Extension methods for System.IO.File How?

[Ilyas]

Hi

I want to extend the System.IO.File type by having a file ToByteArray
method, however when I attempt to do this:

public static byte[] ToByteArray(this File fileObject, string
filename)
{
FileStream fs = new FileStream(filename, FileMode.Open);
byte[] data = new byte[fs.Length];
fs.Read(data, 0, (int)fs.Length);
fs.Close();
return data;
}
I get the error:static types cannot be used as parameters

Does this mean then I cant use the File type as a parameter, because
its a static type?

How can I extend thie type then, if at all?

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?=]

Ilyas wrote:

I want to extend the System.IO.File type by having a file ToByteArray
method, however when I attempt to do this:

public static byte[] ToByteArray(this File fileObject, string
filename)
{
FileStream fs = new FileStream(filename, FileMode.Open);
byte[] data = new byte[fs.Length];
fs.Read(data, 0, (int)fs.Length);
fs.Close();
return data;
}
I get the error:static types cannot be used as parameters

Does this mean then I cant use the File type as a parameter, because
its a static type?

Yes.

How can I extend thie type then, if at all?

You can not.

Go after FileInfo instead.

Arne

[Peter Duniho]

On Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:10:13 -0800, Arne Vajhøj <ar**@vajhoej.dkwrote:

[...]

>How can I extend thie type then, if at all?

You can not.

Go after FileInfo instead.

Or, since even if you could extend a static type in C# you'd still always
have to type a typename when using your extension method, you could just
put your method in a static class of your own making and type that
typename instead. Extending a static class doesn't really provide the
OOP-like improvements that extending an actual object would anyway.

It's true that since FileInfo is a non-static type, one can write an
extension method for the type. But doing so would completely change the
semantics of the operation, resulting the newly added requirement to
instantiate an object for an operation that inherently needs no such
object.

Now, all that said...

To the OP: why don't you just call File.ReadAllBytes() instead?

Pete

[Jeff Johnson]

"Peter Duniho" <Np*********@nnowslpianmk.comwrote in message
news:op***************@petes-computer.local...

Now, all that said...

To the OP: why don't you just call File.ReadAllBytes() instead?

Agreed. Toxxx() methods are almost universally instance methods, not static
methods. (The Convert class is a notable exception.) So I for one would find
it odd to have to supply a file name to a ToByteArray() method.