in type signatures, cannot refer to class defined as static anonymous class

[kenhahn85]

TypeScript Version:

nightly (1.9.0-dev.20160307)

Code

// A self-contained demonstration of the problem follows...
export abstract class CaseClass {
  constructor(...args: any[]) {}
}

abstract class TestCaseClass extends CaseClass {
  static A = <typeof CaseClass> class extends TestCaseClass {
    v: number;
    constructor(v: number) {
      super();
      this.v = v;
    }
  };
  static B = <typeof CaseClass> class extends TestCaseClass {
    v: string;
    constructor(v: string) {
      super();
      this.v = v;
    }
  };
}

function test(v: TestCaseClass.A) {
  return v.v;
}

Expected behavior:
I would expect this to compile.

Actual behavior:
A failure in the compilation of test:

error TS2503: Cannot find namespace \'TestCaseClass\'.

[RyanCavanaugh]

Seems like something we could do. In the meantime, you can rewrite this to something that is basically equivalent:

export abstract class CaseClass {
    constructor(...args: any[]) { }
}

abstract class TestCaseClass extends CaseClass {
}
namespace TestCaseClass {
    export class A extends TestCaseClass {
        v: number;
        constructor(v: number) {
            super();
            this.v = v;
        }
    }

    export class B extends TestCaseClass {
        v: string;
        constructor(v: string) {
            super();
            this.v = v;
        }
    };
}

function test(v: TestCaseClass.A) {
    return v.v;
}

[DanielRosenwasser]

You could also write something like this:

export abstract class CaseClass {
  constructor(...args: any[]) {}
}

abstract class TestCaseClass extends CaseClass {
  static A = class extends TestCaseClass {
    v: number;
    constructor(v: number) {
      super();
      this.v = v;
    }
  };
  static B = class extends TestCaseClass {
    v: string;
    constructor(v: string) {
      super();
      this.v = v;
    }
  };
}

function test(v: typeof TestCaseClass.A.prototype) {
  return v.v
}

[RyanCavanaugh]

We might potentially turn class names into namespaces if this turns out to be a common pattern, but for now it doesn't look like there's much demand for it

[RyanCavanaugh]

Haven't gotten any other feedback on this. For non-abstract classes you can write InstanceType<typeof TestCaseClass["B"]> (probably worth aliasing) as an alternate way of referring to those types