Question

I have the following method, which returns a generic object of type INamedProperty<TReturn> based on the return type of a defined expression. I need to store a reference to the object that is returned by this method for future processing. What type should I store it as? Would Object be OK? How would I cast it back to the appropriate INamedProperty<TReturn> later on? Do I also need to store the type of TReturn?

public class PropertyBuilder<T> : IPropertyBuilder<T> where T : class {
    public INamedProperty<TReturn> Named<TReturn>(Expression<Func<T, TReturn>> property) {
        o = new NamedProperty<TReturn>();
        // how do I store o as an instance of the encapsulating class?
    }
}

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

I would try to implement a generic, uhh, non-generic INamedProperty that could implement the operations you need:

interface INamedProperty
{
    // Informational
    Type ContainingType { get; }
    string Name { get; }
    Type ReturnType { get; }

    // Operations (for example)
    void CopyTo(object obj, INamedProperty property);
}

Then implement them in the generic NamedProperty:

class NamedProperty<T> : INamedProperty { ... }