Question

C#:Convert IList<object> to List<object>

Asked by: karakav

Is there a way I can convert IList<object> to List<object>? I tried explicit conversion but I failed.

IList<object> var1 = .....
((List<object)var1).Find(.....);

                                  
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Asked On
2008-10-10 at 02:23:00ID23803540
Tags

ilist

,

list

,

convert

,

object

,

c

Topics

.NET Framework 2.x

,

Programming for ASP.NET

,

Microsoft Visual C#.Net

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
21

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Answers

 

by: Priest04Posted on 2008-10-10 at 02:37:11ID: 22685380

ILIst<T> coll1 = GetData();
List<T> coll2 = (List<T>)coll1;

or you can do it in single line, when getting data;

List<T> coll2 = GetData() as List<T>; // where GetData returns IList<T>

Goran

 

by: karakavPosted on 2008-10-10 at 02:57:47ID: 22685454

Sorry, I made a Mystake in my question. I would like to convert IList<IEntity> to List<Entity>. Please note that it is a collection of interfaces.

 

by: ajollyPosted on 2008-10-10 at 03:04:26ID: 22685489

use var1.ToList<> method.

 

by: karakavPosted on 2008-10-10 at 03:13:19ID: 22685518

I can't. I am using C# 2.0.

 

by: ajollyPosted on 2008-10-10 at 03:38:11ID: 22685607

IList<object> var1 = .....;
List<object> var2 = new List<object>(var1);

 

by: Priest04Posted on 2008-10-10 at 03:42:35ID: 22685631

why doesnt it work karakav, what exception is raised? It should work.

You need to provide some info in order to be helped.

 

by: karakavPosted on 2008-10-10 at 04:17:53ID: 22685813

Sorry, I thought my question was clear. Let me update again. When I use explicit cast I get an InvalidCastException. When I cast using the cast keyword, i just get a null collection.

 

by: ajollyPosted on 2008-10-10 at 04:19:54ID: 22685829

did it work ?
IList<object> var1 = .....;
List<object> var2 = new List<object>(var1);

 

by: karakavPosted on 2008-10-10 at 04:21:21ID: 22685837

Dear ajolly,

You solution doesn't work because I use a collection of interfaces. And frankly speaking, I don't understand why this should not work because it works when I replace the interface with the object that inherit that interface.

 

by: Priest04Posted on 2008-10-10 at 05:56:49ID: 22686331

So, you dont get compilation errors, only runtime exception? And Entity positively implements IEntity?

 

by: karakavPosted on 2008-10-14 at 00:16:04ID: 22709170

As I said before, I get an InvalidCastException, which means I get it at runtime.

 

by: Priest04Posted on 2008-10-14 at 01:35:10ID: 22709483

You said it before, but it doesnt makes sence. I have just created a sample that uses IEntity and Entity, just to confirm that it is possible.

So, the answer to your question is: yes, it is possible, and is straightforward, as you can see the code bellow.

interface IEntity
{
    string PropertyA{get;set;}
    string PropertyB {get;set;}
    string MethodA();
}
 
class Entity : IEntity
{
    string _PropertyA;
    string _PropertyB;
 
    public Entity(string propertyA, string propertyB)
    {
        _PropertyA = propertyA;
        _PropertyB = PropertyA;
    }
 
    #region IEntity Members
 
    public string PropertyA
    {
        get
        {
            return _PropertyA;
        }
        set
        {
            _PropertyA = value; ;
        }
    }
 
    public string PropertyB
    {
        get
        {
            return _PropertyB;
        }
        set
        {
            _PropertyB = value;
        }
    }
 
    public string MethodA()
    {
        return PropertyA + " " + PropertyB;
    }
 
    #endregion
 
    public bool PropertyC
    {
        get { return true; }
    }
 
    public void MethodB()
    {
            
    }
}
 
IList<IEntity> list = new List<IEntity>();
 
list.Add((IEntity)(new Entity("a", "b")));
list.Add((IEntity)(new Entity("c", "d")));
list.Add((IEntity)(new Entity("e", "f")));
 
List<Entity> list2 = list as List<Entity>;

                                              
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by: karakavPosted on 2008-10-15 at 00:49:52ID: 22718714

Sorry Priest04. I reall am sorry. I just found out that actually the object I have is a IList that has IEntity object inside . I get it from a iBatis query and for a reason I don't know, it has to come out this way. I can't declare IList<IEntity> and then execute the query and I will get a conversion error. But suprisingly I cant loop through the list in the snippet.

My problem still however, how do I convert that IList in a List<Entity>?

IList theList = ...// query from iBatis
foreach(IEntity in theList)
{
//Do processing here.
}

                                              
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by: Priest04Posted on 2008-10-15 at 10:14:24ID: 22723389

Have you tried this?

IList theList = ...// query from iBatis
List<Entity> list = new List<Entity>();
 
foreach(object obj in theList)
{
    list.Add((Entity)obj);
}

                                              
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by: karakavPosted on 2008-10-15 at 10:23:40ID: 22723456

This is actually what I am using but I wanted another approach that doesn't require iterations.

 

by: Priest04Posted on 2008-10-15 at 11:36:26ID: 22724152

:)

try this, altough I dont know how much effective is your approach

List<Entity> list = new List<Entity>((Entity[]) theList.ToArray( typeof(Entity)));

 

by: Priest04Posted on 2008-10-15 at 12:31:32ID: 22724816

Btw, I have assumed that collection theList is of type ArrayList.

ArrayList theList = ...// query from iBatis

                                              
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by: karakavPosted on 2008-10-15 at 23:20:14ID: 22728441

What do you mean about  the effectiveness of the approach?

 

by: Priest04Posted on 2008-10-16 at 02:00:09ID: 22729002

I am not familiar with the internal mechanism of the ToArray method, but could be that the code is literating twice, so the performance can drop. Test it to see which one runs faster, and use the faster onr, not the "better looking" one.

btw

>> This is actually what I am using but I wanted another approach that doesn't require iterations.

All methods reqire iterations, its just weather you will do it in the code, or they will provide a method that does an iteration.

And there is no other way to achieve what you want.

 

by: karakavPosted on 2008-10-16 at 03:07:49ID: 31504940

For the time being the iteration works fine, so I will stick to that.

 

by: Justice777Posted on 2009-10-29 at 16:25:40ID: 25699158

What you are talking about is Covariance. It is handled in .net 4.0, but unfortunately, 2.0 does not, so iteration from one list to the other is the only means I know of.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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