I try to write a generic type casting method which will work for both complex objects and arrays of objects. Below is my code:
public void Test()
{
MyClass2[] t2 = m.MapItem<MyClass1[], MyClass2[]>(t1);
return;
}
public K MapItem<T, K>(T source)
{
if (typeof(T).IsArray && typeof(K).IsArray)
{
Type ek = typeof(K).GetElementType();
IList sourceList = (IList)source;
List<object> tmp = new List<object>();
for (int i = 0; i < sourceList.Count; i++)
{
var k = Activator.CreateInstance(ek);
tmp.Add(k);
}
var resultObj = tmp.ToArray();
MapItem(source, resultObj);
//Here i have resultObj is an object[] of the results,
//which is to be casted result type K
//BUT DOES NOT WORK!!!
return (K)Convert.ChangeType(resultObj, typeof(K));
}
else
{
MethodInfo myMapperMethod = GetMyMapperMethodForThisType(typeof(T), typeof(K));
return (K)myMapperMethod.Invoke(null, new object[] { source });
}
}
public K MapItem<T, K>(T source, K dest)
{
if (typeof(T).IsArray && typeof(K).IsArray)
{
IList sourceList = (IList)source;
IList destList = (IList)dest;
for (int i = 0; i < sourceList.Count; i++)
{
MapItem(sourceList[i], destList[i]);
}
return dest;
}
else
{
MethodInfo myMapperMethod = GetMyMapperMethodForThisType(typeof(T),typeof(K));
return (K) myMapperMethod.Invoke(null, new object[] { source, dest });
}
}
private MethodInfo GetMyMapperMethodForThisType(Type type1, Type type2)
{
//some code to find appropriate function...
}
But, return (K) Convert.ChangeType(y, typeof(K));
cannot cast from object[]
to K
. How can I do this casting to return K
from object[]
?
Note: json serialization works but I don't want to use reflection or serialization.
string jsonStr = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(resultObj);
return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<K>(jsonStr);
Fundamentally I think you want to avoid using List<object>
at all. You should just create the array of the right size:
IList dest = Array.CreateInstance(ek, sourceList.Count);
for (int i = 0; i < sourceList.Count; i++)
{
dest[i] = Activator.CreateInstance(ek);
}
K result = (K) dest;
// Note that this is calling MapItem<T, K>, not MapItem<T, object[]>
MapItem(source, result);
return result;
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