C# interface static method call with generics

Question

Is there a simple way to implement this, and if possible without instanciating an object :

interface I
{
     static  string GetClassName();
}

public class Helper
{

    static void PrintClassName<T>() where T : I
    {
         Console.WriteLine(T.GetClassName());
    }
}

Answer 1

The answer is a qualified "not really but Sort Of". You can provide a static extension method to all implementors of a given interface and can then call this from your implementer in a property or another method. As an example:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace InterfacesWithGenerics
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Helper.PrintClassName<Example>(new Example());
            Console.ReadLine();
        }
    }

    public class Example : I
    {
        #region I Members

        public string ClassName
        {
            get { return this.GetClassName(); }
        }

        #endregion
    }

    public interface I
    {
        string ClassName { get; }
    }

    public class Helper
    {

        public static void PrintClassName<T>(T input) where T : I
        {           
            Console.WriteLine( input.GetClassName()) ;
        }
    }

    public static class IExtensions
    {
        public static string GetClassName(this I yourInterface)
        {
            return yourInterface.GetType().ToString();
        }
    }
}

Here we have an interface (I) which defines the property we care about and a static extension method (GetClassName) which is applied to all members of its type which does the grunt work of getting the information we want. We Have a Class (Example) which implements the I interface so when we call our static helper class passing in an instance of Example, it runs the static method against it. Unfortunately it is not valid to reference the type T directly within the method itself as a variable, you'll have to pass an instance into the application.

Answer 2

You could define the className as attribute on the specific class. This is the preferred ay to store metadata in .net. This way you can query the attribute for the given class and you do not need an instance.

Answer 3

Try an extension method instead:

public interface IMyInterface
{
     string GetClassName();
}

public static class IMyInterfaceExtensions
{
    public static void PrintClassName<T>( this T input ) 
        where T : IMyInterface
    {
         Console.WriteLine(input.GetClassName());
    }
}

This allows you to add static extension/utility method, but you still need an instance of your IMyInterface implementation.

You can't have interfaces for static methods because it wouldn't make sense, they're utility methods without an instance and hence they don't really have a type.

Answer 4

You can not inherit static methods. Your code wouldn't compile in any way, because a interface can't have static methods because of this.

As quoted from littleguru:

Inheritance in .NET works only on instance base. Static methods are defined on the type level not on the instance level. That is why overriding doesn't work with static methods/properties/events...

Static methods are only held once in memory. There is no virtual table etc. that is created for them.

If you invoke an instance method in .NET, you always give it the current instance. This is hidden by the .NET runtime, but it happens. Each instance method has as first argument a pointer (reference) to the object that the method is run on. This doesn't happen with static methods (as they are defined on type level). How should the compiler decide to select the method to invoke?

Answer 5

If you're just after the type name, you can just do this:

public class Helper
{
    static void PrintClassName<T>()
    {
         Console.WriteLine(typeof(T).Name);
    }
}

Answer 6

I also tried to setup a static method on an interface a little while ago, not sure why now. I did bookmark this so maybe it helps:

Interface with a static method by using extension methods