Casting List<> of derived class to List<> of base class?

[matty.hall@gmail.com]

I have two classes: a base class (BaseClass) and a class deriving from
it (DerivedClass). I have a List<DerivedCla ss> that for various
reasons needs to be of that type, and not a List<BaseClass> . However, I
need to cast that list to a List<BaseClass> and it is not working. The
code is below. I get the following exception:

"Unable to cast object of type 'System.Collect ions.Generic.Li st`1' to
type 'System.Collect ions.Generic.Li st`1'."

Replacing the line "baseClasse s = (List<BaseClass >) temp;" with
"baseClasse s = (List<BaseClass >) derivedClasses" causes the compiler to
show an error:

"Cannot convert type
'System.Collect ions.Generic.Li st<ConsoleAppli cation1.Derived Class>' to
'System.Collect ions.Generic.Li st<ConsoleAppli cation1.BaseCla ss>'"

Is there anyway to accomplish this? Code follows...


using System;
using System.Collecti ons.Generic;

namespace ConsoleApplicat ion1
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
List<DerivedCla ss> derivedClasses;
List<BaseClass> baseClasses;
object temp;

derivedClasses = new List<DerivedCla ss>();
temp = derivedClasses;
baseClasses = (List<BaseClass >) temp;
}
}

public abstract class BaseClass {}
public abstract class DerivedClass : BaseClass { }
}

[matty.hall@gmail.com]

Re: Casting List&lt;&gt; of derived class to List&lt;&gt; of base class?

One more thing...

I do know about List<>.ConvertA ll. However, I can't use this because
the type of the Derived class is not known at compile time (i.e. there
will be DerivedClassOne , DerivedClassTwo , etc and we don't know which
one it is because this conversion is actually happening in the base
class, which isn't a fact show in the code above, which I omitted to
keep the pasted code short).

The problem is that doing doing ConvertAll() with a Converter declared
as Converter<BaseC lass, BaseClass> throws a compile time error "The
type arguments for method
'System.Collect ions.Generic.Li st<ConsoleAppli cation1.Derived Class>.ConvertA ll<TOutput>(Sys tem.Converter<C onsoleApplicati on1.DerivedClas s,TOutput>)'
cannot be inferred from the usage. Try specifying the type arguments
explicitly."

Alternatively, at runtime I know the type of the derived class from
GetType(). However, I don't know how (or if it is even possible) to
declare a generic type using runtime type information (i.e. something
like Converter<this. GetType(), BaseClass>).

Any thoughts?

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

Re: Casting List&lt;&gt; of derived class to List&lt;&gt; of base class?

<matty.hall@gma il.com> wrote:[color=blue]
> I have two classes: a base class (BaseClass) and a class deriving from
> it (DerivedClass). I have a List<DerivedCla ss> that for various
> reasons needs to be of that type, and not a List<BaseClass> . However, I
> need to cast that list to a List<BaseClass> and it is not working. The
> code is below. I get the following exception:
>
> "Unable to cast object of type 'System.Collect ions.Generic.Li st`1' to
> type 'System.Collect ions.Generic.Li st`1'."
>
> Replacing the line "baseClasse s = (List<BaseClass >) temp;" with
> "baseClasse s = (List<BaseClass >) derivedClasses" causes the compiler to
> show an error:
>
> "Cannot convert type
> 'System.Collect ions.Generic.Li st<ConsoleAppli cation1.Derived Class>' to
> 'System.Collect ions.Generic.Li st<ConsoleAppli cation1.BaseCla ss>'"
>
> Is there anyway to accomplish this? Code follows...[/color]

No. List<DerivedCla ss> isn't derived from List<BaseClass> . If it were,
you'd be able to do:

List<String> x = new List<String>();
List<Object> y = x;

y.Add (new Object()); // Bang! x is only meant to contain strings...

--
Jon Skeet - <skeet@pobox.co m>

http://www.pobox.com/~skeet

If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

[matty.hall@gmail.com]

Re: Casting List&lt;&gt; of derived class to List&lt;&gt; of base class?

FWIW, this is what actually works:

using System;
using System.Collecti ons.Generic;

namespace ConsoleApplicat ion1
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
List<DerivedCla ss> derivedClasses;
BaseClass[] baseClasses;

derivedClasses = new List<DerivedCla ss>();
baseClasses = derivedClasses. ToArray();
}
}

public abstract class BaseClass { }
public class DerivedClass : BaseClass { }
}

[Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]]

Re: Casting List&lt;&gt; of derived class to List&lt;&gt; of base class?

Yes, that works, but the problem that Jon points out still exists. If
you tried to take baseClasses and populate a List<DerivedCla ss> with it, it
could fail at runtime. This is the risk you run if you have to go the other
way.

--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- casperOne@caspe rshouse.com

<matty.hall@gma il.com> wrote in message
news:1126496292 .673417.208690@ f14g2000cwb.goo glegroups.com.. .[color=blue]
> FWIW, this is what actually works:
>
> using System;
> using System.Collecti ons.Generic;
>
> namespace ConsoleApplicat ion1
> {
> class Program
> {
> static void Main(string[] args)
> {
> List<DerivedCla ss> derivedClasses;
> BaseClass[] baseClasses;
>
> derivedClasses = new List<DerivedCla ss>();
> baseClasses = derivedClasses. ToArray();
> }
> }
>
> public abstract class BaseClass { }
> public class DerivedClass : BaseClass { }
> }
>[/color]