getTransaction() return type does not reflect actual behavior and documentation

[pedroyan]

Ethers Version

5.6.8

Search Terms

getTransaction, null, provider

Describe the Problem

The documentation states that the getTransaction() function may return null in some cases, but that's not reflected in the return type. That type is a problem for teams using typescript with strict rules because the compiler will not warn them about the necessity of a null-check before accessing properties inside the returned transaction, creating run-time issues that could have been avoided at build time.

Proof I've actually got a null value when running the code

Code Snippet

const provider = getProvider()

// Bogus transaction hash
const transaction = await provider.getTransaction('0xa8fb6df3adb9c3a4dffd6f22deb9bc8de4a99cf6c8c11107f5790fab85c761f4')

// Compiler will allow you to access the `to` property without null-checking, since the getTransaction
// function claims to never return null
const to = transaction.to

Contract ABI

No response

Errors

No response

Environment

node.js (v12 or newer)

Environment (Other)

No response

[pedroyan]

I can work on this issue btw. But wanted to check with the maintainers first if this decision to not include the null return type was intentional and try to understand the rationale there if so

[ricmoo]

In v5, there is no strict null checking, so null is implied in all parameters. This has been changed in v6, but will not be changed in v5. It is very not backwards compatible and would break a lot of projects.

At the time v5 was released, strictNullCheck was not as common an option and was not feasible to change in the tsconfig.

That’s basically all there is to it. :)

[pedroyan]

Cool! Thanks for the clarification!