Casting Issue Correct Question! Sorry

[Daniel]

Hi guys who just answered me.....it really would have helped if i had
written it right.

Ok i will use better names to explain my problem.

I have this:

InterFaceClass
^
ClassA
^
^
ClassB
ClassC
So i have an interface class that ClassA inherits from. ClassB and C then
inherit from classA.

i then want to do this:

ClassB myObj = (ClassB)some_Cl assA_Instance;

And i get a invalid cast. Why?

[Brian Gideon]

Daniel wrote:

ClassB myObj = (ClassB)some_Cl assA_Instance;

And i get a invalid cast. Why?

Because some_ClassA_ins tance is not a ClassB.

[Daniel]

Basically you can cast up you cant cast down. I get it now.


"Brian Gideon" <br*********@ya hoo.comwrote in message
news:11******** *************@e 3g2000cwe.googl egroups.com...

>
Daniel wrote:

>ClassB myObj = (ClassB)some_Cl assA_Instance;

And i get a invalid cast. Why?

Because some_ClassA_ins tance is not a ClassB.

[Chris Dunaway]

Daniel wrote:

Ok i will use better names to explain my problem.

I have this:

InterFaceClass
^
ClassA
^
^
ClassB
ClassC
So i have an interface class that ClassA inherits from. ClassB and C then
inherit from classA.

i then want to do this:

ClassB myObj = (ClassB)some_Cl assA_Instance;

And i get a invalid cast. Why?

If we use different names, maybe it will be clearer:

interface IAnimal //Animal Interface
class AnimalBase : IAnimal //Animal base class

class Dog : AnimalBase //A Dog is an animal
class Cat : AnimalBase //A Cat in an animal

AnimalBase obj = new AnimalBase(); //This is a generic animal,
it could be anything

Dog myDog = (Dog)obj; //Try to cast generic animal to Dog
//This is not valid because an
animal may not be a dog

AnimalBase obj = new Dog(); //This is valid because a Dog *is* an
Animal
//However you can only
access the properties of a
//Generic animal

Dog myDog = (Dog)obj; //This is now valid because obj is
actually a Dog
Cat myCat = (Cat)obj; //This is *invalid* because obj is
*not* a Cat.

Hope this helps a little.

Chris

[Daniel]

Well in regrds to this.

The situation i have is that I want the class A object to have certain
methods overridden and its behaviour changed, class B and C.

So if i want ClasC implementation i cast it....(i now know i cant). So how
using that setup do i get that requirement?

"Daniel" <Da*****@vestry online.comwrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP05.phx.gbl. ..

Hi guys who just answered me.....it really would have helped if i had
written it right.

Ok i will use better names to explain my problem.

I have this:

InterFaceClass
^
ClassA
^ ^
ClassB ClassC
So i have an interface class that ClassA inherits from. ClassB and C then
inherit from classA.

i then want to do this:

ClassB myObj = (ClassB)some_Cl assA_Instance;

And i get a invalid cast. Why?

[Daniel]

Can i ask then....

How would you then tell a generic animal object later that it is now a dog
object? You can't cast it so what do you do? Can this be done? i have a
sense a factory pattern solves my problem but i am not sure.

"Chris Dunaway" <du******@gmail .comwrote in message
news:11******** *************@e 3g2000cwe.googl egroups.com...

Daniel wrote:

>Ok i will use better names to explain my problem.

I have this:

InterFaceClass
^
ClassA
^
^
ClassB
ClassC
So i have an interface class that ClassA inherits from. ClassB and C then
inherit from classA.

i then want to do this:

ClassB myObj = (ClassB)some_Cl assA_Instance;

And i get a invalid cast. Why?

If we use different names, maybe it will be clearer:

interface IAnimal //Animal Interface
class AnimalBase : IAnimal //Animal base class

class Dog : AnimalBase //A Dog is an animal
class Cat : AnimalBase //A Cat in an animal

AnimalBase obj = new AnimalBase(); //This is a generic animal,
it could be anything

Dog myDog = (Dog)obj; //Try to cast generic animal to Dog
//This is not valid because an
animal may not be a dog

AnimalBase obj = new Dog(); //This is valid because a Dog *is* an
Animal
//However you can only
access the properties of a
//Generic animal

Dog myDog = (Dog)obj; //This is now valid because obj is
actually a Dog
Cat myCat = (Cat)obj; //This is *invalid* because obj is
*not* a Cat.

Hope this helps a little.

Chris

[Peter Duniho]

"Daniel" <Da*****@vestry online.comwrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP03.phx.gbl. ..

Can i ask then....

How would you then tell a generic animal object later that it is now a dog
object?

If you initially created the object as a generic animal, you can't. The
type of an object cannot change during its lifetime. If it wasn't a Dog to
start with, it will never be a Dog.

If you like, you can create a Dog class that takes as a parameter to the
constructor an Animal instance, and then copies the information from that
Animal to a *new* Dog instance. That would allow you a way to create a
*new* Dog that inherits the generic characteristics of the Animal instance
you have (or the Animal-specific characteristics of any other Animal-derived
class, for that matter). But you cannot change a generic Animal instance
that isn't already a Dog into a Dog.

Pete

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

Daniel <Da*****@vestry online.comwrote :

Basically you can cast up you cant cast down. I get it now.

You can cast down when the type of the actual object is compatible with
the type you're casting to, but you can't pretend that an object is of
a different type. So this is okay:

object o = "hello";
string x = (string) o;

but this isn't:

object o = new object();
string x = (string) o;

--
Jon Skeet - <sk***@pobox.co m>
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/jon.skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

[Daniel]

Ok i understand now.

What i dont get is this.

GenericAnimal g = (GenericAnimal) Dog;

yet if you look at g's type it remains Dog?? Why has it not become a generic
type?
"Peter Duniho" <Np*********@Nn OwSlPiAnMk.comw rote in message
news:12******** *****@corp.supe rnews.com...

"Daniel" <Da*****@vestry online.comwrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP03.phx.gbl. ..

>Can i ask then....

How would you then tell a generic animal object later that it is now a
dog object?

If you initially created the object as a generic animal, you can't. The
type of an object cannot change during its lifetime. If it wasn't a Dog
to start with, it will never be a Dog.

If you like, you can create a Dog class that takes as a parameter to the
constructor an Animal instance, and then copies the information from that
Animal to a *new* Dog instance. That would allow you a way to create a
*new* Dog that inherits the generic characteristics of the Animal instance
you have (or the Animal-specific characteristics of any other
Animal-derived class, for that matter). But you cannot change a generic
Animal instance that isn't already a Dog into a Dog.

Pete

[Daniel]

Then i am confused again.

My class that was i was casting down to inherited and did not have any new
methods, just one inherited method that was overidden by implementation? Why
couldnt i cast?

"Jon Skeet [C# MVP]" <sk***@pobox.co mwrote in message
news:MP******** *************** *@msnews.micros oft.com...

Daniel <Da*****@vestry online.comwrote :

>Basically you can cast up you cant cast down. I get it now.

You can cast down when the type of the actual object is compatible with
the type you're casting to, but you can't pretend that an object is of
a different type. So this is okay:

object o = "hello";
string x = (string) o;

but this isn't:

object o = new object();
string x = (string) o;

--
Jon Skeet - <sk***@pobox.co m>
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/jon.skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too