enum Auto
Auto
end
def cell(width : Auto = :auto)
pp width.class
end
cell()
this works fine. calling cell shows the type is Auto
But if I use a alias union Width of Int32 and Auto instead
enum Auto
Auto
end
alias Width = Int32 | Auto
def cell(width : Width = :auto)
pp width.class
end
cell()
I get this error
219 | def cell(width : Width = :auto)
^
Error: can't restrict Symbol to Width
As your example shows, it seems to not work for unions. That might be problematic when a union contains different enum types with conflicting members, or just plain symbols.
You can use different overloads though. For calling cell this is equivalent to the union type restriction.
enum Auto
Auto
end
def cell(width : Auto = :auto)
pp width.class
end
def cell(width : Int32)
pp width.class
end
cell()
Are there plans to make this work? It feels right that auto casting should work given declare the type to be Width.
by the way I can usually work around this problem by being explicit.
enum WidthOption
Auto
end
alias Width = Int32 | WidthOption
def cell(width : Width = WidhtOption::Auto)
pp width.class
end
cell()
This works. I just think the syntax for symbols currently is causing quiet a bit of inconsistency in Crystal.
Interestingly, autocasting works at callsite:
enum WidthOption
Auto
end
alias Width = Int32 | WidthOption
def cell(width : Width)
pp width.class
end
cell(:auto)
It’s just broken for the default argument.
Unfortunately, this is true. Autocasting is a great feature but it only works to some extent. It’s not too bad I think. But eventually, I’d like to remove the symbol datatype so symbol literals can be used exclusively for enum members, which would help improve some use cases for that. But there’s no progress on that and it may actually be harder than it seems.
Note that this works already:
enum Auto
Auto
end
alias Width = Int32 | Auto
def cell(width : Width)
pp width.class
end
cell(:auto)
It just doesn’t work when you use it as a default value inside the method, and that’s a bug. I’ll try to fix today.
If I don’t get to fixing it, the workaround is very simple: use Auto::Auto in the default value, but that still allows passing :auto in the method, which I think is the important part you were looking for?
Yes at call site it works. Which is how I got it working in the library so far. But it’s good to know that not working as default value is considered a bug.