C# extension method as an interface implementation

cextension-methodsinterfacemultiple-inheritance

I was wondering if a C# extension method of some class could act as an implementation of interface?
What do I have:

An iterface:

public interface IEventHandler
{
    void Notify(SEvent ev, IEventEmmiter source);
}

A class that implements it:

class Sim : IEventHandler
{

    /*public void Notify(SEvent ev, IEventEmmiter source)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Got notified: " + ev.Name);
    }*/

}

And a class that contains the extension method:

public static class ReflectiveEventDispatcher
{
    public static void Notify(this IEventHandler handler, SEvent ev)
    {
        if (handler.GetType().GetMethod("Handle" + ev.Name) != null)
        {
            // C# WTF?
            object[] prms = new object[0];
            prms[0] = ev;
            handler.GetType().GetMethod("Handle" + ev.Name).Invoke(handler, prms);
        }
        else
        {
            throw new System.NotImplementedException("This object doesn't have appropriate handler methods for event " + ev.Name);
        }
    }
}

Now, I want to have various classes with IEventHandler interface and the interfaces' implementation should be fulfilled by the extension method.

If that's not possible, is it possible to define the Notify explicitly and then just forward the call to the extension method?

The code above is basically a multiple inheritance hack. Is it possible to emulate this behaviour by any (other) means?

(I hope this makes sense, I'm used to Ruby and this is giving me really hard time. Oh, how do I miss you, my dear mixins…)

Update

Call forwarding solved it pretty well:

public void Notify(SEvent ev)
{
    ReflectiveEventDispatcher.Notify(this, ev,);
}

Best Answer

No, Extension methods can not act as implementation for an interface. Extensions methods are just syntactic sugar for a static method taking an instance of that class as the first parameter, thus not being a member of the specific class, which is a requirement for implementing an interface.

Related Solutions

Interface vs Base class

Let's take your example of a Dog and a Cat class, and let's illustrate using C#:

Both a dog and a cat are animals, specifically, quadruped mammals (animals are waaay too general). Let us assume that you have an abstract class Mammal, for both of them:

public abstract class Mammal

This base class will probably have default methods such as:

Feed
Mate

All of which are behavior that have more or less the same implementation between either species. To define this you will have:

public class Dog : Mammal
public class Cat : Mammal

Now let's suppose there are other mammals, which we will usually see in a zoo:

public class Giraffe : Mammal
public class Rhinoceros : Mammal
public class Hippopotamus : Mammal

This will still be valid because at the core of the functionality Feed() and Mate() will still be the same.

However, giraffes, rhinoceros, and hippos are not exactly animals that you can make pets out of. That's where an interface will be useful:

public interface IPettable
{
    IList<Trick> Tricks{get; set;}
    void Bathe();
    void Train(Trick t);
}

The implementation for the above contract will not be the same between a cat and dog; putting their implementations in an abstract class to inherit will be a bad idea.

Your Dog and Cat definitions should now look like:

public class Dog : Mammal, IPettable
public class Cat : Mammal, IPettable

Theoretically you can override them from a higher base class, but essentially an interface allows you to add on only the things you need into a class without the need for inheritance.

Consequently, because you can usually only inherit from one abstract class (in most statically typed OO languages that is... exceptions include C++) but be able to implement multiple interfaces, it allows you to construct objects in a strictly as required basis.

C# Interfaces. Implicit implementation versus Explicit implementation

Implicit is when you define your interface via a member on your class. Explicit is when you define methods within your class on the interface. I know that sounds confusing but here is what I mean: IList.CopyTo would be implicitly implemented as:

public void CopyTo(Array array, int index)
{
    throw new NotImplementedException();
}

and explicitly as:

void ICollection.CopyTo(Array array, int index)
{
    throw new NotImplementedException();
}

The difference is that implicit implementation allows you to access the interface through the class you created by casting the interface as that class and as the interface itself. Explicit implementation allows you to access the interface only by casting it as the interface itself.

MyClass myClass = new MyClass(); // Declared as concrete class
myclass.CopyTo //invalid with explicit
((IList)myClass).CopyTo //valid with explicit.

I use explicit primarily to keep the implementation clean, or when I need two implementations. Regardless, I rarely use it.

I am sure there are more reasons to use/not use explicit that others will post.

See the next post in this thread for excellent reasoning behind each.

Update

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Interface vs Base class

C# Interfaces. Implicit implementation versus Explicit implementation

Related Topic