C# generics: cast generic type to value type

Question

I have a generic class which saves value for the specified type T. The value can be an int, uint, double or float. Now I want to get the bytes of the value to encode it into an

Answer 1

You could potentially use Convert.ToInt32(this._value) or (int)((object)this._value). But in general if you find yourself having to check for specific types in a generic method, there's a problem with your design.

In your case, you probably should consider making an abstract base class, and then derived classes for the types you're going to use:

public abstract class GenericClass
where T : struct
{
    protected T _value;

    public void SetValue(T value)
    {
        this._value = value;
    }

    public abstract byte[] GetBytes();
}

public class IntGenericClass: GenericClass
{
    public override byte[] GetBytes()
    {
        return BitConverter.GetBytes(this._value);
    }
}