possible nested table types, while accounting for the related class-narrowing issue 2217.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
lua
Domain
devtools
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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