Finding the object count within an object

Question

I have a method that is called like this

var data = new List<string>{"foo", value};
var event = MakeEvents("module", new object[]{data, "Notes:", notes, "Date:", DateTime.Now);

within MakeEvents, I break up the objectData array with a foreach look

foreach (var obj in objectData)
        {
            if (obj.ToString().Contains("List"))
                ev.data = SerialiseData((List<string>)obj);
            if (obj.GetType().ToString().Contains("System.DateTime"))
                ev.date = (DateTime)obj;
            if (obj.GetType().ToString().Contains("Boolean"))
                ev.is_deleted = (bool)obj;
            if (obj.GetType().ToString().Contains("Guid"))
                ev.parent_object_id = ((Guid)obj).ToString();
            if (obj.GetType().ToString() == "System.String")
            {
                var t = ((string)obj).Split(':').ToList();
                if (t.Count == 1)
                    ev.notes = (string)obj;
                else
                {
                    switch (t[0])
                    {
                        case "Notes":
                            ev.notes = t[1];
                            break;
                        case "Updated":
                            ev.updated_by = t[1];
                            break;
                        case "Parent":
                            ev.parent_object_id = t[1];
                            break;
                    }
                }
            }

The issue I'm having is that the first parameter in the object is List, but it is not being recognised as such, but does give me a count of the number of objects within data.

I've tried using Enumerable.Count(obj) to get the number objects within data, but I'm given an error that I'm mixing Enumerable with IEnumerable (The type arguments for method System.Linq.Enumerable.Count(this System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable) cannot be inferred from the usage).

Is there a simple way of obtaining the count from obj?

Should the first if statement be if (obj.ToString().Contains("List")) or if (obj.GetType().ToString().Contains("List"))? — Vae
– Vae, Commented Jun 12, 2014 at 11:40
You should use if obj is bool instead of trying to match the name of the type. — Lee
– Lee, Commented Jun 12, 2014 at 11:40
Your type checking is really fragile. Use proper type checking — James
– James, Commented Jun 12, 2014 at 11:42

Lee · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-12 11:42:45Z

2

Your condition is trying to match the result of calling ToString on the list. You should use is instead:

if (obj is List<string>) { ... }

and likewise for all your other dynamic type checks.

answered Jun 12, 2014 at 11:42

Lee

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2 Comments

Nodoid Over a year ago

Thanks - and thanks for all the other comments too. Much appreciated.

Nodoid Over a year ago

For this though, data is not being recognised as being List<string> but when viewed in the debugger I'm seeing objData[2], then in the loop obj[3] with obj[0] being the list - but not showing as a list, but an array.

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