I have a simple scenario that may or may not be possible. I have a class that contains an integer, for this purpose I'll make it as simple as possible:
public class Number
{
public int Value {get; set;}
public string Name {get; set;}
}
public static void Print(int print)
{
Console.WriteLine(print);
}
public static string Test()
{
Number num = new Number (9, "Nine");
Print(num); //num "overloads" by passing its integer Value to Print.
}
// Result
// 9
How do I make the Test() function work as I have coded it? Is this even possible? I think this can be done with the explicit/implicit operator but I can't figure it out.
Try something like this
public static implicit operator int(Number num)
{
return num.Value;
}
class Number
{
public static implicit operator int(Number n)
{
return n.Value;
}
}
Implicit conversion
// Implicit conversion. num long can
// hold any value an int can hold, and more!
int num = 2147483647;
long bigNum = num;
Explicit Conversion
class Test
{
static void Main()
{
double x = 1234.7;
int a;
// Cast double to int.
a = (int)x;
System.Console.WriteLine(a);
}
}
Hope this may help you.
Implicit type conversion: Implicit type conversion takes place between smaller to larger integral types but not vice-versa or between derived class and base class. Conversion takes place in type safe manner by C# and no data loss takes place.
For example,
int a = 10;
long b = a;
float f = a;
Explicit type conversion: Explicit type conversion done by using built-in C# functions. Data may be lost while explicit type conversion, means if we convert double to int then precision may be lost. Explicit type conversion require casting. To do a casting, need to specify the type that you are casting to in front of the value or variable to be converted.
For example,
double d = 10.20;
int a = (int)d;
//Output: 10
To understand in details follow C# Basics - C# Type Conversion
Related
Basically I want to use my own types instead of primitives like int/double, but still pass around these primitive values. Something like:
interface IInt {} // My interface to represent int. If I could fake so "int" implements this, all would work.
interface IPostNumber : IInt {} // Post number is an int. But int is not type safe enough for me.
void MyFunction(IPostNumber postNumber); // My function that should accept int/IPostNumber.
MyFunction(42); // This could also work with implicit conversion, but not allowed for interfaces:(
From ispiro's suggestion I found something that should cover everything.
So I declare my interfaces independent of underlying representation, e.g.
public interface IPostNumber{}
public interface IPostNumberFrom : IPostNumber{}
public interface IPostNumberTo : IPostNumber{}
These have full interface generality such as multiple inheritance. Then the data representation is done with generic classes with implicit conversion:
public class CInt<T>
{
public int value;
public static implicit operator int(CInt<T> d) => d.value;
public static implicit operator CInt<T>(int b) => new CInt<T>() { value = b };
}
Functions that accepts IPostNumber with int, is done as such:
private int TestPostNumberInt(CInt<IPostNumber> i) => i;
private int TestPostNumberFrom(CInt<IPostNumberFrom> i) => i;
CInt<IPostNumber> a = 4; // Works
Assert.Equal(1, TestPostNumberInt(1)); // Works
Assert.Equal(1, TestPostNumberFrom(a)); // Don't compile with IPostNumber into IPostNumberFrom
Now I can always declare CString<IPostNumber>, if some post numbers are represented with string. Or a function could accept the IPostNumber interface itself, if I make some class of it. Now one little issue is that if I want to pass CInt<IPostNumberFrom> to TestPostNumber, the method must be generic with T : IPostNumber, like this:
private int TestPostNumberInt<T>(CInt<T> i) where T : IPostNumber => i;
private int TestPostNumberIntFrom<T>(CInt<T> i) where T : IPostNumberFrom => i;
and then the generic type will not be detected while using implicit conversion (must cast). But we'll see if this is a big deal.
Also for later consideration: I will have class CJSON<T> : CString<T>. From what I see it works, though argubly CJSON could have different representations as well, like byte[] in some context. (But this is taking things far). So just need to think hard about representation vs. interfaces for my domain concepts.
I think what you might be looking for are implicit operators, but unfortunately I believe they're not supported for interfaces in the C# language specification. You can do this with subclasses if need be. Here's an example:
public class MyInt
{
int SomeValue;
public TestInt(int i)
{
SomeValue = i;
}
public static implicit operator MyInt(int i)
{
return new MyInt(i);
}
public static implicit operator int(MyInt myInt)
{
return myInt.SomeValue;
}
}
To assign using an implicit operator, you can do this:
MyInt n = 3;
int x = n;
See: implicit operator using interfaces
Is it this you're looking for?
public class IInt
{
public int TheInt;
public IInt(int theInt)
{
TheInt = theInt;
}
}
and then either use:
IInt i = new IInt(42);
MyFunction(i);
or define MyFunction for int and then use:
IInt i = new IInt(42);
MyFunction(i.TheInt);
Just one more idea:
public class IInt<T> where T : struct
{
public T TheInt;
public IInt(T theInt)
{
TheInt = theInt;
}
}
You can create an extension method but that method should be explicitly called.
I'm very fresh to C#
Currently learning Operator overloading
i'm trying to do something like this:
string val = 500; (I can't implicitly)
and then
Number n1 = val;
I manages to get the Number n1 = someintvalue, for instance:
Number n1 = 500;
like this:
public struct Number
{
public int Value { get; set; }
public Number(int Val)
{
Value = Val;
}
public static implicit operator Number(int num)
{
return new Number(num);
}
}
However, when trying to make Number n1 = val; (when val is a string)
I simply cant since the first line cant compile:
string val = 500;
and the following wont work:
public static implicit operator string(int A)
{
return new string(A);
}
because of 1 error which i can not understand
1)User-defined conversion must convert to or from the enclosing type
by the way i get the idea of op overload
underthis specific case of: return new Number(num);
I simply init the ctor
still need some more fundemental understanding
thx ahead!
I presume the function you quote is within the Number class. You have added a conversion operator from an int to a string within that class, which is not legal. You can only add operators that convert to or from the type they're defined in, such as:
public static implicit operator string(Number A)
{
return new string(A.Value);
}
which will fail because string does not have a constructor that takes an int. You could do:
public static implicit operator string(Number A)
{
return A.ToString();
}
But the standard way to "convert" to a string is to overload the ToString method, which the compiler often calls automatically when a conversion to string is requested:
public override string ToString()
{
return Value.ToString();
}
For example, if I have an object such as:
public class MyObject
{
public MyObject(int initialValue)
{
this.InitialValue = initialValue;
this.CurrentValue = initialValue;
}
public int InitialValue { get; set; }
public int CurrentValue { get; set; }
public static implicit operator MyObject(int someValue)
{
MyObject result = new MyObject(someValue);
return result;
}
}
Would it be possible to, in the implicit cast, keep the initial value if there was one and only update the current value?
The idea would be to do something like this:
MyObject test = 4; // Both InitialValue and CurrentValue are now 4.
test = 5; // InitialValue is 4 but CurrentValue is now 5.
It's a long shot and I don't think it would be possible but if anyone out there has any brilliant ideas to achieve this I'd appreciate it.
Thanks!
You can cast without making any assignment. One example of this would be when calling a function:
void SomeFunction(MyObject passedValue) { /* ... */ }
Could be called via your implicit cast like this:
SomeFunction(5);
And no assignment ever takes place.
Even when assignments do occur, remember that you assign to variables, not to objects. In a sense, the object you're asking for in this case is really the result variable.
I notice that an implicit operator is required to be called static but it actually is not really static at all... How come the implicit operator cannot be accessed statically but it can be accessed through an instance. This is the complete opposite of static. Suppose I wanted a static static implicit operator so that I could implicitly convert the static states of a class.
For example
a = new b(); // implicitly converts b to a.
a = b(); // implicitly convert the static states of b to a.
So for example b is a non-static class because it has a form but for all intents and purposes it is static and all instances are sharing the same information so I want to implicitly convert the class' static internals.
I will try to go into more detail of my example since Jeff thinks it makes no sense.
class b displays a dialog form, but it saves all the information entered into static variables. This is because the instances of b are only to display the dialog form and the data entered is one logical block of data(there is only one logical instance of the data entered). All the static variables fit directly into class a and so I can seamlessly convert the static variables in b to an instance of a class, however I would like to use implicit operator for this task instead of having a separate method. But it laments me that I cannot have an actual static implicit operator. Perhaps I am misunderstanding the word static and I am only using it in terms of how it works with methods and classes.
If an operator was not static, it could not handle null operands.
This applies equally to the case of an implicit conversion operator:
public class MyClass
{
public MyClass(int x)
{
this.X = x;
}
public int X { get; private set; }
public static implicit operator int(MyClass operand)
{
if (operand == null)
{
return 0;
}
return operand.X;
}
}
internal class Program
{
internal static void Main(string[] args)
{
MyClass x = null;
int y = x; // What instance would a non-static operator use here?
}
}
In C#, all operator definitions are static, see for instance http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa288467(v=vs.71).aspx
-Binary operator definitions, of course, because it would be arbitrary to declare one or the other to be this.
-Unary operator definitions, to match the theme of binary operator definitions being static.
It is just convention that it is done this way.
No operator works on the 'static state' of a class (except possibly typeof). In other words it's not possible to do anything like this:
var result = System.Int32 + System.Int32;
Operators only work on instances of a class.
int a = ..., b = ...;
var result = a + b;
All operators are necessarily static, so there's no need to disambiguate between 'normal static' operators and 'static static' operators.
You might consider using a singleton pattern. Something like this:
public class Foo
{
public int Member { get; set; }
private static Foo instance = new Foo();
public static Foo Instance { get { return instance; } }
private Foo()
{
}
public static implicit operator int(Foo foo)
{
return foo.Member;
}
}
Then you can use it as:
int a = Foo.Instance;
Here's a second answer from me, trying to guess at your underlying problem (instead of answering the question in the title, as I did in my first answer):
From the editted question and comments, it looks like you are trying to:
ensure that there is only a single instance of an InputBox class.
Convert data in the input box class to a string.
I'd make sure that you really need to enforce only a single instance of the InputBox class, but if that requirement is well founded then you could do something like this, using the Singleton pattern, and overriding the ToString instance method.:
class InputBox
{
static InputBox Instance = new InputBox();
int someNumber;
string someText;
private InputBox()
{
}
// ...
public override string ToString()
{
return someNumber.ToString() + " " + someText;
}
}
Usage:
string result = InputBox.Instance.ToString();
Addendum:
If it's really all about the syntax you want to use, you could add a delegate like this:
// Please don't really do this ;)
Func<string> InputBox = () => MyNamespace.InputBox.Instance.ToString();
And then use it like this:
string result = InputBox();
But anyone reading your code would cry ;)
public class SampleClass {
public int value;
public SampleClass(int v)
{ value = v; }
}
// i want to access value like this
SampleClass sc = new SampleClass(5);
int i = sc;
Is there a way to do this in C#? I don't want to have to say sc.Value every time i need to access the value.
Use an implicit conversion:
public class SampleClass {
public int value;
public SampleClass(int v)
{ value = v; }
public static implicit operator int (SampleClass c)
{
return c.value;
}
}
You should look into properties however.
You can do it by including an implicit conversion from SampleClass to int:
public static implicit operator int(SampleClass s)
{
return s.value;
}
... but I would strongly recommend that you don't do so, or at least that you think very carefully beforehand. Implicit conversions make it harder to reason about the language in various ways (consider things like overload resolution, for example).
Very, very occasionally it's a good idea to introduce implicit conversions - for example LINQ to XML makes great use of it with string to XNamespace and string to XName conversions - but I wouldn't do it here just to avoid having to use .Value.
It's slightly more reasonable to make an explicit conversion (just change implicit to explicit in the operator conversion) in that at least that makes it clear-ish what's going on in the calling code... but at that point there's really not much difference in source size between a cast to int and using .Value.
(And as suggested elsewhere, don't make fields public - use properties instead.)
Take a look at this. You need to overload the implicit cast operator for int.
Yes, it's possible. You need to implement implicit for your SampleClass:
Here it is:
public class SampleClass
{
public int Value;
public SampleClass(int v)
{
Value = v;
}
public static implicit operator int(SampleClass d)
{
return d.Value;
}
}