collection() missing type arguments #3081

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1. imjoshnewton

   changed the title [-]collection() missing missing types[/-] [+]collection() missing type arguments[/+] on Dec 3, 2021
2. juane1000 commented on Dec 14, 2021

   

   juane1000

   on Dec 14, 2021

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   Just upgraded and immediately noticed this...
3. nutangwari commented on Dec 23, 2021

   

   nutangwari

   on Dec 23, 2021

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   +1

   any solution or workaround for above issue ?
4. Methodician commented on Jan 6, 2022

   

   Methodician

   on Jan 6, 2022

   Last edited by Methodician

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   I'm rolling with a work-around but it doesn't make me happy. Presumably I'll have to do another refactor when they fix this.

   customerCol = collection(firestore, 'customers') as CollectionReference<CustomerI>;

   I spent like an hour wrestling with this thinking I misunderstood something because when I Google about the problem, nothing comes up. Not even this issue. Surely more folks have upgraded than just us three... I hope this gets worked out soon!

   Still gotta thank the team and the community for this great revamp.
5. imjoshnewton commented on Jul 22, 2022

   

   imjoshnewton

   on Jul 22, 2022

   Author

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   I'm rolling with a work-around but it doesn't make me happy. Presumably I'll have to do another refactor when they fix this.

   customerCol = collection(firestore, 'customers') as CollectionReference<CustomerI>;

   I spent like an hour wrestling with this thinking I misunderstood something because when I Google about the problem, nothing comes up. Not even this issue. Surely more folks have upgraded than just us three... I hope this gets worked out soon!

   Still gotta thank the team and the community for this great revamp.

   I am doing something similar but slightly different. When I need to return an observable to something like collectionData, I have that behind a function in a service and add an 'as' statement to the return.

   return collectionData(q, { idField: 'id'}) as Observable<Team[]>

   This way I can still get a typed object in the code that consumes the observable.

   👍React with 👍1Reacted by Israel Dryer
6. kisamoto commented on Mar 20, 2023

   

   kisamoto

   on Mar 20, 2023

   Last edited by kisamoto

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   I have a service that I use in my components for interacting with Firebase. I've added the following helper methods to deal with V9:

     _collection<T>(colPath: string) {
       // Dirty helper function to get a typed CollectionReference
       // Can change this once 3081 is fixed
       // https://github.com/angular/angularfire/issues/3081
       return collection(this.afs, colPath) as CollectionReference<T>;
     }
   
     _listDocs<T>(colPath: string) {
       return getDocs(this._collection<T>(colPath));
     }
   
     _doc<T>(docPath: string) {
       return doc(this.afs, docPath) as DocumentReference<T>;
     }
   
     _getDoc<T>(docPath: string) {
       return getDoc<T>(this._doc(docPath));
     }
   
     _addDoc<T>(colPath: string, data: T): Observable<DocumentReference<T>> {
       const col = this._collection<T>(colPath);
       return from(addDoc<T>(col, data));
     }
   
     _addReadDoc<T>(colPath: string, data: T): Observable<T> {
       // Helper function that not only adds a document but then instantly retrieves it
       return this._addDoc(colPath, data).pipe(
         switchMap((ref) => from(getDoc(ref))
           .pipe(
             map(doc => doc.data()),
             filterNullish(),
           ),
         ),
       );
     }

   And the helper function that removes undefined:

   // Helper function to filter out nullish values
   // https://stackoverflow.com/a/62971842/1401034
   function filterNullish<T>(): UnaryFunction<Observable<T | null | undefined>, Observable<T>> {
     return pipe(
       filter(x => x != null) as OperatorFunction<T | null |  undefined, T>
     );
   }

   Then I can use them elsewhere in my service with my models:

     getOrganization(pathToDoc: string){
       return this._getDoc(pathToDoc);
     }
     
     createOrganization(organization: Organization): Observable<Organization> {
       return this._addReadDoc('organizations', organization);
     }

   It would be useful if this was better supported but for now this seems to work
7. armando-navarro commented on Nov 5, 2026

   

   armando-navarro

   on Nov 5, 2026

   Collaborator

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   Thanks for the report, and to everyone who added a workaround here. Sorry this issue sat for years.

   The signature is the Firebase SDK's, not AngularFire's. collection(firestore, path) returns CollectionReference<DocumentData> in firebase/firestore itself, and the SDK's way to type a reference is withConverter().

   AngularFire re-exports those functions unchanged, so adding a collection<T>() overload here would make AngularFire's types disagree with Firebase's (jamesdaniels said the same on #2931 in 2021). A converter also gives you something the type argument never could: a place where every document is checked on its way in.

   What I did change is the docs, which were showing the call that fails. #3838 replaces collectionData<Item>(collection(...)) in the README and the quickstart with a converter-typed reference, and adds a "Typed reads" section to docs/firestore.md that explains the two shortcuts that do not work and shows the converter pattern. The short version:

   const itemConverter: FirestoreDataConverter<Item> = {
     toFirestore: item => item,
     fromFirestore: (snapshot, options) => {
       const data = snapshot.data(options);
       return { name: typeof data['name'] === 'string' ? data['name'] : '' };
     },
   };
   
   const items = collection(firestore, 'items').withConverter(itemConverter);
   items$ = collectionData(items); // Observable<Item[]>, no cast

   If there is a case where the converter does not work for you, let me know.
8. armando-navarro

   added

   comp: firestoreCloud Firestore (src/firestore).Cloud Firestore (src/firestore).

   comp: typingsTypeScript type correctness across the public API.TypeScript type correctness across the public API.

   type: featureNew capability or enhancement.New capability or enhancement.

   version: legacy (v7-v16)Targets the older modular API (roughly v7-v16).Targets the older modular API (roughly v7-v16).

   on Nov 5, 2026
9. armando-navarro

   closed this as completedin #3838on Nov 6, 2026
10. armando-navarro

    added this to the 22.0.0-rc.1 milestone on Nov 6, 2026