Converting object of a class to of another one

Question

I have two classes which have are nearly equal except the data types stored in them. One class contains all double values while other contains all float values.

class DoubleClass
{
    double X;
    double Y;
    double Z;
}

class FloatClass
{
    float X;
    float Y;
    float Z;
}

Now I have a point of DoubleClass which I want to convert to FloatClass.

var doubleObject = new DoubleClass();

var convertedObject = (FloatClass)doubleObject; // TODO: This

One simple way is to make a method which creates a new FloatClass object, fills all values and return it. Is there any other efficient way to do this.

Solution 1

Use a conversion operator:

public static explicit operator FloatClass (DoubleClass c) {
   FloatCass fc = new FloatClass();
   fc.X = (float) c.X;
   fc.Y = (float) c.Y;
   fc.Z = (float) c.Z;
   return fc;
}

And then just use it:

var convertedObject = (FloatClass) doubleObject;

Edit

I changed the operator to explicit instead of implicit since I was using a FloatClass cast in the example. I prefer to use explicit over implicit so it forces me to confirm what type the object will be converted to (to me it means less distraction errors + readability).

However, you can use implicit conversion and then you would just need to do:

var convertedObject = doubleObject;

Reference

Solution 2

Sounds like you could use generics here:

 public class GenericClass<T>
 {
    T X { get; set; }
    T Y { get; set; }
    T Z { get; set; }
 }

 GenericClass<float> floatClass = new GenericClass<float>();
 GenericClass<double> doubleClass = new GenericClass<double>();

Solution 3

You can use Conversion Operators to achieve this.

Fr example:

struct FloatClass
{
    public FloatClass(DoubleClass dClass) {
        //conversion...
    }
    ... 
    public static explicit operator FloatClass(DoubleClass dClass) 
    {
        FloatClassd = new FloatClass(dClass);  // explicit conversion

        return d;
    }
}


var convertedObject = (FloatClass)doubleObject;

Solution 4

You could add an implicit type conversion operator:

public class DoubleClass
{
    public double X;
    public double Y;
    public double Z;

    public static implicit operator FloatClass(DoubleClass d)
    {
        return new FloatClass { X = (float)d.X, Y = (float)d.Y, Z = (float)d.Z };
    }
}

Now this works:

DoubleClass doubleObject = new DoubleClass();
FloatClass convertedObject = doubleObject;

Solution 5

Add a class for thease extention methods :

public static class ExtensionMethods
{
    public static T ToObject<T>(this Object fromObject)
    {
        return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<T>(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(fromObject));
    }


    public static List<T> ToObjectList<T>(this Object fromObject)
    {
        return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<T>>(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(fromObject));
    }
}

Use :

using YourExtentionMethodNamespace;

Class2 obj2 = obj1.ToObject<Class2>();
List<Class2> lst2 = _db.Blogs.ToList().ToObjectList<Class2>();

View more solutions

Comments

[Guillaume]

msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/85w54y0a.aspx

[I4V]

stackoverflow.com/questions/12263099/…

[Matthew Watson]

Are you allowed to change the source code for FloatClass and/or DoubleClass?

[Matthew Watson]

@I4V Conversion != Cloning

[fhnaseer]

It can be a solution, but code is being used in many places, so this solution will require much effort,

[Matthew Watson]

You need to cast the doubles to floats to avoid a compile error.

[letiagoalves]

@MatthewWatson yap. Good eye. Thanks

[fhnaseer]

Now I want to convert a 2D array of DoubleClass to FloatClass, is it possible using LINQ? or I have to use for loops here?

[fhnaseer]

Now I want to convert a 2D array of DoubleClass to FloatClass, is it possible using LINQ? or I have to use for loops here?

[letiagoalves]

@FaisalHafeez you can try: FloatClass[] converted = Array.ConvertAll(array, s => (FloatClass) s); for simple arrays or see this implementation for 2D arrays: stackoverflow.com/a/6065947/1873446

[fhnaseer]

Now I want to convert a 2D array of DoubleClass to FloatClass, is it possible using LINQ? or I have to use for loops here?

[Tim Schmelter]

@letiagoalves: You can even omit the cast operator if you have an implicit cast: FloatClass fc = doubleObject;

[letiagoalves]

@TimSchmelter I know that but I prefer to do so. I don't mind the extra characters because it is more readable to me :)

[Tigran]

@FaisalHafeez: you can, for example, add an ExtensionMethds for your array class.

[Servy]

The deserialization will fail because the structures are not equivalent in their storage mechanisms. Even if they were, and it could work, it would still be prohibitively expensive and a fairly poor practice to do this.

[Levi Fuller]

CTRL+F -> "FloatClass" -> V (Expand) -> "GenericClass<float>" -> Replace All. Done :)

[user57129]

of course, because when you conver it, probably would be very salty, that's why you need to desalinize it after, jk

[dading84]

I don't think this is the right way to convert objects