TypeScript: Cannot find name error when Referencing an Interface across multiple files

Question

I'm trying to create some definition files for a personal project. (I'm recreating the context here with different class/module names, so the modeling may not make a whole lot of sense).

I have the following interface definition file, that has no dependencies, and compiles fine:

// File: automobile.d.ts
declare module Transport {
    interface Automobile {
        // ... variables and functions
        accelerate(direction:String):Boolean;
    }
}

However, in this file, when I try to reference Automobile in this file within the same Transport module, I get a Cannot find name 'Automobile'.

// File: automobile_collection.d.ts
declare module Transport {
    interface AutomobileCollection {
        size:Number;
        getItemAt(index:Number): Automobile;
    }
}

I've tried exporting the interface, but that didn't help. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

I'm not able to reproduce your issue in visual studio or with tsc 1.5-beta. How are you compiling this? By the way, you should use the primitive types number, string, boolean (lowercase) instead of the interfaces as using the interfaces can lead to problems. — David Sherret
– David Sherret, Commented Jul 10, 2015 at 14:33
Interesting, I'm using Webstorm's Typescript plugin. I'll give tsc a shot and see if I still get errors. Maybe this is Webstorm intellisense problem. And, thanks, I had no idea about the primitive type thing. Will replace those too. — Vidur
– Vidur, Commented Jul 10, 2015 at 14:35
Wow okay thanks for the tip. My whole project compiles just fine using tsc. I guess it's a webstorm issue. At least this informs my Google searches more. Thanks! — Vidur
– Vidur, Commented Jul 10, 2015 at 14:45

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:33:54Z

2

Thanks to David, I figured out that it wasn't a compiler error, because my project compiles fine using tsc.

It turns out you need to add /// <reference path="./automobile.d.ts"/> at the top of automobile_collection.d.ts to get Webstorm to intelligently figure out referenced types.

edited May 23, 2017 at 10:33

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answered Jul 10, 2015 at 15:07

Vidur

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1 Comment

David Sherret Over a year ago

Ah! Ok, that makes sense. I'm so used to not adding /// <reference ... /> nowadays that this solution didn't occur to me. I guess Webstorm doesn't have the functionality that does that automatically yet.

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