C# generics with same class and same class list - c#

I have defined a generic class where T can be a specific interface or a collection of the interface.
public class BaseResponse<T> where T : IBaseResource, ICollection<T>, new()
However, when I try to create BaseResponse using IBaseResource I get the following error.
'System.Collections.Generic.List' cannot be
used as type parameter 'T' in the generic type or method
'BaseResponse'. There is no implicit reference conversion from
'System.Collections.Generic.List<.Resources.IBaseResource >' to
'Vehicle.Api.Resources.IBaseResource'.
I even tried with following as well.
public class BaseResponse<T> where T : IBaseResource, ICollection<IBaseResource>, new()
Is the way I am defining multiple constraints is wrong or can't I use the ICollection of the same interface when defining multiple constraints? If it is achievable how can I achieve this?
edit -
To further clarify what I am expecting to achieve,
I am implementing a rest API where the response will be given by BaseResponse. For example, GET with single method will include BaseResponse<Entity> and GET will include BaseResponse<List<Entity>>

As mentioned in the comments, constraints are ANDed not ORed.
Without knowing what the purpose of your implementation is or what it looks like, it's difficult to address this question.
Perhaps you can parameterize your generic on two types:
public class BaseResponse<T, U>
where T : IBaseResource, new()
where U : ICollection<T>

It is a bit unclear what you want to do, but in your first attempt you specify that T must implement IBaseResource and that the collection should implement IBaseResource as well. I assume that is not what you want. That is also what the error message shows. It shows that List<T> does not implement IBaseResource
Does this solve your problem?
public class BaseResponse<ICollection<T>> where T : IBaseResource, new()

Related

Generic Parameters multiple where-clause issue

I apologize for a weak title, but I have no idea on how exactly to phrase my problem in 1 sentence.
In order to explain my issue, I'm first going to paste my code for better understanding.
I have a class Generic:
public class Generic<TObject, ID>
where TObject : class, Entity<ID>
where ID : IComparable
Now I want to use objects of this class, and its children, as parameters for another class. Something like this:
public class GenericService<TGeneric>
where TGeneric: Generic<TObject, ID>
where TObject: class, Entity<ID>
where ID : IComparable
But the above code gives me an error in the last 2 where clauses. Error message says something along the lines of Cannot resolve symbol TObject/ID, because I have not put them in the initial generic parameter brackets.
I did a refactor, where TObject and ID were passed as generic parameters, like this:
public class GenericService<TGeneric, TObject, ID>
where TGeneric: Generic<TObject, ID>
where TObject: class, Entity<ID>
where ID : IComparable
and it works. But I want to avoid writing 3 generic parameters if possible, since those parameters are drawn from the TGeneric parameter.
I am attempting this approach because of the following scenario. If I had a class ChildGeneric:
public class ChildGeneric : Generic<SomeEntity, SomeID>
and I want to pass it to GenericService, I want to be able to write only
GenericService<ChildGeneric> service = new GenericService<ChildGeneric>
instead of
GenericService<ChildGeneric, SomeObject, SomeID> = new GenericService<ChildGeneric, SomeObject, SomeID>
Is there a way to refactor the 2nd code snippet in order to make it work with the TGeneric parameter only?
If your GenericService class does not care about the generic arguments of the nested class you can use a non-generic interface:
public interface IGeneric
{
//API for everything you do care for in other classes
//must not use the TObject, ID types
}
just like IEnumerable<T> implements IEnumerable. Although that may just be for historical reasons.
The downside is having to keep the interface in sync with the class.
If your GenericService does care for the TObject, ID types, then you need to define them on the class like you did, or specify them in an implementing class as Camilo wrote in the comments.

Generic class with two type constraints, and a interface implementation

I've stumbled upon a small problem. I'm trying to declare a generic class that has two constraints and it should also implement an interface. The problem however, is that when I try to get the interface in the declaration, it is just considered a constraint of one of the two generics. As seen here:
public class T_AccountControl<T, U>
where U : T_AccountView
where T : T_AccountModel, IAccountControl
{ ... }
I want T_AccountControl<> to implement IAccountControl. Atm it is just in the chain of constraints to T. I've tried to paste it in before and such, but it does not seem to work.
So, can I do this? Or is it for some alternate reason not allowed?
Regards,
Oyvind
Implement IAccountControl before the constraints:
public class T_AccountControl<T, U> : IAccountControl
where U : T_AccountView
where T : T_AccountModel
Edit: Just noticed where you said you tried to "paste it before and such". Not sure what you did but you probably had a small error because this should work for you.

C# priority queue, generic type <T> conversion

public class PriorityQueue<T> : IPriorityQueue<T>
where T : IComparable
So, I've made a priority queue class with the Header above and I'm attempting to use it with another class.
private static PriorityQueue<Order> PQ;
It seems like this should work perfectly fine, but I'm receiving this error.
My namespace.Order cannot be used as type parameter T in the generic method namespace.PriorityQueue<T>. There is no implicit conversion from namespace.Order to System.IComparable
I can't really discern what that is telling me to do. Does this mean that my IComparable implementation isn't sufficient for this purpose, or is it some sort of bad syntax I'm using?
It says, that your generic type parameter (i.e. Order type) should implement IComparable interface.

Redundant generic arguments?

I am building a entity Repository and I have an interface, IIdentifiable<T>. So entities which are identified by Guids, for example, implement IIdentifiable<Guid> with public Guid Id { get; }. So far, so good.
I have an interface of IRepository<T, TIdentifier> where T : IIdentifiable<TIdentifier>.
It seems to me that the TIdentifier generic argument is redundant, because that already information is held in the generic argument of T. Is there any way I can have a cleaner implementation of IRepository, where I only have to specify T in my business code?
I'm after something like 'IRepository<T> where T : IIdentifiable<T.GenericArgs[0]>.
I doubt this is possible, but just thought I'd ask. Maybe the new C# 4 stuff has something for this this?
There's no constraint on T which requires it to be a generic. And there's nothing which prevents a class from implementing IIdentifiable<T1>, IIdentifiable<T2>, ... IIdentifiable<Tn>, so even some syntax saying "the first argument of the IIdentifiable'1 interface implemented by T" wouldn't be sufficient.
You could create an IIdentifiable that has object Id { get; } then have IIdentifiable<T> : IIDentifiable with a generic Id property.
Then you can reduce the number of generic arguments to 1 like so:
IRepository<T> where T : IIdentifiable
In practice you would then use IRepository<X> with X : IIdentifiable<Guid>
This assumes that your IRepository is mainly interested in the ability of T to have a key and isn't focused on the specific type of key.
You are asking to be able to specify a contraint, based on the assumption that type has already satisfied that contraint, putting the compiler into a logical paradox.
Also, your plan makes TIdentifier unknown within IRepository which, I assume it's going to need to know.

C# Generic Class Question

I am working on a class library and am having some trouble with generics. I have a ITransaction interface which has a collection of ITransactionItem. Each ITranscation can be either a CapitalCall or Distribution. A CapitalCall is a ITransaction but has a few additional properties. A CapitalCallItem is a ITransactionItem with a few additional properties. A CapitalCall has a collection of CapitalCallItems. Likewise, there exists a Distribution class with a collection of DistributionItem.
I have tried making the Transaction interface generic:
interface ITransactionBase<TItem>
where TItem: ITransactionItem
{
List<TItem> ITransactionItems
{
get;
set;
}
}
This works perfectly when I implement it:
class CapitalCall : ITransactionBase<CapitalCallItem>
Now all of the items in the collection are of type CapitalCallItem.
I run into the following problem. I would like to know the associate ITransaction on a ITranscationItem. I created a property on the ITransactionItem table of type ITranscation. When I use this property, it is no longer typed to the correct class:
var capitalCall = new CapitalCall();
var trans = capitalCall.TransactionItems[0].Transaction;
// trans is now of the base type ITransaction, instead of typed to CapitalCall.
I have tried making the ITransactionLineItem interface use generics as well, but I get into a recursive generic nightmare when I try to declare it. What is the correct way to model this?
Would this work:
interface ITransaction<TAction, TItems>
where TItems : ITransactionItem<TAction, TItems>
where TAction : ITransaction<TAction, TItems>
interface ITransactionItem<TAction, TItems>
where TItems : ITransactionItem<TAction, TItems>
where TAction : ITransaction<TAction, TItems>
I am confused as to how I could then use the interface by itself- what if I want a collection of mixed ITransactionItem, without specifying a type? Also I should add that I have base Transaction / Transaction item classes that implement the interface, and CapitalCall / Dist inherit from.
Yes, this sort of mutually recursive generic declaration will work, but it will make things very complicated - I know from experience. If you want an example of something similar, look at this declaration from my protocol buffers port:
public interface IMessage<TMessage, TBuilder> : IMessage<TMessage>
where TMessage : IMessage<TMessage, TBuilder>
where TBuilder : IBuilder<TMessage, TBuilder>
IBuilder<,> has the equivalent.
This declaration also demonstrates the answer to your last question: if some parts of your interface don't need to know the exact type of transaction, you can declare them in a "less generic" base interface. So you could have:
interface ITransaction<TAction, TItems> : ITransaction
where TItems : ITransactionItem<TAction, TItems>
where TAction : ITransaction<TAction, TItems>
for example, where ITransaction is a non-generic interface.
Again though, this is not for the faint of heart. In my case I can get away with it because almost no-one uses the raw interfaces - all the implementations are autogenerated, and client code uses those non-generic implementations. I would think long and hard before inflicting this on a developer to actually use day to day...
Yes the interfaces you wrote down should work as far as I can tell. Such "recursive" declarations work well with generics, but the question is whether you really need to make those generic in the first place? Recursive declarations are something which is not often used and may therefore be hard to grasp for other people using your classes.
As for using the interface for itself, you can still make a less generic interface and also implement it.

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