joshua.aug

joshua.aug

"The pattern can never match the type." error from dialyzer

Im getting this error from dialyzer “The pattern can never match the type.”

Here’s some sample code

  @spec check_rating_to_play(any(), any()) :: :ok | {:error, String.t()}
  def check_rating_to_play(user_id, consul_state) do
  @spec check_rank_to_play(any(), any()) :: :ok | {:error, String.t()}
  def check_rank_to_play(user, consul_state) do

This function is called like this

    rating_check_result = LobbyRestrictions.check_rating_to_play(userid, state)

    rank_check_result = LobbyRestrictions.check_rank_to_play(user, state)

    cond do
      rating_check_result != :ok ->
        # Send message
        {_, msg} = rating_check_result
        CacheUser.send_direct_message(get_coordinator_userid(), userid, msg)
        false

      rank_check_result != :ok ->
        # Send message
        {_, msg} = rank_check_result
        CacheUser.send_direct_message(get_coordinator_userid(), userid, msg)
        false

Is dialyzer saying that the first condition is always true? I’m confused.

Marked As Solved

al2o3cr

al2o3cr

Dialyzer has inferred that check_rating_to_play and check_rank_to_play can ONLY return :ok, so it deduces that those branches of the cond are dead.

The issue is sneaky, but ultimately comes from get_failed_rating_check_text and get_failed_rank_check_text returning the wrong type.

A walkthrough of what’s happening. Start in this code, from check_rating_to_play:

    cond do
      state.minimum_rating_to_play != nil and player_rating < state.minimum_rating_to_play ->
        msg = get_failed_rating_check_text(player_rating, state, rating_type)
        {:error, msg}
# maximum clause omitted
      true ->
        # All good
        :ok
    end

What’s the type of msg? It’s the return type of get_failed_rating_check_text.

What’s that type? It’s [String.t()]!

  def get_failed_rating_check_text(player_rating, consul_state, rating_type) do
    bounds = get_rating_bounds_for_title(consul_state)
    player_rating_text = player_rating |> Decimal.from_float() |> Decimal.round(2)

    [
      @splitter,
      "You don't meet the rating requirements for this lobby (#{bounds}). Your #{rating_type} match rating is #{player_rating_text}. Learn more about rating here:",
      "https://www.beyondallreason.info/guide/rating-and-lobby-balance#openskill"
    ]
  end

Dialyzer sees this and infers that the minimum_rating_to_play branch of the cond would make the function return {:error, [String.t()]}.

The function is not specced to return that type, so Dialyzer infers that that branch does not execute, so check_rating_to_play “always” returns :ok.

When I run Dialyzer locally, it also complains about get_coordinator_userid not being called - further evidence it has deduced that those branches are dead.

Replacing the lists in get_failed_rating_check_text and get_failed_rank_check_text with a literal string makes all three messages go away, verifying the diagnosis.

Possible fixes:

  • join the strings together in get_failed_rating_check_text etc

  • widen the type of check_rating_to_play etc to :ok, {:error, iodata()}

Also Liked

LostKobrakai

LostKobrakai

To dialyzer doesn‘t matter what it can theoretically return. The only thing that matters is what dialyzer inferred for it to return. And if inference says it only ever returns ˋ:okˋ then the error message makes sense. Now the question becomes why dialyzer would infer that ˋ:okˋ is the only possible return value for those functions.

kokolegorille

kokolegorille

It looks the state is never nil, so :ok can never be reached…

    cond do
      state.minimum_rating_to_play != nil and player_rating < state.minimum_rating_to_play ->
        msg = get_failed_rating_check_text(player_rating, state, rating_type)
        {:error, msg}

      state.maximum_rating_to_play != nil and player_rating > state.maximum_rating_to_play ->
        msg = get_failed_rating_check_text(player_rating, state, rating_type)
        {:error, msg}

      true ->
        # All good
        :ok 

In this file…

https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/teiserver/blob/08351a1af2be5021041f447c881e330f45216d77/lib/teiserver/lobby/libs/lobby_restrictions.ex

Where Next?

Popular in Questions Top

chokchit
** (DBConnection.ConnectionError) connection not available and request was dropped from queue after 2733ms. You can configure how long re...
New
Patoshizzle
After calling mix ecto.create I get this error: 17:00:32.162 [error] GenServer #PID&lt;0.412.0&gt; terminating ** (Postgrex.Error) FATAL...
New
Fl4m3Ph03n1x
About me? ( if you have nothing better to do than reading about some random guy in the internet :stuck_out_tongue: ) Hello all, this is ...
New
LegitStack
I’m trying to make a websocket server in Phoenix or raw Elixir. I heard about gun, I think I could use cowboy, but since I’m not that sma...
New
Lily
In templates/appointment/index.html.eex: &lt;%= for appointment &lt;- @appointments do %&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;%= appoi...
New
lucidguppy
I have a super simple question about elixir - how would I take a file like this foo bar baz and output a new file that enumerates th...
New
freewebwithme
Using vs code and installed ElixirLS: support and debugger. And I got an error popped up on start up says Failed to run ‘elixir’ comma...
New
JDanielMartinez
Hi! May someone helps me, please! I have two apps into an umbrella project: the first one is Database, which manages queries, and the se...
New
nobody
Hi! In PHP: $_SERVER[‘SERVER_ADDR’] - in Elixir? Searched the docs for ip address and the web, no good results. Thanks!
New
Brian
What is the proper way to load a module from a file in to IEX? In the python world, doing something like this pretty standard: from ....
New

Other popular topics Top

senggen
Erlang/OTP 25 [erts-13.2.2] [source] [64-bit] [smp:8:8] [ds:8:8:10] [async-threads:1] 15:22:35.803 [error] gen_event {lager_file_backend...
New
AstonJ
Posting this to see if we can make things easier for people to get into Neovim. If you use Neovim and have a favourite distro please let ...
New
albydarned
Hello all! I am typing this post from my new MacBook Pro with the M1 chip. I’m loving it so far, and will probably use it as my daily dr...
New
greenz1
I have a phoenix application from which a user can download multiple(5-6) files of size 1MB. I couldn’t find anything related to sending ...
New
Patoshizzle
After calling mix ecto.create I get this error: 17:00:32.162 [error] GenServer #PID&lt;0.412.0&gt; terminating ** (Postgrex.Error) FATAL...
New
ovidiubadita
Hey all, I discovered Elixir and I love it. I always wanted to learn a functional programming and I intended to go for Haskell, but afte...
New
pmjoe
I have a relationship of love and hate with Elixir. Lots of things are just absolutely right, but there are some things that are kind of ...
New
axelson
This post is a wiki (feel free to hit the edit button near the bottom right of this post to add your own changes!) This post collects co...
239 47930 226
New
openscript
Hello! Sorry for this astonishing simple question, but I’m really stuck. I try to set up the intellij-elixir plugin, but I don’t know ho...
New
svb
Hi! Currently I want to submit a form by pressing the Enter key. However, since my input field is of type “textarea” this is just adds a...
New

We're in Beta

About us Mission Statement