Question

The following code shows what I would like to do; that is, I would like to constrain anObject, so that it can be used as a parameter to various methods with use IInterfaceOne or IInterfaceTwo, where neither inherits from the other.

public interface IInterfaceOne { }
public interface IInterfaceTwo { }

public class Implementation : IInterfaceOne, IInterfaceTwo
{
}

public interface IInterfaceOneAndTwo : IInterfaceOne, IInterfaceTwo { }

public class UsingImplementation
{
    IInterfaceOneAndTwo anObject = (IInterfaceOneAndTwo)(new Implementation()); //fails because Implementation doesnt acctually implement IInterfaceOneAndTwo
}

This example fails however as IInterfaceOneAndTwo is an interface in its own right, and Implementation does not implement it.

I know if I used generics I could constrain them, but I am wondering, if there is a way to do this without generics?

Is there a way to say anObject shall implement IInterfaceOne and IInterfaceTwo, without using IInterfaceOneAndTwo?

Answer 1

“Incoming” generic class parameters and generic method parameters can combine types, but there is no facility for variables or fields to represent “composite” types. Further, in order to pass an object to a parameter of a generic type which combines multiple constraints, the object must be cast to a type which in fact implements all of those constraints. This can be difficult.

For example, suppose class Foo and Bar both implement Intf1 and Intf2. One wishes to write a function AddToList<T>(thing as T) where T:Intf1,Intf2. Such a function will perfectly happily accept objects of type Foo or Bar. Suppose, however, one wishes to use such a function to add all objects to the same list (which might be a mix of Foo, Bar, and any number of other types that also happen to implement Intf1 and Intf2) and then later pass those objects to a function whose parameter is likewise constrained to implement both Intf1 and Intf2. One could cast to Foo any object which happened to be a Foo, and cast to Bar any object which happened to be a Bar, but if other types are written which also handle Intf1 and Intf2, it would be difficult to deal with them.

It is possible to solve the problem, somewhat awkwardly, without using Reflection or other such tricks. Define an interface IActUpon<Base1, Base2> with a method ActUpon<thingType>ActUpon(thingType thing) where thingType: Base1, Base2. Implementations of such a method will be able to pass parameter thing to other methods requiring generic method parameter constrained to Base1 and Base2. The biggest difficulties with such an approach are that one must write separate code for each possible number of constraints, and that in many places where one would have used a lambda expression one will instead have to write an implementation of IActUpon....