Styled-Components TypeScript Error with Material-UI Component
If you’ve been working with TypeScript and trying to style a Material-UI component using styled-components, you may have come across a type error. This error typically shows up when using StyledComponent and states that a type is missing properties. Let’s take a closer look at this issue and explore some solutions.
The Error
When attempting to style a Material-UI component with styled-components, you might encounter an error message similar to this:
Type '{ children: string; }' is missing the following properties from type 'Pick<Pick<(ButtonProps & RefAttributes<Component<ButtonProps, any, any>>) | (ButtonProps & { children?: ReactNode; }), "form" | "style" | "title" | "disabled" | "mini" | ... and more properties ... | "variant"> & Partial<...>, "form" | ... and more properties ... | "variant">': style, classes, className, innerRef [2739]This error occurs specifically with the StyledButton component, and it states that the ‘children’ prop is missing properties from the expected type. This issue can be quite confusing and frustrating, but we have a few workarounds that should help.
Solution 1: Casting StyledButton to the Same Type as Button
A simple workaround is to cast the StyledButton component to the same type as the Material UI Button. This can be done by modifying the code as shown below:
import styled from 'styled-components';
import Button, { ButtonProps } from '@material-ui/core/Button';
const StyledButton = styled(Button)`
background: blue;
` as React.ComponentType<ButtonProps>;By casting StyledButton as ‘React.ComponentType<ButtonProps>’, we ensure that it has the same type as the Material UI Button. This removes the error and provides the necessary type checking.
In most cases, this workaround should suffice. However, if you need to pass additional props to use in the styles and want to enforce their presence, you can extend the ButtonProps and cast to a custom type, as shown below:
type StyledButtonProps = ButtonProps & { background: string };
const StyledButton = styled(Button)`
background: ${(props: StyledButtonProps) => props.background};
` as React.ComponentType<StyledButtonProps>;Here, we extend the ButtonProps interface with a custom ‘background’ prop and cast StyledButton to ‘React.ComponentType<StyledButtonProps>’. This allows us to use the additional props in the styles and ensures their presence.
Solution 2: Casting StyledButton to ‘any’ Type
In some cases, casting StyledButton to the ‘any’ type can be a quick and easy workaround. Although this approach sacrifices some type safety, it can help resolve the error in situations where other solutions don’t work. Here is an example:
const StyledButton: any = styled(Button)`
background: blue;
`;Please note that while this workaround may work, it’s not the recommended approach as it bypasses type checking and can lead to potential issues down the line.
Conclusion
In this article, we explored a type error that occurs when using styled-components with Material-UI components in TypeScript. We discussed two possible workarounds: casting StyledButton to the same type as Button or casting it to ‘any’ if necessary. It’s important to note that the first solution provides better type safety, while the second solution sacrifices some type checking. Choose the approach that best suits your specific use case.
By implementing these workarounds, you should be able to overcome the type error and successfully style Material-UI components using styled-components in TypeScript.
