Question

I am working with a code that contains following overloaded method in generic class:

public class A<T>
{
    public void Process(T item) { /*impl*/ }
    public void Process(string item) { /*impl*/ }
}

When parametrizing the class for string do I lose the possibility to call the version with generic parameter?

var a = new A<string>();
a.Process(""); //Always calls the non-generic Process(string)

Answer 1

There is one way I just discovered, but it’s a bit cross-eyed. Because generics and overloading get resolved in build time, you can define a generic method:

public static CallerClass
{
    public static CallGenericOverload<T>(GenericClass<T> cls, T val)
    {
        return cls.ProblemOverload(val); 
    }   

    //We can also make an extension method. 
    //We don't have to of course, it's just more comfortable this way.
    public static CallGenericOverloadExtension<T>(this GenericClass<T> cls, T val)
    {
        return cls.ProblemOverload(val);
    }

}

public GenericClass<T>
{
     public string ProblemOverload(T val)
     {
         return "ProblemOverload(T val)";
     }
     public string ProblemOverload(string val)
     {
         return "ProblemOverload(string val)";
     }
}

Now, if we do the following:

var genClass = new GenericClass<string>();
Console.WriteLine(genClass.ProblemOverload("")); //output: ProblemOverload(string val)
Console.WriteLine(CallerClass.CallGenericOverload(genClass, "")); //output: ProblemOverload(T val)
Console.WriteLine(genClass.CallGenericOverloadExtension("")); //output: ProblemOverload(T val)

You can use a similar trick if you define a generic class instead of a generic method. The important thing is that the parameter you transfer to ProblemOverload needs to be of type T rather than type string in the invocation. After all, the method CallGenericOverload knows it’s getting a T at build time, so it’s going to bind to the overload that accepts the parameter. It doesn’t matter that it’s actually going to get a string at runtime.