microsoft / microsoft/TypeScript

'Canvas#getContext' almost never returns 'null'

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Description

TypeScript Version: 2.5.3

Code:

let canvas: HTMLCanvasElement = document.createElement("canvas");
let ctx: CanvasRenderingContext2D = canvas.getContext("2d");
ctx.fillRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);

Expected behavior:
No errors should occur because the type of canvas is HTMLCanvasElement.

Actual behavior:

test.ts(2,5): error TS2322: Type 'CanvasRenderingContext2D | null' is not assignable to type 'CanvasRenderingContext2D'.
  Type 'null' is not assignable to type 'CanvasRenderingContext2D'.

If I change the type of ctx to CanvasRenderingContext2D | null, then I get

test.ts(3,1): error TS2531: Object is possibly 'null'.

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  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the reported TypeScript 2.5.3 snippet using HTMLCanvasElement.getContext("2d") and compare the declared return type with the Canvas API behavior described in the issue. Determine the intended nullability for CanvasRenderingContext2D, then verify that the example type-checks and that calling fillRect produces no nullability error.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
frontend, web-dev
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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