Type 'string' is not assignable to type '"inherit" | "initial" | "unset" | "fixed" | "absolute" | "static" | "relative" | "sticky"'

I get the following error in my application (npm 5.4.2, react 15.4, typescript 2.5.3, webpack 2.2.1, webpack-dev-server 2.4.1).

This will work:

<div style={{position: 'absolute'}}>working</div>

This will not compile:

const mystyle = {
    position: 'absolute'            
} 

<div style={mystyle}>not working</div>

The compile error is:

ERROR in ./src/components/Resource.tsx
(61,18): error TS2322: Type '{ style: { position: string; }; children: string; }' is not assignable to type 'DetailedHTMLProps<HTMLAttributes<HTMLDivElement>, HTMLDivElement>'.
  Type '{ style: { position: string; }; children: string; }' is not assignable to type 'HTMLAttributes<HTMLDivElement>'.
    Types of property 'style' are incompatible.
      Type '{ position: string; }' is not assignable to type 'CSSProperties'.
        Types of property 'position' are incompatible.
          Type 'string' is not assignable to type '"inherit" | "initial" | "unset" | "fixed" | "absolute" | "static" | "relative" | "sticky"'.
webpack: Failed to compile.

But what't the difference? I can fix it with:

const mystyle = {
    position: 'absolute' as 'absolute'            
} 

but is this a good solution?

I don't have this problem with other style/css properties.

I found a similar problem on github: https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/issues/11465 but if understand it right, it was a typescript bug in an ealier version.

Any help appreciated.

This is a workaround, but it is alright. Some other solution is:

const mystyles = {
   position: 'absolute',
} as React.CSSProperties;

You can check back when this issue will be solved. Around TS 2.6 i guess, judging by milestones.

Use the React.CSSProperties type:

import React, { CSSProperties } from "react";

const myStyles: CSSProperties = {
  position: 'absolute',
}

Then just use the style as normal:

<div style={myStyles} />

The answer by superluminary doesn't work if you have nested style objects. In this case you can create a type:

import React, { CSSProperties } from 'react';

export interface StylesDictionary{
    [Key: string]: CSSProperties;
}

And use it like so:

const styles:StylesDictionary  = {
    someStyle:{
        display:'flex',
        justifyContent:'center',  
    },
    someOtherStyle:{
        display:'flex',
        justifyContent:'center',
        alignItems:'center',
        
    }
}

And then:

<div style={styles.someStyle} />

You can make TypeScript infer literal values on the entire object by using a const assertion:

const mystyle = {
    position: 'absolute'            
} as const;

This way, if you add more properties to mystyle, it will work for them as well.

I had a similar issue trying to pass down a wrapperHeight string value (100px, 10vw, 100vh etc) to a HeroImage component. The solution was to actually use string literals around the value inside the CSS object (mouthful):

interface HeroImageProps {
  src: StaticImageData,
  alt: string,
  wrapperHeight: string,
}

export default function HeroImage({ src, alt, wrapperHeight }: HeroImageProps) {

  const wrapperStyles: React.CSSProperties = {
    height: `${wrapperHeight}`
  }

  return (
    <div className={styles.heroImage} style={wrapperStyles} >
      <Image
        src={src}
        alt={alt}
        layout="fill"
        priority
      />
    </div>
  )
}