Readonly Properties in TypeScript

Prefix readonly is used to make a property as read-only. Read-only members can be accessed outside the class, but their value cannot be changed. Since read-only members cannot be changed outside the class, they either need to be initialized at the declaration or initialized inside the class constructor.

class Employee {
    readonly empCode: number;
    empName: string;
    
    constructor(code: number, name: string)     {
        this.empCode = code;
        this.empName = name;
    }
}
let emp = new Employee(10, "John");
emp.empCode = 20; //Compiler Error
emp.empName = 'Bill'; //Compiler Error

In the above example, we have the Employee class with two properties- empName and empCode. Since empCode is read only, it can be initialized at the time of declaration or in the constructor.

If we try to change the value of empCode after the object has been initialized, the compiler shows the following compilation error:

error TS2540: Cannot assign to empCode' because it is a constant or a read-only property.

An interface can also have readonly member properties.

interface IEmployee {
    readonly empCode: number;
    empName: string;
}

let empObj:IEmployee = {
    empCode:1,
    empName:"Steve"
}

empObj.empCode = 100; // Compiler Error: Cannot change readonly 'empCode'

As you can see above, empCode is readonly, so we can assign a value at the time of creating an object but not afterward.

In the same way, you can use Readonly<T> to create a readonly type, as shown below.

interface IEmployee {
    empCode: number;
    empName: string;
}

let emp1: Readonly<IEmployee> = {
    empCode:1,
    empName:"Steve"
}

emp1.empCode = 100; // Compiler Error: Cannot change readonly 'empCode'
emp1.empName = 'Bill'; // Compiler Error: Cannot change readonly 'empName'

let emp2: IEmployee = {
    empCode:1,
    empName:"Steve"
}

emp2.empCode = 100; // OK
emp2.empName = 'Bill'; // OK

In the above example, emp1 is declared as Readonly<IEmployee> and so values cannot be changed once initialized.