Is it possible to use getters/setters in interface definition?

To supplement the other answers, if your desire is to define a get value on an interface, you can use readonly:

interface Foo {
  readonly value: number;
}

let foo: Foo = { value: 10 };

foo.value = 20; //error

class Bar implements Foo {
  get value() {
    return 10;
  }
}

but as far as I'm aware, and as others mentioned, there is no way currently to define a set-only property in the interface. You can, however, move the limitation to a run-time error (useful during the development cycle only):

interface Foo {
  /* Set Only! */
  value: number;
}

class Bar implements Foo {
  _value:number;
  set value(value: number) {
    this._value = value;
  }
  get value() {
    throw Error("Not Supported Exception");
  }
}

Not recommended practice; but an option.


You can specify the property on the interface, but you can't enforce whether getters and setters are used, like this:

interface IExample {
    Name: string;
}

class Example implements IExample {
    private _name: string = "Bob";

    public get Name() {
        return this._name;
    }

    public set Name(value) {
        this._name = value;
    }
}

var example = new Example();
alert(example.Name);

In this example, the interface doesn't force the class to use getters and setters, I could have used a property instead (example below) - but the interface is supposed to hide these implementation details anyway as it is a promise to the calling code about what it can call.

interface IExample {
    Name: string;
}

class Example implements IExample {
    // this satisfies the interface just the same
    public Name: string = "Bob";
}

var example = new Example();
alert(example.Name);

And lastly, => is not allowed for class methods - you could start a discussion on Codeplex if you think there is a burning use case for it. Here is an example:

class Test {
    // Yes
    getName = () => 'Steve';

    // No
    getName() => 'Steve';

    // No
    get name() => 'Steve';
}