access different item types from anonymous array

Question

A function returns an object, with an object member filled with an anonymous array of items; how do I get back the individual items?

the object that is returned from a function:

public class FunctionCallResult
{
   ...blah blah members...
    public object ResultObject { get; set; }
}

The function:

FunctionCallResult SomeCrazyFunction(string irrelevant_param1, int some_other_irrelevant_param2)
{
    ... some heavy duty code that raises eyebrows ...
    return new FunctionCallResult{ new object[] { SomeCrazyClassX, AnotherCraxyClassY } };
}

An example call of function:

var myresult = SomeCrazyFunction( "I am the walrus", 42);

But now, how do I get back the individual objects, which are of different classes?

// can't do this... can't index type of object
SomeCrazyClassXType classX = myresult.ResultObject[0];
AnotherCraxyClassYType classY = myresult.ResultObject[1];

So...how can I get these different class types out of the result returned?

Anonymous types doesn't really apply here. An anonymous type is something like var t = new { A=1, B=2 }; — theB
– theB, Commented Aug 29, 2015 at 3:20
In your example, you have 2 ints in an anonymous array. My example just has different members than int's. Why is my example not an anonymous array? What would you call it? — Robert Achmann
– Robert Achmann, Commented Aug 30, 2015 at 23:03
What I mean is, in my class, there is an 'object' member; so is "new object [] { ... , ... }" fundamentally different from "new [] { ... , ... }" ? — Robert Achmann
– Robert Achmann, Commented Aug 30, 2015 at 23:08
Note that my example doesn't have []. see this for syntax An anonymous type is not bound to a name.* Your array doesn't have an anonymous type. It's type is Object. There may be a boxing or reference conversion involved, but the array is still composed of named types. (Note from above: the anonymous type has a name, but the compiler doesn't tell you what it is directly, and you can't use it to instantiate the type.) — theB
– theB, Commented Aug 31, 2015 at 1:47

Jesus is Lord · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-29 03:15:04Z

1

If you "know" ResultObject is an object[] at runtime and the number of items in it and you know their types, you could cast them to SomeCrazyClassXType and AnotherCraxyClassYType after casting ResultObject to an object[] from object.

So:

var resultObjectAsAnObjectArray = (object[])myresult.ResultObject;
var classX = (SomeCrazyClassXType)(resultObjectAsAnObjectArray[0]);
var classY = (AnotherCraxyClassYType)(resultObjectAsAnObjectArray[1]);

I'd have to see more code/what you're actually doing to give a better recommendation.

answered Aug 29, 2015 at 3:15

Jesus is Lord

15.4k11 gold badges71 silver badges103 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

Gusman Over a year ago

If he knows the order (and then inherently the size) then it's better to create a Tuple.

Robert Achmann Over a year ago

While it worked just fine, (and thank you!) I will suggest a Tuple

Jesus is Lord Over a year ago

@Gusman I agree that would be better - to be fair the question was, specifically, how do I get back the individual objects - I was just trying to change the least amount of code as possible and answer the question.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

access different item types from anonymous array

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related