How to check if an implicit conversion is available between types?

Question

I need to check if an implicit conversion is available between types. For built-in types, I can create a dictionary with a type and list of corresponding available types. But for custom types this is not possible because I don't know on what code this will be checked. Is there a generic way to do this?

Thanks.

possible duplicate of [How to check if implicit or explicit cast exists?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1815452/how-to-check-if-implicit-or-explicit-cast-exists) — nawfal, Jan 18 '14 at 07:27

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 15 '13 at 10:52

10

Try this. If for custom type defined method for implicit conversation, you will find it by "op_Implicit" name

foreach (MethodInfo mi in typeof(CustomType).GetMethods())
        {
            if (mi.Name == "op_Implicit")
            {
                Console.WriteLine(mi.ReturnType.Name);
            }
        }

answered Aug 15 '13 at 10:52

MikkaRin

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Note that the *inbuilt* types often don't contain operators - their conversions are done at the IL level. So while this is *part* of the answer, some conversions typically need to be hard-coded – Marc Gravell Aug 15 '13 at 10:57
This code with definitions for inbuilt types works great. Great thanks! – Krzysztof Madej Aug 15 '13 at 13:21
Thanks. However, is there any way to do this without reflection? – krimog Nov 16 '15 at 13:54

score -4 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 15 '13 at 10:39

-4

Have you tried IsAssignableFrom?

Type type = typeof(MyClass);
type.IsAssignableFrom(typeof(MyOtherClass));

answered Aug 15 '13 at 10:39

Artless

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This doesn't seem to work for implicit conversions. See also the first answer here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2119441/check-if-types-are-castable-subclasses. – Magnus Grindal Bakken Aug 15 '13 at 11:15
It's wrong! Long is assignable from Short, `long x = new short();`, but `typeof(long).IsAssignableFrom(typeof(short))` returns False! – Colonel Panic Apr 01 '14 at 15:11

How to check if an implicit conversion is available between types?

2 Answers2