If I have a generic method that is constrained to be type 'int' then surely I should be able to cast an integer to the generic T type. For example...
public T ExampleMethod<T>(int unchanged) where T : int
{
return (T)unchanged;
}
...the compiler complains that Cannot convert type 'int' to 'T' but I have a constraint indicating that the target is as integer. So surely it should work?
Update:
The actual scenario is that I want to a helper method that returns an enum value. So my ideal helper method would be more like this....
public T GetAttributeAsEnum<T>(XmlReader reader, string name) where T : enum
{
string s = reader.GetAttribute(name);
int i = int.Parse(s);
return (T)i;
}
...and use it like this...
StateEnum x = GetAttributeAsEnum<StateEnum>(xmlReader, "State");
CategoryEnum y = GetAttributeAsEnum<CategoryEnum>(xmlReader, "Category");
OtherEnum z = GetAttributeAsEnum<OtherEnum>(xmlReader, "Other");
...but you cannot constrain by enum.