In services, show the aliasSymbol for a type even if it's not accessible in the current scope

Author: Andy Hanson

src/compiler/checker.ts

@@ -2126,6 +2126,11 @@ namespace ts {
             return false;
         }
 
+        function isTypeSymbolAccessible(typeSymbol: Symbol, enclosingDeclaration: Node): boolean {
+            const access = isSymbolAccessible(typeSymbol, enclosingDeclaration, SymbolFlags.Type, /*shouldComputeAliasesToMakeVisible*/ false);
+            return access.accessibility === SymbolAccessibility.Accessible;
+        }
+
         /**
          * Check if the given symbol in given enclosing declaration is accessible and mark all associated alias to be visible if requested
          *
@@ -2456,8 +2461,7 @@ namespace ts {
                     // Ignore constraint/default when creating a usage (as opposed to declaration) of a type parameter.
                     return createTypeReferenceNode(name, /*typeArguments*/ undefined);
                 }
-                if (!inTypeAlias && type.aliasSymbol &&
-                    isSymbolAccessible(type.aliasSymbol, context.enclosingDeclaration, SymbolFlags.Type, /*shouldComputeAliasesToMakeVisible*/ false).accessibility === SymbolAccessibility.Accessible) {
+                if (!inTypeAlias && type.aliasSymbol && isTypeSymbolAccessible(type.aliasSymbol, context.enclosingDeclaration)) {
                     const name = symbolToTypeReferenceName(type.aliasSymbol);
                     const typeArgumentNodes = mapToTypeNodes(type.aliasTypeArguments, context);
                     return createTypeReferenceNode(name, typeArgumentNodes);
@@ -3226,7 +3230,7 @@ namespace ts {
                         buildSymbolDisplay(type.symbol, writer, enclosingDeclaration, SymbolFlags.Type, SymbolFormatFlags.None, nextFlags);
                     }
                     else if (!(flags & TypeFormatFlags.InTypeAlias) && type.aliasSymbol &&
-                        isSymbolAccessible(type.aliasSymbol, enclosingDeclaration, SymbolFlags.Type, /*shouldComputeAliasesToMakeVisible*/ false).accessibility === SymbolAccessibility.Accessible) {
+                        ((flags & TypeFormatFlags.UseAliasEvenIfNotAccessible) || isTypeSymbolAccessible(type.aliasSymbol, enclosingDeclaration))) {
                         const typeArguments = type.aliasTypeArguments;
                         writeSymbolTypeReference(type.aliasSymbol, typeArguments, 0, length(typeArguments), nextFlags);
                     }

src/compiler/types.ts

@@ -2691,6 +2691,8 @@ namespace ts {
         AddUndefined                    = 1 << 13,  // Add undefined to types of initialized, non-optional parameters
         WriteClassExpressionAsTypeLiteral = 1 << 14, // Write a type literal instead of (Anonymous class)
         InArrayType                     = 1 << 15,  // Writing an array element type
+        UseAliasEvenIfNotAccessible     = 1 << 16,  // For a `type T = ... ` defined in a different file, write `T` instead of its value,
+                                                    // even though `T` can't be accessed in the current scope.
     }
 
     export const enum SymbolFormatFlags {

src/services/utilities.ts

@@ -1261,6 +1261,7 @@ namespace ts {
     }
 
     export function signatureToDisplayParts(typechecker: TypeChecker, signature: Signature, enclosingDeclaration?: Node, flags?: TypeFormatFlags): SymbolDisplayPart[] {
+        flags |= TypeFormatFlags.UseAliasEvenIfNotAccessible;
         return mapToDisplayParts(writer => {
             typechecker.getSymbolDisplayBuilder().buildSignatureDisplay(signature, writer, enclosingDeclaration, flags);
         });

tests/cases/fourslash/quickInfoTypeAliasDefinedInDifferentFile.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+/// <reference path='fourslash.ts' />
+
+// @Filename: /a.ts
+////export type X = { x: number };
+////export function f(x: X): void {}
+
+// @Filename: /b.ts
+////import { f } from "./a";
+/////**/f({ x: 1 });
+
+verify.quickInfoAt("", "(alias) f(x: X): void\nimport f");