Let's say I have a generic class as follows:
public class GeneralPropertyMap<T>
{
}
In some other class I have a method that takes in an array of GeneralPropertyMap<T>
. In Java, in order to take in an array that contains any type of GeneralPropertyMap
the method would look like this:
private void TakeGeneralPropertyMap(GeneralPropertyMap<?>[] maps)
{
}
We use the wildcard so that later we can call TakeGeneralPropertyMap
passing a bunch of GeneralPropertyMap
with any type for T
each, like this:
GeneralPropertyMap<?>[] maps = new GeneralPropertyMap<?>[3];
maps[0] = new GeneralPropertyMap<String>();
maps[1] = new GeneralPropertyMap<Integer>();
maps[2] = new GeneralPropertyMap<Double>();
//And finally pass the array in.
TakeGeneralPropertyMap(maps);
I'm trying to figure out an equivalent in C# with no success. Any ideas?
Generics in C# make stronger guarantees than generics in Java. Therefore, to do what you want in C#, you have to let the GeneralPropertyMap<T>
class inherit from a non-generic version of that class (or interface).
public class GeneralPropertyMap<T> : GeneralPropertyMap
{
}
public class GeneralPropertyMap
{
// Only you can implement it:
internal GeneralPropertyMap() { }
}
Now you can do:
private void TakeGeneralPropertyMap(GeneralPropertyMap[] maps)
{
}
And:
GeneralPropertyMap[] maps = new GeneralPropertyMap[3];
maps[0] = new GeneralPropertyMap<String>();
maps[1] = new GeneralPropertyMap<Integer>();
maps[2] = new GeneralPropertyMap<Double>();
TakeGeneralPropertyMap(maps);