Optional fields are not typed as optional

[nikhil-achilles]

I’m noticing that many fields are named optional and/or documented as optional, but are not typed as optional in the generated types. Is this expected behavior? If so, what is the intended “empty” or default value for these fields?

Example: https://github.com/authzed/authzed-node/blob/main/src/authzedapi/authzed/api/v1/permission_service.ts#L111

[tstirrat15]

It's because of a mismatch between how Protobuf represents values and how TS describes values and a decision the author of protobuf-ts made.

Protobuf3 supports optionals: https://github.com/timostamm/protobuf-ts/blob/main/MANUAL.md#proto3-optionals

But Protobuf reflects Golang's semantics and treats zero values and absent values the same. We don't use optionals in our proto definitions to adhere to this convention, and protobuf-ts treats those values as required.

The empty value is the zero value of whatever type it is, e.g. "" for strings and 0 for numbers.

You can work around this by using the create() method on the types, like you see in the tests:

authzed-node/src/v1.test.ts

Lines 257 to 270 in 1777443

	const checkPermissionRequest = CheckPermissionRequest.create({
	resource,
	permission: "view",
	subject: SubjectReference.create({
	object: testUser,
	}),
	consistency: Consistency.create({
	requirement: {
	oneofKind: "fullyConsistent",
	fullyConsistent: true,
	},
	}),
	context: Struct.fromJson({ special: true }),
	});

Lemme know if that makes sense, and if there's any documentation I could add that would help clarify this.