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.NET Development
.NET Framework 3.5
Enumerable Class
 Cast(TResult) Method
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This page is specific to
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

Other versions are also available for the following:
.NET Framework Class Library
Enumerable..::.Cast<(Of <(TResult>)>) Method

Converts the elements of an IEnumerable to the specified type.

Namespace:  System.Linq
Assembly:  System.Core (in System.Core.dll)
Visual Basic (Declaration)
<ExtensionAttribute> _
Public Shared Function Cast(Of TResult) ( _
    source As IEnumerable _
) As IEnumerable(Of TResult)
Visual Basic (Usage)
Dim source As IEnumerable
Dim returnValue As IEnumerable(Of TResult)

returnValue = source.Cast()
C#
public static IEnumerable<TResult> Cast<TResult>(
    this IEnumerable source
)
Visual C++
[ExtensionAttribute]
public:
generic<typename TResult>
static IEnumerable<TResult>^ Cast(
    IEnumerable^ source
)
JScript
JScript does not support generic types or methods.

Type Parameters

TResult

The type to convert the elements of source to.

Parameters

source
Type: System.Collections..::.IEnumerable
The IEnumerable that contains the elements to be converted.

Return Value

Type: System.Collections.Generic..::.IEnumerable<(Of <(TResult>)>)
An IEnumerable<(Of <(T>)>) that contains each element of the source sequence converted to the specified type.

Usage Note

In Visual Basic and C#, you can call this method as an instance method on any object of type IEnumerable. When you use instance method syntax to call this method, omit the first parameter. For more information, see Extension Methods (Visual Basic) or Extension Methods (C# Programming Guide).
ExceptionCondition
ArgumentNullException

source is nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

InvalidCastException

An element in the sequence cannot be cast to type TResult.

This method is implemented by using deferred execution. The immediate return value is an object that stores all the information that is required to perform the action. The query represented by this method is not executed until the object is enumerated either by calling its GetEnumerator method directly or by using foreach in Visual C# or For Each in Visual Basic.

The Cast<(Of <(TResult>)>)(IEnumerable) method enables the standard query operators to be invoked on non-generic collections by supplying the necessary type information. For example, ArrayList does not implement IEnumerable<(Of <(T>)>), but by calling Cast<(Of <(TResult>)>)(IEnumerable) on the ArrayList object, the standard query operators can then be used to query the sequence.

If an element cannot be cast to type TResult, this method will throw an exception. To obtain only those elements that can be cast to type TResult, use the OfType<(Of <(TResult>)>) method instead of Cast<(Of <(TResult>)>)(IEnumerable).

In a query expression, an explicitly typed iteration variable translates to an invocation of Cast<(Of <(TResult>)>)(IEnumerable). This example shows the syntax for an explicitly typed range variable.

C#
from int i in objects
Visual Basic
From i As Integer In objects

The following code example demonstrates how to use Cast<(Of <(TResult>)>)(IEnumerable) to enable the use of the standard query operators on an ArrayList.

Visual Basic
' Create an ArrayList and add items to it.
Dim fruits As New System.Collections.ArrayList()
fruits.Add("apple")
fruits.Add("mango")

' Call Cast(Of String) to cast the ArrayList elements to strings.
' Then call Select() to project the strings as the query result.
Dim query As IEnumerable(Of String) = _
    fruits.Cast(Of String)().Select(Function(fruit) fruit)

Dim output As New System.Text.StringBuilder
For Each fruit As String In query
    output.AppendLine(fruit)
Next

' Display the output.
MsgBox(output.ToString())

' This code produces the following output:
'
' apple
' mango

C#
System.Collections.ArrayList fruits = new System.Collections.ArrayList();
fruits.Add("apple");
fruits.Add("mango");

IEnumerable<string> query =
    fruits.Cast<string>().Select(fruit => fruit);

foreach (string fruit in query)
{
    Console.WriteLine(fruit);
}

// This code produces the following output:
//
// apple
// mango

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5

XNA Framework

Supported in: 3.0
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Converts?      EeTee   |   Edit   |   Show History

Not only the description is misleading, but the method itself was actually implemented to *convert* not cast:

http://blogs.msdn.com/ed_maurer/archive/2008/02/16/breaking-change-in-linq-queries-using-explicitly-typed-range-variables.aspx

The behaviour is fixed in .net 3.5 sp1.

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