How do I get the sum of numbers that are in an IEnumerable collection of objects? I know for sure that the underlying type will always be numeric but the type is determined at runtime.
IEnumerable<object> listValues = data.Select(i => Convert.ChangeType(property.GetValue(i, null), columnType));
After that I want to be able to do the following (the following has the error:"Cannot resolve method Sum"):
var total = listValues.Sum();
Any ideas? Thank you.
You can use expression trees to generate the required add function, then fold over your input list:
private static Func<object, object, object> GenAddFunc(Type elementType)
{
var param1Expr = Expression.Parameter(typeof(object));
var param2Expr = Expression.Parameter(typeof(object));
var addExpr = Expression.Add(Expression.Convert(param1Expr, elementType), Expression.Convert(param2Expr, elementType));
return Expression.Lambda<Func<object, object, object>>(Expression.Convert(addExpr, typeof(object)), param1Expr, param2Expr).Compile();
}
IEnumerable<object> listValues;
Type elementType = listValues.First().GetType();
var addFunc = GenAddFunc(elementType);
object sum = listValues.Aggregate(addFunc);
note this requires the input list to be non-empty, but it has the advantage of preserving the element type in the result.
If you know the exact type is always going to be a numeric type, you should be able to use something like:
double total = listValues.Sum(v => Convert.ToDouble(v));
This will work because Convert.ToDouble
will look for IConvertible
, which is implemented by the core numeric types. You are forcing the type to be a double
and not the original type, as well.
convert to one type. Say, decimal.
data.Select(i => Convert.ToDecimal(property.GetValue(i, null)).Sum();
you can use dyanmic, works perfect:
listValues.Sum(x => (dynamic)x);