fix(ivy): better inference for circularly referenced directive types (#35622)

It's possible to pass a directive as an input to itself. Consider:

```html
<some-cmp #ref [value]="ref">
```

Since the template type-checker attempts to infer a type for `<some-cmp>`
using the values of its inputs, this creates a circular reference where the
type of the `value` input is used in its own inference:

```typescript
var _t0 = SomeCmp.ngTypeCtor({value: _t0});
```

Obviously, this doesn't work. To resolve this, the template type-checker
used to generate a `null!` expression when a reference would otherwise be
circular:

```typescript
var _t0 = SomeCmp.ngTypeCtor({value: null!});
```

This effectively asks TypeScript to infer a value for this context, and
works well to resolve this simple cycle. However, if the template
instead tries to use the circular value in a larger expression:

```html
<some-cmp #ref [value]="ref.prop">
```

The checker would generate:

```typescript
var _t0 = SomeCmp.ngTypeCtor({value: (null!).prop});
```

In this case, TypeScript can't figure out any way `null!` could have a
`prop` key, and so it infers `never` as the type. `(never).prop` is thus a
type error.

This commit implements a better fallback pattern for circular references to
directive types like this. Instead of generating a `null!` in place for the
reference, a type is inferred by calling the type constructor again with
`null!` as its input. This infers the widest possible type for the directive
which is then used to break the cycle:

```typescript
var _t0 = SomeCmp.ngTypeCtor(null!);
var _t1 = SomeCmp.ngTypeCtor({value: _t0.prop});
```

This has the desired effect of validating that `.prop` is legal for the
directive type (the type of `#ref`) while also avoiding a cycle.

Fixes #35372
Fixes #35603
Fixes #35522

PR Close #35622

packages/compiler-cli/src/ngtsc/typecheck/src/type_check_block.ts

@@ -98,7 +98,19 @@ export function generateTypeCheckBlock(
  * Each `TcbOp` may insert statements into the body of the TCB, and also optionally return a
  * `ts.Expression` which can be used to reference the operation's result.
  */
-abstract class TcbOp { abstract execute(): ts.Expression|null; }
+abstract class TcbOp {
+  abstract execute(): ts.Expression|null;
+
+  /**
+   * Replacement value or operation used while this `TcbOp` is executing (i.e. to resolve circular
+   * references during its execution).
+   *
+   * This is usually a `null!` expression (which asks TS to infer an appropriate type), but another
+   * `TcbOp` can be returned in cases where additional code generation is necessary to deal with
+   * circular references.
+   */
+  circularFallback(): TcbOp|ts.Expression { return INFER_TYPE_FOR_CIRCULAR_OP_EXPR; }
+}
 
 /**
  * A `TcbOp` which creates an expression for a native DOM element (or web component) from a
@@ -317,6 +329,41 @@ class TcbDirectiveOp extends TcbOp {
     this.scope.addStatement(tsCreateVariable(id, typeCtor));
     return id;
   }
+
+  circularFallback(): TcbOp {
+    return new TcbDirectiveCircularFallbackOp(this.tcb, this.scope, this.node, this.dir);
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * A `TcbOp` which is used to generate a fallback expression if the inference of a directive type
+ * via `TcbDirectiveOp` requires a reference to its own type. This can happen using a template
+ * reference:
+ *
+ * ```html
+ * <some-cmp #ref [prop]="ref.foo"></some-cmp>
+ * ```
+ *
+ * In this case, `TcbDirectiveCircularFallbackOp` will add a second inference of the directive type
+ * to the type-check block, this time calling the directive's type constructor without any input
+ * expressions. This infers the widest possible supertype for the directive, which is used to
+ * resolve any recursive references required to infer the real type.
+ */
+class TcbDirectiveCircularFallbackOp extends TcbOp {
+  constructor(
+      private tcb: Context, private scope: Scope, private node: TmplAstTemplate|TmplAstElement,
+      private dir: TypeCheckableDirectiveMeta) {
+    super();
+  }
+
+  execute(): ts.Identifier {
+    const id = this.tcb.allocateId();
+    const typeCtor = this.tcb.env.typeCtorFor(this.dir);
+    const circularPlaceholder = ts.createCall(
+        typeCtor, /* typeArguments */ undefined, [ts.createNonNullExpression(ts.createNull())]);
+    this.scope.addStatement(tsCreateVariable(id, circularPlaceholder));
+    return id;
+  }
 }
 
 /**
@@ -832,10 +879,10 @@ class Scope {
       return op;
     }
 
-    // Set the result of the operation in the queue to a special expression. If executing this
-    // operation results in a circular dependency, this will break the cycle and infer the least
-    // narrow type where needed (which is how TypeScript deals with circular dependencies in types).
-    this.opQueue[opIndex] = INFER_TYPE_FOR_CIRCULAR_OP_EXPR;
+    // Set the result of the operation in the queue to its circular fallback. If executing this
+    // operation results in a circular dependency, this will prevent an infinite loop and allow for
+    // the resolution of such cycles.
+    this.opQueue[opIndex] = op.circularFallback();
     const res = op.execute();
     // Once the operation has finished executing, it's safe to cache the real result.
     this.opQueue[opIndex] = res;

packages/compiler-cli/src/ngtsc/typecheck/test/type_check_block_spec.ts

@@ -180,7 +180,10 @@ describe('type check blocks', () => {
       exportAs: ['dir'],
       inputs: {input: 'input'},
     }];
-    expect(tcb(TEMPLATE, DIRECTIVES)).toContain('var _t2 = Dir.ngTypeCtor({ "input": (null!) });');
+    expect(tcb(TEMPLATE, DIRECTIVES))
+        .toContain(
+            'var _t3 = Dir.ngTypeCtor((null!)); ' +
+            'var _t2 = Dir.ngTypeCtor({ "input": (_t3) });');
   });
 
   it('should generate circular references between two directives correctly', () => {
@@ -206,7 +209,8 @@ describe('type check blocks', () => {
     ];
     expect(tcb(TEMPLATE, DIRECTIVES))
         .toContain(
-            'var _t3 = DirB.ngTypeCtor({ "inputA": (null!) }); ' +
+            'var _t4 = DirA.ngTypeCtor((null!)); ' +
+            'var _t3 = DirB.ngTypeCtor({ "inputA": (_t4) }); ' +
             'var _t2 = DirA.ngTypeCtor({ "inputA": (_t3) });');
   });
 

packages/compiler-cli/test/ngtsc/template_typecheck_spec.ts

@@ -293,6 +293,32 @@ export declare class AnimationEvent {
       expect(diags.length).toBe(0);
     });
 
+    it('should support a directive being used in its own input expression', () => {
+      env.tsconfig({strictTemplates: true});
+      env.write('test.ts', `
+        import {Component, Directive, NgModule, Input} from '@angular/core';
+
+        @Component({
+          selector: 'test',
+          template: '<target-cmp #ref [foo]="ref.bar"></target-cmp>',
+        })
+        export class TestCmp {}
+
+        @Component({template: '', selector: 'target-cmp'})
+        export class TargetCmp {
+          readonly bar = 'test';
+          @Input() foo: string;
+        }
+
+        @NgModule({
+          declarations: [TestCmp, TargetCmp],
+        })
+        export class Module {}
+      `);
+      const diags = env.driveDiagnostics();
+      expect(diags.length).toBe(0);
+    });
+
     describe('strictInputTypes', () => {
       beforeEach(() => {
         env.write('test.ts', `