You can use this delegate to represent a method that can be passed as a parameter without explicitly declaring a custom delegate. The method must correspond to the method signature that is defined by this delegate. This means that the encapsulated method must have one parameter that is passed to it by value and must return a value.
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To reference a method that has one parameter and returns
void (or in Visual Basic, that is declared as a Sub rather than as a Function), use the generic Action<(Of <(T>)>) delegate instead.
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When you use the Func<(Of <(T, TResult>)>) delegate, you do not have to explicitly define a delegate that encapsulates a method with a single parameter. For example, the following code explicitly declares a delegate named ConvertMethod and assigns a reference to the UppercaseString method to its delegate instance.
' Declare a delegate to represent string conversion method
Delegate Function ConvertMethod(ByVal inString As String) As String
Module DelegateExample
Public Sub Main()
' Instantiate delegate to reference UppercaseString method
Dim convertMeth As ConvertMethod = AddressOf UppercaseString
Dim name As String = "Dakota"
' Use delegate instance to call UppercaseString method
Console.WriteLine(convertMeth(name))
End Sub
Private Function UppercaseString(inputString As String) As String
Return inputString.ToUpper()
End Function
End Module
using System;
delegate string ConvertMethod(string inString);
public class DelegateExample
{
public static void Main()
{
// Instantiate delegate to reference UppercaseString method
ConvertMethod convertMeth = UppercaseString;
string name = "Dakota";
// Use delegate instance to call UppercaseString method
Console.WriteLine(convertMeth(name));
}
private static string UppercaseString(string inputString)
{
return inputString.ToUpper();
}
}
The following example simplifies this code by instantiating the Func<(Of <(T, TResult>)>) delegate rather than explicitly defining a new delegate and assigning a named method to it.
Module GenericFunc
Public Sub Main()
' Instantiate delegate to reference UppercaseString method
Dim convertMethod As Func(Of String, String) = AddressOf UppercaseString
Dim name As String = "Dakota"
' Use delegate instance to call UppercaseString method
Console.WriteLine(convertMethod(name))
End Sub
Private Function UppercaseString(inputString As String) As String
Return inputString.ToUpper()
End Function
End Module
using System;
public class GenericFunc
{
public static void Main()
{
// Instantiate delegate to reference UppercaseString method
Func<string, string> convertMethod = UppercaseString;
string name = "Dakota";
// Use delegate instance to call UppercaseString method
Console.WriteLine(convertMethod(name));
}
private static string UppercaseString(string inputString)
{
return inputString.ToUpper();
}
}
You can also use the Func<(Of <(T, TResult>)>) delegate with anonymous methods in C#, as the following example illustrates. (For an introduction to anonymous methods, see Anonymous Methods (C# Programming Guide).)
using System;
public class Anonymous
{
public static void Main()
{
Func<string, string> convert = delegate(string s)
{ return s.ToUpper();};
string name = "Dakota";
Console.WriteLine(convert(name));
}
}
You can also assign a lambda expression to a Func<(Of <(T, TResult>)>) delegate, as the following example illustrates. (For an introduction to lambda expressions, see Lambda Expressions and Lambda Expressions (C# Programming Guide).)
Module LambdaExpression
Public Sub Main()
Dim convert As Func(Of String, String) = Function(s) s.ToUpper()
Dim name As String = "Dakota"
Console.WriteLine(convert(name))
End Sub
End Module
using System;
public class LambdaExpression
{
public static void Main()
{
Func<string, string> convert = s => s.ToUpper();
string name = "Dakota";
Console.WriteLine(convert(name));
}
}
The underlying type of a lambda expression is one of the generic Func delegates. This makes it possible to pass a lambda expression as a parameter without explicitly assigning it to a delegate. In particular, because many methods of types in the System.Linq namespace have Func<(Of <(T, TResult>)>) parameters, you can pass these methods a lambda expression without explicitly instantiating a Func<(Of <(T, TResult>)>) delegate.