Question

Ok i am having some issues designing a base-class to handle generics. Caveat is i need to restrict the type put in as a Numeric type, specifically Int16, Int32, or Int64 (Short or Long).

I know you can do Of T as {Structure} but i dont want to allow non-whole numbers as the type.

Any Suggestions?

Answer 1

The best I can think of is to make a Friend generic class and build 6 classes inheriting from it. The Friend makes the member private, except to the containing project. This prevents anything outside the project from instantising it as IntXClass(Of Double) for example.

Friend Class IntXClass(Of T As Structure)
    ' TODO: Define all IntXClass members.
End Class

Public Class Int16Class
    Inherits IntXClass(Of Int16)
End Class

Public Class Int32Class
    Inherits IntXClass(Of Int32)
End Class

Public Class Int64Class
    Inherits IntXClass(Of Int64)
End Class

Public Class UInt16Class
    Inherits IntXClass(Of UInt16)
End Class

Public Class UInt32Class
    Inherits IntXClass(Of UInt32)
End Class

Public Class UInt64Class
    Inherits IntXClass(Of UInt64)
End Class