Help Assigning and Using Anonymous Arrays

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Assigning and Using Anonymous Arrays

I have an object that at runtime can be an array of unknown Type. I have a function that will convert an array to a string generic if I know its Type. But I don't always know the Type coming in. Here is a code snippet:

C#

object val = getter.Invoke(obj, null);
                
string sval;

if (val == null)
    sval = "[Null]";
else
{
    Type t = val.GetType();
    if (t.IsArray == true)
    {
        object[] array = val as object[];
        sval = ArrayToStringGeneric(array, ", ");
    }
else
    sval = val.ToString();
}

When I try to assign val to array like above array come up null and my call to ArrayToStringGeneric fails. If I change the line:

C#

object[] array = val as object[];

to:

C#

int[] array = val as int[];

The assignment works and array has values that work, but I will not always know the Type. Is there a way to make this work for all unknown Types at runtime?

Thanks,
E

Posted 9-Dec-10 10:10am

ehwash

Updated 9-Dec-10 10:45am

Toli Cuturicu

v3

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2 solutions

Solution 2

Thanks tons. That seams to be doing the trick. Been racking my head for hours. Here is my code change from your suggestion. I'll most likely clean it up a bit more but, thanks again.

object val = getter.Invoke(obj, null);

string sval;
if (val == null)
sval = "[Null]";
else
{
Type t = val.GetType();
if (t.IsArray == true)
{
Array a = (Array)val;
object[] array = new object[a.Length];
for (int i = 0; i < a.Length; i++)
{
array[i] = a.GetValue(i);
}
sval = ArrayToStringGeneric(array, ", ");
}
else
sval = val.ToString();
}

Posted 9-Dec-10 11:05am

ehwash

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AspDotNetDev · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-09T10:51:00

This should work:

C#

// Your initial array stored in an object.
object o = new int[] { 1, 2, 3 };

// Cast to array.
Array a = (Array)o;

// Create object array to hold items.
object[] items = new object[a.Length];

// Move items to object array.
for (int i = 0; i < a.Length; i++)
{
    items[i] = a.GetValue(i);
}

// Show result.
for (int j = 0; j < items.Length; j++)
{
    MessageBox.Show(items[j].ToString());
}