Converting a piece of code from VB to C#

Alyanto
Alyanto used Ask the Experts™
on
A Year or so I wrote a piece of code in VB to allow me to have an array of objects that could be tested to sse if they existed i.e. not null.  I am trying to convert this to C#.  I have got the conversion this far.

    public class DataServices
    {
        public static T? Coalesce<T>(T Obj, params T[] Args)      
        {
            if (Obj != null && IsDBNull(Obj))
            {
                return Obj;
            }
            else 
            {
                foreach (T arg in Args )
                {
                    if (arg != null && IsDBNull(arg)) return arg; 
                }
            }
            return null;
         }

        public static Boolean IsDBNull(Object Value)
        {
            return DBNull.Value.Equals(Value);  
        }
    }

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The original looked like this.

 Public Shared Function Coalesce(Of T)(ByVal obj As T, ByVal ParamArray Args() As T) As T

        If obj IsNot Nothing AndAlso Not IsDBNull(obj) Then
            Return obj
        End If

        For Each arg As T In Args
            If arg IsNot Nothing AndAlso Not IsDBNull(obj) Then
                Return arg
            End If
        Next

        Return Nothing
    End Function

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The error I am getting is
Error      1      The type 'T' must be a non-nullable value type in order to use it as parameter 'T' in the generic type or method 'System.Nullable<T>'      C:\Users\carl.symington\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\DataServices\DataServices\DataServices.cs      11      26      DataServices

I suspect it is to do with where I have tried to put T? making T a nullable object.
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Lokesh B RDeveloper
Top Expert 2015

Commented:
Hi,

public static T Coalesce<T>(T Obj, params T[] Args)      
        {
            if (Obj != null && IsDBNull(Obj))
            {
                return Obj;
            }
            else 
            {
                foreach (T arg in Args )
                {
                    if (arg != null && IsDBNull(arg)) return arg; 
                }
            }
            return null;
         }

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Alyanto

Author

Commented:
Lokesh this causes the error

Error      1      Cannot convert null to type parameter 'T' because it could be a non-nullable value type. Consider using 'default(T)' instead.      C:\Users\carl.symington\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\DataServices\DataServices\DataServices.cs      24      20      DataServices
Alyanto

Author

Commented:
Just to be clear the C# version of IsDBNull is

        public static Boolean IsDBNull(Object Value)
        {
            return DBNull.Value.Equals(Value);  
        }

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Lokesh B RDeveloper
Top Expert 2015

Commented:
Hi,

This is the code i get when converted from VB to C#

public static T Coalesce<T>(T obj, params T[] Args)
{

	if (obj != null && !Information.IsDBNull(obj)) {
		return obj;
	}

	foreach (T arg in Args) {
		if (arg != null && !Information.IsDBNull(obj)) {
			return arg;
		}
	}

	return null;
}

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Éric MoreauSenior .Net Consultant
Top Expert 2016

Commented:
by definition, an object can be null so it doesn't need the ? (as opposed to date, int, ...). I think you just need to remove it
Alyanto

Author

Commented:
Eric the code that you suggested gives this error

    public class DataServices
    {
        public static T Coalesce<T>(T Obj, params T[] Args)      
        {
            if (Obj != null && IsDBNull(Obj))
            {
                return Obj;
            }
            else 
            {
                foreach (T arg in Args )
                {
                    if (arg != null && IsDBNull(arg)) return arg; 
                }
            }
            return null;
         }

        public static Boolean IsDBNull(Object Value)
        {
            return DBNull.Value.Equals(Value);  
        }
    }

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Error      1      Cannot convert null to type parameter 'T' because it could be a non-nullable value type. Consider using 'default(T)' instead.      C:\Users\carl.symington\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\DataServices\DataServices\DataServices.cs      24      20      DataServices
Éric MoreauSenior .Net Consultant
Top Expert 2016

Commented:
You also need to change (as indicated by the error)
return null;

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for 
return default(T);

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so the fuil method would read:
        public static T Coalesce<T>(T obj, params T[] args)
        {

            if (obj != null)
                return obj;

            foreach (T arg in args)
            {
                if (arg != null)
                    return arg;
            }

            return default(T);
        }

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Senior .Net Consultant
Top Expert 2016
Commented:
Alyanto

Author

Commented:
Excellent solution Eric, you have no idea how useful I have found a proper Coalese has been in a tight corner.

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