Question

I have a problem with designing my function so that it can act differently for different types. My function is used to create List of objects with different types, so it wouldn’t be a problem to create several similar functions, but if it’s possible I’d like to avoid it to make my code a bit shorter:

static const int FIRST_TYPE = 0;
static const int SECOND_TYPE = 1;
static const int THIRD_TYPE = 2;

I use those ints as an argument for the function:

public void foo(int type)
{
    List<TypeIDontYetKnow> deserialized; 
    switch (type)
    {
        case FIRST_TYPE:
            deserialized = new List<A>();
            break;
        case SECOND_TYPE:
            deserialized = new List<B>();
            break;
        case THIRD_TYPE:
            deserialized = new List<C>();
            break;
    }
}

Is it possible to achieve something like this?

Answer 1

You need a generic method

public void foo<T>()
{
    List<T> deserialized = new List<T>();
}