Question

I am using the OracleClient library version 1.0.5000.0 and I am confused about the OracleParameter class and its implementation of ICloneable.

This is the definition of the OracleParameter class:

public sealed class OracleParameter : MarshalByRefObject, IDbDataParameter, IDataParameter, ICloneable {
    public OracleParameter();
    public OracleParameter(string name, object value);
    public OracleParameter(string name, OracleType oracleType);
    public OracleParameter(string name, OracleType oracleType, int size);
    public OracleParameter(string name, OracleType oracleType, int size, string srcColumn);
    public OracleParameter(string name, OracleType oracleType, int size, ParameterDirection direction, bool isNullable, byte precision, byte scale, string srcColumn, DataRowVersion srcVersion, object value);

    [DesignerSerializationVisibility(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Hidden)]
    [RefreshProperties(RefreshProperties.All)]
    [Browsable(false)]
    public DbType DbType { get; set; }
    [RefreshProperties(RefreshProperties.All)]
    public ParameterDirection Direction { get; set; }
    [Browsable(false)]
    [DesignOnly(true)]
    [EditorBrowsable(EditorBrowsableState.Never)]
    [DefaultValue(false)]
    public bool IsNullable { get; set; }
    [DefaultValue(0)]
    [Browsable(false)]
    public int Offset { get; set; }
    [RefreshProperties(RefreshProperties.All)]
    public OracleType OracleType { get; set; }
    [DefaultValue("")]
    public string ParameterName { get; set; }
    [DefaultValue(0)]
    public byte Precision { get; set; }
    [DefaultValue(0)]
    public byte Scale { get; set; }
    [DefaultValue(0)]
    public int Size { get; set; }
    [DefaultValue("")]
    public string SourceColumn { get; set; }
    public DataRowVersion SourceVersion { get; set; }
    [DefaultValue("")]
    [RefreshProperties(RefreshProperties.All)]
    [TypeConverter(typeof(StringConverter))]
    public object Value { get; set; }

    public override string ToString();
}

It implements System.ICloneable, but there is no Clone() method in there.

Can anyone explain this?

Answer 1

In .NET you can explicitly implement interface members by using the following syntax:

object System.IClonable.Clone()
{
}

As a result you can only use the method by explicitly casting to the expected interface.

Also see
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.data.oracleclient.oracleparameter.system.icloneable.clone(VS.85).aspx