Generic type conversion FROM string

Question

I have a class that I want to use to store "properties" for another class. These properties simply have a name and a value. Ideally, what I would like is to be able to add typed properties, so that the "value" returned is always of the type that I want it to be.

The type should always be a primitive. This class subclasses an abstract class which basically stores the name and value as string. The idea being that this subclass will add some type-safety to the base class (as well as saving me on some conversion).

So, I have created a class which is (roughly) this:

public class TypedProperty<DataType> : Property
{
    public DataType TypedValue
    {
        get { // Having problems here! }
        set { base.Value = value.ToString();}
    }
}

So the question is:

Is there a "generic" way to convert from string back to a primitive?

I can't seem to find any generic interface that links the conversion across the board (something like ITryParsable would have been ideal!).

Answer 1

I am not sure whether I understood your intentions correctly, but let's see if this one helps.

public class TypedProperty<T> : Property where T : IConvertible
{
    public T TypedValue
    {
        get { return (T)Convert.ChangeType(base.Value, typeof(T)); }
        set { base.Value = value.ToString();}
    }
}