Why do I get "the method exists but the following trait bounds were not satisfied" when extending Result for failure types? - error-handling

Question

I'm trying to add a more concise version of the failure crate's .with_context(|e| format!("foo: {}", e)) to my code. Like this playground:
use failure::{Context, Fail, ResultExt}; // 0.1.5
/// Extension methods for failure `Result`.
pub trait ResultContext<T, E> {
/// Wraps the error type in a context type generated by looking at the
/// error value. This is very similar to `with_context` but much more
/// concise.
fn ctx(self, s: &str) -> Result<T, Context<String>>;
}
impl<T, E> ResultContext<T, E> for Result<T, E>
where
E: Fail,
{
fn ctx(self, s: &str) -> Result<T, Context<String>> {
self.map_err(|failure| {
let context = format!("{}: {}", s, failure);
failure.context(context)
})
}
}
pub fn foo() -> Result<i32, failure::Error> {
Ok(5i32)
}
pub fn main() -> Result<(), failure::Error> {
// This works.
let _ = foo().with_context(|_| "foo".to_string())?;
// This doesn't.
foo().ctx("foo")?
}
I get the following error:
error[E0599]: no method named `ctx` found for type `std::result::Result<i32, failure::error::Error>` in the current scope
--> src/main.rs:31:11
|
31 | foo().ctx("foo")?
| ^^^
|
= note: the method `ctx` exists but the following trait bounds were not satisfied:
`std::result::Result<i32, failure::error::Error> : ResultContext<_, _>`
= help: items from traits can only be used if the trait is implemented and in scope
= note: the following trait defines an item `ctx`, perhaps you need to implement it:
candidate #1: `ResultContext`
I can't work out why. I more or less copied the existing with_context code.

Answer 1

As the compiler tells you, Result<i32, failure::error::Error> doesn't implement ResultContext<_, _>. You have added a bound to your implementation:
where
E: Fail,
But failure::Error doesn't implement failure::Fail:
use failure; // 0.1.5
fn is_fail<F: failure::Fail>() {}
pub fn main() {
is_fail::<failure::Error>();
}
error[E0277]: the trait bound `failure::error::Error: std::error::Error` is not satisfied
--> src/main.rs:6:5
|
6 | is_fail::<failure::Error>();
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ the trait `std::error::Error` is not implemented for `failure::error::Error`
|
= note: required because of the requirements on the impl of `failure::Fail` for `failure::error::Error`
note: required by `is_fail`
--> src/main.rs:3:1
|
3 | fn is_fail<F: failure::Fail>() {}
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You will need to alter your bounds or your type.