Casting to generic Version of Class ends in InvalidCastException - c#

I'm trying to cache some classes in a List.
Because this class has a generic Property, I created a none-generic Type of the class which is the Type of this List.
So my BOs looks like this:
public class Model<T> : Model where T : class
{
public T Cls
{
get { return (T) ClsObject; }
set { ClsObject = value; }
}
}
public class Model
{
public List<ModelProperty> Properties { get; set; }
public string ModelName { get; set; }
public Type ClsType { get; set; }
public object ClsObject { get; set; }
}
So here's the Caching-Class:
private static List<Model> CachedModels {get; set;}
public static Model<T> GetCachedVersion<T>(this T cls) where T : class
{
var ret = CachedModels.FirstOrDefault(x => x.ClsType == typeof(T));
return ret != null ? (Model<T>)ret : null;
}
But the casting from the GetCachedVersion-Method crashes and I don't understand why.
Thanks for any tips!

If you are looking for the first object of type Model<T> you could change your code to
public static Model<T> GetCachedVersion<T>(this T cls) where T : class
{
return CachedModels.OfType<T>.FirstOrDefault();
}
There are a number of things you might wish to consider. Because if things were as you expected them to be your code should work no different from this.
1) tie the ClsType to the ClsObject or T
2) remove the setter (or otherwise hide it from external code) of ClsObject since it violates the invariant of Cls. You can set the Cls property to something that's not a T
public class Model {
public List<ModelProperty> Properties { get; set; }
public string ModelName { get; set; }
public virtual Type ClsType { get {
ClsObject.GetType();
} }
public object ClsObject { get; protected set; }
}
public class Model<T> : Model {
public override Type ClsType { get{
return typeof(T);
}}
public T Cls
{
get { return (T) ClsObject; }
set { ClsObject = value; }
}
}

1st guesses:
Are you by any chance using a nullable type anywhere in your code like Model?
See if you are setting ClsType properly.

It looks like you would have to create a Helper-Class which created the generic Type through reflections. There's no other way to downcast besides hardcode it.

Related

How would one handle different return types when overriding abstract method

Say I have the following classes:
public abstract class A
{
protected abstract ReturnA Foo();
public void UseFoo()
{
var foo = Foo();
if (foo != null)
{
//logic here
}
}
}
public class B : A
{
protected override ReturnA Foo()
{
// Implementation specific code that returns ReturnB instead.
}
}
public class C : A
{
protected override ReturnA Foo()
{
// Implementation specific code that returns ReturnC instead.
}
}
public class ReturnA
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Address { get; set; }
}
public class ReturnB
{
public string Id { get; set; }
public string PhoneNumber { get; set; }
}
public class ReturnC
{
public Guid Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
}
I know that C# does not support derived return types, but this is not what I need either.
Classes B and C are implementation specific and therefore their return types have nothing to do with eachother.
The reason why I would want to handle this, is because the method UseFoo in class A may have some generic checks and other generic logic, that has nothing to do with the returned object itself.
So I want to "outsource" only the code that is implementation specific and not have to instead make UseFoo abstract and have every implementation write the same generic code.
Is there any way to solve this at all?
EDIT: Neither ReturnC nor ReturnB are derived from ReturnA. Updated with examples.

How to serialize to XML generic classes?

I have these interfaces:
public interface IParameter
{
string Name { get; }
object UntypedValue { get; set; }
}
public interface IValidationPolicy<T>
{
bool Validate(T toValidate);
T Default();
}
A parameter base class
[Serializable]
public abstract class ParameterBase : IParameter
{
public abstract string Name { get; protected set; }
public abstract object UntypedValue { get; set; }
}
A parameter concrete class (I have more but them are quite similar):
public class Parameter<T, V> : ParameterBase where V : IValidationPolicy<T>
{
[XmlAttribute("Name")]
public override string Name { get; protected set; }
[XmlIgnore]
protected V validation_policy_;
[XmlElement("AnyValidation", Type = typeof(AnyValidation<>))]
[XmlElement("MultiOptionsValidation", Type = typeof(MultiOptionsValidation<>))]
[XmlElement("RangeValidation", Type = typeof(RangeValidation<>))]
[XmlElement("TextValidation", Type = typeof(TextValidation))]
public V Validation
{
get
{
return validation_policy_;
}
}
[XmlIgnore]
protected T value_;
[XmlElement("Value")]
public T Value
{
get
{
return value_;
}
set
{
if (validation_policy_.Validate(value))
{
value_ = value;
}
}
}
[XmlIgnore]
public object UntypedValue
{
get
{
return Value;
}
set
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
}
}
And an XMLParameter class:
public class XMLParameter : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public string Description { get; set; }
public int PasswordLevel { get; set; }
public bool Enabled { get; set; }
public ParameterBase Parameter { get; set; }
}
How can I serialize and deserialize a list of XMLParameters?
In particular I have problem on serializing the IParameter objects.
Since the interface is not serializable as first attempt I created a base abstract class ParameterBase and derive the Parameter from it.
But when I try to serialize it in a test method:
var validation = new RangeValidation<int>() { MinValue = 1, MaxValue = 6 };
var parameter = new Parameter<int, RangeValidation<int>>();
parameter.Initialize("NumberOfTrays", validation);
parameter.Value = 6;
XElement par = validation.ToXElement<Parameter<int, RangeValidation<int>>>();
I got an exception: Error at reflection of type 'ConfigurableLibray.Parameter'2[System.Int32,ConfigurableLibray.RangeValidation'1[System.Int32]]'
The inner exception says that ConfigurableLibray.Parameter'2[T,V] is not supported
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance for any suggestion!
I solved implementing manually the serialization and deserialization of the classes using reflection.

Explicit implementation of properties

What i want to achieve is simple, i have an Interface IDatasource, which has a property called DatasourceSettings
public interface IDatasource
{
DatasourceSettings DatasourceSettings { get; set; }
}
The implementing Class looks like this
public class TestDatasource : IDatasource
{
public DatasourceSettings IDatasource.DatasourceSettings { get { return DatasourceSettings; } set { DatasourceSettings = (TestDatasourceSettings)value; } }
public TestDatasourceSettings DatasourceSettings { get; set; }
}
As you may possibly see, the property is first implemented explicit, and it should return the DatasourceSettings Property of the class itself
So on, here is what i want to achieve
var ds = new TestDatasource();
if (ds.DatasourceSettings is TestDatasourceSettings &&
((IDatasource)ds).DatasourceSettings is DatasourceSettings)
{
// should be true
}
The Error i get :
The modifier 'public' is not valid for this item
So What's wrong here?
Remove the public from
public DatasourceSettings IDatasource.DatasourceSettings
Because it is explicitly implementing an interface method it is a-priori public
public class TestDatasource : IDatasource
{
DatasourceSettings IDatasource.DatasourceSettings { get { return DatasourceSettings; } set { DatasourceSettings = (TestDatasourceSettings)value; } }
public TestDatasourceSettings DatasourceSettings { get; set; }
}
Had the same mistake recently... turns out if the implementation is explicit you don't write access modifier.

Classes with the same interface but different types for a property

I would like to have this kind of design :
public interface IDifferentTypes
{
}
public class IntegerType : IDifferentTypes
{
public int value { get; set; }
}
public class StringType : IDifferentTypes
{
public string value { get; set; }
}
public class DateTimeType : IDifferentTypes
{
public DateTime value { get; set; }
}
but with the property 'value' defined in the interface.
So I can call something like that :
IDifferentTypes someInt = GetSomeInt(); // GetSomeInt() returns a IntegerType object
Assert.AreEqual(5, someInt.value);
IDifferentTypes someString = GetSomeString(); // GetSomeString() returns a StringType object
Assert.AreEqual("ok", someString.value);
Problem is that the type of value is different for each implementation, what is the best way to deal with that?
You could define a generic interface (but it will have to be a property, or, more strictly, it can't be a field):
public interface IHasValue<T> {
T Value { get; }
}
Where T is the type, a placeholder, if you will, and you can do:
public class HasStringValue : IHasValue<string> {
public string Value { get; private set; }
}
Use generics if you can:
var someInt = GetSomeInt();
Assert.AreEqual(5, someInt.Value);
var someString = GetSomeString();
Assert.AreEqual("ok", someString.Value);
// ...
public interface IDifferentTypes<T>
{
T Value { get; set; }
}
public class IntegerType : IDifferentTypes<int>
{
public int Value { get; set; }
}
public class StringType : IDifferentTypes<string>
{
public string Value { get; set; }
}
public class DateTimeType : IDifferentTypes<DateTime>
{
public DateTime Value { get; set; }
}
interface IDifferentTypes
{
Object Value { get; set; }
}
class StringType : IDifferentTypes
{
string _value;
public Object Value
{
get
{
return _value;
}
set
{
_value = value as string;
}
}
}
But this means that every time you use StringType.Value you're going to need to recast it. You may want to also expose a public accessor of the specific type. You also may want to add some protections against assigning the wrong type:
class StringType : IDifferentTypes
{
public String StringProperty { get; set; }
public Object Value
{
get
{
// works with any type that can auto cast to `Object`
return StringProperty;
}
set
{
// Optional
if( typeof(string) != value.GetType() )
{
throw new MyException();
}
// works for any nullable type
StringProperty = value as string;
// OR
// throws an exception if conversion fails
StringProperty = (string)value;
}
}
}

C# Casting generics type to right type

I have this classes and interfaces:
public class XContainer
{
public List<IXAttribute> Attributes { get; set; }
}
public interface IXAttribute
{
string Name { get; set; }
}
public interface IXAttribute<T> : IXAttribute
{
T Value { get; set; }
}
public class XAttribute<T> : IXAttribute<T>
{
public T Value { get; set; }
}
I need to iterate over XContainer.Attributes and get property Value but I need to cast IXAttribute to correct generic representation like XAttribute<string> or XAttribute<int> but I don't want to use if-else if-else statement to check it like if XContainerl.Attributes[0] is XAttribute<string> then cast...
Is here a better way to do it?
There is a better way to do it.
Assuming you want to keep the current overall design, you could alter your non-generic interface and implementation as follows:
public interface IXAttribute
{
string Name { get; set; }
object GetValue();
}
public class XAttribute<T> : IXAttribute<T>
{
public T Value { get; set; }
public object GetValue()
{
return Value;
}
}
Then your iterator would just access GetValue(), no casting needed.
That said, I think the design might not be the best for what you're doing.
You could also define a generic extension method
public static class XAttributeExtensions
{
public T GetValueOrDefault<T>(this IXAttribute attr)
{
var typedAttr = attr as IXAttribute<T>;
if (typedAttr == null) {
return default(T);
}
return typedAttr.Value;
}
}
Then you can call it with (assuming T is int)
int value = myAttr.GetValueOrDefault<int>();
The reason for implementing it as an extension method is that it will work with any implementation of the non generic interface IXAttribute.

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