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C# Typecasting: Implicit and Explicit Conversions

Typecasting involves converting an expression of one type into another type. There are four main types of typecasting: implicit conversions which do not require special syntax as no data is lost; explicit conversions which require a cast operator as data may be lost; user-defined conversions through custom methods; and conversions using helper classes like Convert and BitConverter to handle non-compatible types like integers to DateTime.

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7 views3 pages

C# Typecasting: Implicit and Explicit Conversions

Typecasting involves converting an expression of one type into another type. There are four main types of typecasting: implicit conversions which do not require special syntax as no data is lost; explicit conversions which require a cast operator as data may be lost; user-defined conversions through custom methods; and conversions using helper classes like Convert and BitConverter to handle non-compatible types like integers to DateTime.

Uploaded by

Asad Khan
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

TYPECASTING

DEFINITION:
Converting an expression of a given type into another type is known as type-casting.
Because C# is statically-typed at compile time, after a variable is declared, it cannot be
declared again or used to store values of another type unless that type is convertible to the
variable's type

TYPES OF TYPECASTING WITH EXAMPLES

 Implicit conversions: No special syntax is required because the conversion is type


safe and no data will be lost. Examples include conversions from smaller to larger
integral types, and conversions from derived classes to base classes.
e.g.:
// Implicit conversion. num long can
// hold any value an int can hold, and more!
int num = 2147483647;
long bigNum = num;

 Explicit conversions (casts): Explicit conversions require a cast operator. Casting


is required when information might be lost in the conversion, or when the conversion
might not succeed for other reasons.  Typical examples include numeric conversion to a
type that has less precision or a smaller range, and conversion of a base-class instance to
a derived class.
e.g.:
class Test
{
static void Main()
{
double x = 1234.7;
int a;
// Cast double to int.
a = (int)x;
[Link] (a);
}
}
// Output: 1234
 User-defined conversions: User-defined conversions are performed by special
methods that you can define to enable explicit and implicit conversions between custom
types that do not have a base class–derived class relationship. For more information, see
Conversion Operators (C# Programming Guide).
e.g.:
class SampleClass
{
public static explicit operator SampleClass(int i)
{
SampleClass temp = new SampleClass();
// code to convert from int to SampleClass...

return temp;
}

 Conversions with helper classes: To convert between non-compatible types, such


as integers and [Link] objects, or hexadecimal strings and byte arrays, you
can use the [Link] class, the [Link] class, and the Parse methods
of the built-in numeric types, such as [Link].
e.g.:
string input = "Hello World!";
char[] values = [Link]();
foreach (char letter in values)
{
// Get the integral value of the character.
int value = Convert.ToInt32(letter);
// Convert the decimal value to a hexadecimal value in string form.
string hexOutput = [Link]("{0:X}", value);
[Link]("Hexadecimal value of {0} is {1}", letter, hexOutput);
}
Output:
Hexadecimal value of H is 48
Hexadecimal value of e is 65
Hexadecimal value of l is 6C
Hexadecimal value of l is 6C
Hexadecimal value of o is 6F
Hexadecimal value of is 20
Hexadecimal value of W is 57
Hexadecimal value of o is 6F
Hexadecimal value of r is 72
Hexadecimal value of l is 6C
Hexadecimal value of d is 64
Hexadecimal value of ! is 21

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