Let’s say I have a method that I want to make generic, and so far it had a big switch case of types.

For an simplified example,

switch (field.GetType()) {
case Type.Int: Method((int)x)...
case Type.NullInt: Method((int?)x)...
case Type.Long: Method((long)x)...

I’d like to be able to just call my GenericMethod<T>(field) instead and I’m wondering if this is possible and how would I go around doing it.

GenericMethod(field)

public void GenericMethod<T>(T field)

Can I use reflection to get a type and the pass it into the generic method somehow, is it possible to transform Type into <T>?

Can I have a method on the field object that will somehow give me a <T> type for use in my generic method?

Sorry for a confusing question, I’m not really sure how to phrase it correctly, but basically I want to get rid of switch cases and lots of manual coding when all I need is just the type (but that type can’t be passed as generic from parent class)

  • TwilightKiddy
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    5 months ago

    I don’t believe the first code sample is a valid C# code. Switch-case statements expect constants for case conditions and runtime types are not constants, obviously. What you can do is something like this:

    void MyMethod(object arg)
    {
        if (arg.GetType() == typeof(int))
            MyTypedMethod((int)arg);
        else if (arg.GetType() == typeof(int?))
            MyTypedMethod((int?)arg);
        else if (arg.GetType() == typeof(long))
            MyTypedMethod((long)arg);
    }
    

    This will work, but the problem here is that inheritance will fuck you up. All the types we check in this example are sealed and we don’t really have to worry about it in this case, but generally this code is… just bad.

    And yes, the correct way of implementing something like this is by using generic types. Starting from C# 7.0 we have this cool structure:

    void MyMethod<T>(T arg)
    {
        switch (arg)
        {
            case null:
                // Do something with null
                break;
            case int intArg:
                // Do something with intArg
                break;
            case long longArg:
                // Do something with longArg
                break;
        }
    }
    

    You’ll have to check for null separately, as you can’t use Nullable<> there, but overall, it looks much cleaner and handles inheritance properly for you.

    This is called pattern matching, you can read more about it here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/language-reference/operators/patterns

    • CynoOP
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      5 months ago

      The switch case was based on an enum but it is what I want to get rid of. In the end I ended up doing what you wrote there, expect instead of casting I’m just writing

      case Type.Int: return MyTypedMethod<int>(args)
      case Type.IntNull: return MyTypedMethod<int?>(args)
      // etc for another 10+ different types
      

      It just feels like I’m doing something wrong if i have to manually handle every case in a switch (or if else) statement and I was wondering how could I write, for example, a method that would do the conversion from Type.Long to System.Int64 for me, and then I just pass that type into the generic method instead of having to manually translate it into a type every time it is used.

      However, if I have to use reflection maybe hardcoding it manually every time is actually faster and easier to debug so maybe i’m just overthinking it.

      That c# 7 structure looks interesting but not sure it solves my issue, I need to get to the part where i have the generic type T in the first place. I dont know how to get a “T” out of a custom field indicating type, so to speak.

      edit: as for the invalid code, i just wrote it quickly as example but you are right. Pretend it says switch (field.SomeType) instead of it being a method

      • if i have to manually handle every case in a switch (or if else) statement and I was wondering how could I write, for example, a method that would do the conversion

        You could still do it that way with a switch. Only the case part needs to be constant…

        ` switch (field.GetType().ToString()) {

        case “Int”: Method((int)x)…

        case “NullInt”: Method((int?)x)…

        case “Long”: Method((long)x)… `

        Been a while since I last did this though - you may need to do string caseType=field.GetType().ToString() first, then do switch(caseType). I think from memory you can do it the other way though.

        P.S. I clicked on “code” (which just starts/ends with an apostrophe), but it doesn’t want to display as code - I don’t know why