Generic Method Return Type as Type parameter

.net, c#, generics

Solution

Is this what you are looking for? I've added an extra catch for cases where the cast isn't valid also

Decimal i = stringName.ToType<Decimal>();

public static T ToType<T>(this string value)
{
     object parsedValue = default(T);
     try
     {
         parsedValue = Convert.ChangeType(value, typeof(T));
     }
     catch (InvalidCastException)
     {
         parsedValue = null;
     }
     catch (ArgumentException)
     {
         parsedValue = null;
     }
     return (T)parsedValue;
}

Edit

a shortcut approach to fix Anton's comment

if (typeof(T).IsValueType)
   return default(T);

Problem

I have an extension method that is working ok to cast string values into various types, which looks something like this: ``` public static T ToType<T> (this string value, T property) { object parsedValue = default(T); Type type = property.GetType(); try { parsedValue = Convert.ChangeType(value, type); } catch (ArgumentException e) { parsedValue = null; } return (T)parsedValue; } ``` I'm unhappy about the way this looks when calling the method, however: ``` myObject.someProperty = stringData.ToType(myObject.someProperty); ``` Specifying the property just to obtain the property's type seems redundant. I would rather use a signature like this: ``` public static T ToType<T> (this string value, Type type) { ... } ``` and have T end up to be the Type of type. This would make calls much cleaner: ``` myObject.someProperty = stringData.ToType(typeof(decimal)); ``` When I try to call this way, however, the editor complains that the return type of the extension method can't be infered from usage. Can I link T to the Type argument? What am I missing? Thanks

Original source