Function with 2 different generic objects

Question

I´m trying to do the following:

I have a class with a virtual method like this:

public virtual Event<T> Execute<T>(T message)

And that´s what I want:

Event T can be different of T message. For example: sometimes I need a function like this:

public override Event<Bitmap> Execute(string message)

But of course, I get the following error "no suitable method found to override".

Is there any way to do this? Use 2 types of generic objects using this override?

Note: I can change the virtual method, but the other classes always have to inherit this one.

Thank you!

Answer 1

You don't need to override it, override is used to change a method inherited from another class. If i understood correctly you want to overload this method, omit override and type virtual instead.

public virtual Event<Bitmap> Execute(string message)

When you will call this function the compiler will choose most appropriate method in dependence of what number/types of values you have passed to the method.

Answer 2

It sounds like you should move the generic type to the class or an interface and then implement/extend the Execute method:

public interface IExecutor<T>
{
    Event<T> Execute();
}

public class BitmapExecutor : IExecutor<Bitmap>
{
    Event<Bitmap> Execute() { ... }
}

It doesn't make sense to have an Execute<T> method, since that implies that it is valid for any supplied type T, rather than specific ones.

Answer 3

You could declare another overload for your method like this:

public virtual Event<K> Execute<T>(T message)