So I'm just hacking around with a state machine type I was working on and mostly wanting to just try out the Activator.CreateInstance method to see what it was like, and I ran into a problem where I cant seem to use the where clause as I would think. I apologize ahead of time if I am just an idiot and everyone laughs me out of here. So I have 2 small classes.
public class TransitionContainer<TTransition, TStateTo> :
ITransitionContainer<TTransition, TStateTo>
where TTransition : ITransition
where TStateTo : IState
{
public TransitionContainer()
{
StateTo = typeof(TStateTo);
Transition = Activator.CreateInstance<TTransition>();
}
public Type StateTo { get; private set; }
public TTransition Transition { get; private set; }
}
as well as
public class StateContainer<T> : IStateContainer<T> where T : IState
{
private Dictionary<Type, TransitionContainer<ITransition, IState>> _transitions =
new Dictionary<Type, TransitionContainer<ITransition, IState>>();
public StateContainer()
{
State = Activator.CreateInstance<T>();
}
public T State { get; private set; }
public int TransitionCount
{
get { return _transitions.Count; }
}
public void AddTransition<TTransition, TStateTo>() where TTransition : ITransition, new()
where TStateTo : IState, new()
{
var transitionContainer= new TransitionContainer<TTransition, TStateTo>();
_transitions.Add(typeof(TTransition), transitionContainer);
}
So on the line _transitions.Add(typeof(TTransition), transitionContainer); I receive a cannot convert TransitionContainer<TTransition,TStateTo> expression to type TransitionContainer<ITransition,IState> error.
If I change the generic parameters to
var transitionContainer= new TransitionContainer<ITransition, IState>();
it works fine, but I wanted to use inherited types that are new() so I could be sure I could instantiate them.
Again I apologize if I'm doing something incredibly wrong, I was just kind of ran into a brick wall and my googling led me in no good direction. I didnt include any of the other interfaces or classes as they didn't seem to be part of the problem, but if there needed I can attach them. Thanks for any help!
This issue happens because:
ITransitionContainer is not a covariant interface over its type arguments. AddTransition method generic arguments are not constrained to be reference types._transitions is not a dictionary with ITransitionContainer values, so without changing it to Dictionary<Type, ITransitionContainer<ITransition, IState>> we still won't be able to add even properly resticted covariant transtions.
Simplified example
Consider the following simplified case:
public interface ITransition
{
}
public class SomeTransition : ITransition
{
}
public interface ITest<TTransition>
where TTransition : ITransition
{
TTransition Value { get; }
}
public class SomeTest<TTransition> : ITest<TTransition>
where TTransition : ITransition
{
public TTransition Value
{
get
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
}
}
It will fail in both
public static void Do<TTransition>()
where TTransition : ITransition
{
ITest<ITransition> item = new SomeTest<TTransition>();
}
and
ITest<ITransition> item = new SomeTest<SomeTransition>();
If you make ITest covariant
public interface ITest<out TTransition>
, then it will fail only in generic method. Because here TTransition can be a struct and co/(contra)variance doesn't work with value types:
public static void Do<TTransition>()
where TTransition : ITransition
{
ITest<ITransition> item = new SomeTest<TTransition>();
}
But if you make that method constrained to only reference types, then it will work in both cases:
public static void Do<TTransition>()
where TTransition : class, ITransition
{
ITest<ITransition> item = new SomeTest<TTransition>();
}
Apply the same principle(out and class) to your two generic arguments and it will do the job.
Full solution for your specific case:
public interface IState
{ }
public interface ITransition
{ }
// !!!!! - Here we add out specifier
public interface ITransitionContainer<out TTransition, out TStateTo>
where TTransition : ITransition
where TStateTo : IState
{
Type StateTo
{
get;
}
TTransition Transition
{
get;
}
}
public interface IStateContainer<T> where T : IState
{
T State
{
get;
}
}
public class TransitionContainer<TTransition, TStateTo> : ITransitionContainer<TTransition, TStateTo>
where TTransition : ITransition
where TStateTo : IState
{
public TransitionContainer()
{
StateTo = typeof(TStateTo);
Transition = Activator.CreateInstance<TTransition>();
}
public Type StateTo { get; private set; }
public TTransition Transition { get; private set; }
}
public class StateContainer<T> : IStateContainer<T> where T : IState
{
private Dictionary<Type, ITransitionContainer<ITransition, IState>> _transitions =
new Dictionary<Type, ITransitionContainer<ITransition, IState>>();
public StateContainer()
{
State = Activator.CreateInstance<T>();
}
public T State { get; private set; }
public int TransitionCount
{
get { return _transitions.Count; }
}
public void AddTransition<TTransition, TStateTo>()
// !!!!!! - Here we add class constraints
where TTransition : class, ITransition, new()
where TStateTo : class, IState, new()
{
var transitionContainer = new TransitionContainer<TTransition, TStateTo>();
_transitions.Add(typeof(TTransition), transitionContainer);
}
}
That fails because generics are not covariant. The problem can be seen here:
TransitionContainer<ITransition, IState> value = new TransitionContainer<TTransition, TStateTo>();
That gives you the same error. You also get this error with something as simple as:
List<IComparable> list = new List<DateTime>();
Visual Studio tells you (basically) that:
Cannot implicitly convert type 'List<System.DateTime>' to 'List<System.IComparable>'
What you need to do is convert the object. You could create a Convert method that returns a TransitionContainer<ITransition, IState> and then use .Add(typeof(TTransition), transitionContainer.Convert()) (or whatever you name it).
But the most painless option is to create an implicit conversion for your TransitionContainer<TTransition, TStateTo> object by adding this static method:
public static implicit operator TransitionContainer<ITransition, IState>(TransitionContainer<TTransition, TStateTo> value)
{
return new TransitionContainer<ITransition, IState>() { StateTo = value.StateTo, Transition = value.Transition };
}
And that's it. :)
Of course, you will have to copy everything needed for it to work, in this case it seems these two objects are enough.
