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Is there a better alternative than this to 'switch on type'?

Asked 2008-11-18T15:04:04.660
423

Seeing as C# can't switch on a Type (which I gather wasn't added as a special case because is relationships mean that more than one distinct case might apply), is there a better way to simulate switching on type other than this?

void Foo(object o)
{
    if (o is A)
    {
        ((A)o).Hop();
    }
    else if (o is B)
    {
        ((B)o).Skip();
    }
    else
    {
        throw new ArgumentException("Unexpected type: " + o.GetType());
    }
}
c# switch-statement system.type
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3

You can create overloaded methods:

void Foo(A a) 
{ 
    a.Hop(); 
}

void Foo(B b) 
{ 
    b.Skip(); 
}

void Foo(object o) 
{ 
    throw new ArgumentException("Unexpected type: " + o.GetType()); 
}

And cast the argument to dynamic type in order to bypass static type checking:

Foo((dynamic)something);
answered 2013-01-04T12:30:56.557

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