Why does foreach fail to find my GetEnumerator extension method?

Question

I\'m trying to make some code more readable. For Example foreach(var row in table) {...} rather than foreach(DataRow row in table.Rows) {...}.

Answer 1

There is plenty of confusion in the other answers so far. (Though Preston Guillot's answer is pretty good, it does not actually put a finger on what's going on here.) Let me try to clarify.

First off, you are simply out of luck. C# requires that the collection used in a foreach statement either:

1. Implement a public GetEnumerator that matches the required pattern.
2. Implement IEnumerable (and of course, IEnumerable requires IEnumerable)
3. Be dynamic, in which case we simply kick the can down the road and do the analysis at runtime.

The upshot is that the collection type must actually implement the GetEnumerator one way or the other. Providing an extension method does not cut it.

This is unfortunate. In my opinion, when the C# team added extension methods to C# 3 they should have modified existing features such as foreach (and perhaps even using!) to consider extension methods. However, the schedule was extremely tight during the C# 3 release cycle and any extra work items that did not get LINQ implemented on time were likely to be cut. I do not recall precisely what the design team said on this point and I don't have my notes anymore.

This unfortunate situation is the result of the fact that languages grow and evolve; old versions are designed for the needs of their time, and new versions have to build on that foundation. If, counterfactually, C# 1.0 had had extension methods and generics then the foreach loop could have been designed like LINQ: as a simple syntactic transformation. But it was not, and now we are stuck with the legacy of pre-generic, pre-extension-method design.

Second, there seems to be some misinformation in other answers and comments about what precisely is required to make foreach work. You are not required to implement IEnumerable. For more details on this commonly misunderstood feature, see my article on the subject.

Third, there seems to be some question as to whether this behaviour is actually justified by the specification. It is. The specification does not explicitly call out that extension methods are not considered in this case, which is unfortunate. However, the specification is extremely clear on what happens:

The compiler begins by doing a member lookup for GetEnumerator. The member lookup algorithm is documented in detail in section 7.3, and member lookup does not consider extension methods, only actual members. Extension methods are only considered after regular overload resolution has failed, and we haven't gotten to overload resolution yet. (And yes, extension methods are considered by member access, but member access and member lookup are different operations.)

If member lookup fails to find a method group then the attempt to match the pattern fails. The compiler therefore never goes on to the overload resolution portion of the algorithm, and therefore never has a chance to consider extension methods.

Therefore the behaviour you describe is consistent with the specified behaviour.

I advise you to read section 8.8.4 of the specification very carefully if you want to understand precisely how a compiler analyzes a foreach statement.

Fourth, I encourage you to spend your time adding value to your program in some other way. The compelling benefit of

foreach (var row in table)

over

foreach(var row in table.Rows)

is tiny for the developer and invisible to the customer. Spend your time adding new features or fixing bugs or analyzing performance, rather than making already perfectly clear code five characters shorter.