Removes instances of "any" and unnecessary type casts

[mateja176]

No description provided.

[msftclas]

All CLA requirements met.

[peterblazejewicz]

I''m not sure if that is the best approach. In TS one usually augments missing changes using the type definition file (declaration merging), as we don't own the Request type:
E.g., for the userproperty on the Request:
https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript-Node-Starter/pull/227/files

[mateja176]

Thanks for the comment. Indeed, module augmentation may be the more idiomatic way to go about it, although I like the explicitness of wrapping ( extending ) a given type. Furthermore, it would be nice if the express's Request type were generic, similar to how RouteComponentProps accepts a parameter representing the type of the matched path params, however this is a topic for a different discussion. To get back to the main story line, why wasn't #227 merged yet ( #236 could build off of it )?

[GrayStrider]

Seem to repeat many edits from #232 as well, we really need some merges or comments, @peterblazejewicz
Perhaps, move isKnownProvider into separate PR for review? @mateja176
It's a new feature and doesn't seem to do anything with any or typecasts.