Enum resolution conflicting with class names - haxe

Question

In one package / module I have the following code
// Pieces.hx
package;
#:structInit class Piece {
public var type: PieceType;
public var value: Int;
public function new(
type: PieceType,
value: Int,
) {
// do some stuff
}
}
var Pawn:Piece = { type: PieceType.Pawn, value: 1 }
enum PieceType {
Pawn;
}
Then in another file i have code trying to use the value property
// Game.hx
import Pieces.Pawn
import Pieces.PieceType;
class Main {
override function init() {
var value = Pawn.value
}
}
The error I'm getting when I try to compile is
src/Main.hx:46: characters 29-33 : PieceType has no field tile
What would be the correct way to structure this so that the Pawn that is imported is the class not the PieceType enum?
Another question is do I even need the enum at all? If I wanted write a switch statement can I just check if the passed argument is a Pawn class?
ex
function switch(p: Piece) {
switch(P) {
case Pawn: // Is true?
}
}

Answer 1

The convention for Haxe is that variable names are camelCase, which means that they begin with a lowercase character. In this case, this would solve your problem as the variable name would be pawn and the enum name would be Pawn so they would not conflict.
Alternatively, assuming the value field is the same for every pawn and doesn't change, you could have a map to retrieve this instead of adding it to an instance:
// Pieces.hx
enum PieceType {
Pawn;
Rook;
...
}
private final valueByPieceType:Map<PieceType, Int> = [
Pawn => 1,
Rook => ...,
...
];
function getValue(pieceType:PieceType):Int {
return valueByPieceType[pieceType];
}
// Game.hx
import Pieces.PieceType;
import Pieces.getValue;
class Main {
override function init() {
var value = getValue(Pawn);
}
}
This avoids requiring the extra instance/class in this example. If all pawns are meant to have this value then this is better as it ties the value to the fact it is a Pawn and prevents you from accidentally creating a pawn with a value other than 1.
However, if for whatever reason neither of those options are helpful, perhaps I would suggest changing the enum value to something like TPawn. Otherwise, only if absolutely necessary, you could create an alias within the Game.hx, however, this is not a good solution as then the Pieces module is unusable without adding this extra bit everywhere.
// Game.hx
import Pieces.Pawn as PawnPiece;
import Pieces.PieceType;
class Main {
override function init() {
var value = PawnPiece.value;
}
}
Keeping the enum and switch statement is also useful, as it prevents you from making mistakes because the compiler will ensure that you check every possibility, so you don't miss out any pieces. The switch is also more concise than having a manual check for every single piece type.