Struct Any

Namespace

Badeend

Assembly

Badeend.Any.dll

Any is able to hold any value of any type (hence the name).

This is similar to assigning a value to a variable of type object. The key difference is that converting to Any does not cause boxing for many small struct types as they're stored inline in the Any instance itself. Whereas converting a struct type to object will always box.

public readonly struct Any : IEquatable<Any>

Implements

IEquatable<Any>

Inherited Members

ValueType.Equals(object)

object.Equals(object, object)

object.GetType()

object.ReferenceEquals(object, object)

Extension Methods

AnyReferenceExtensions.As<T>(Any)

AnyReferenceExtensions.CastNullable<T>(Any)

AnyReferenceExtensions.Cast<T>(Any)

AnyReferenceExtensions.Is<T>(Any)

AnyReferenceExtensions.Is<T>(Any, out T)

AnyValueExtensions.As<T>(Any)

AnyValueExtensions.CastNullable<T>(Any)

AnyValueExtensions.Cast<T>(Any)

AnyValueExtensions.Is<T>(Any)

AnyValueExtensions.Is<T>(Any, out T)

Remarks

Boxing is avoided for any value type that:

• is 8 bytes in size or less, and:
• does not contain references.

In practice this turns out to be many of the commonly used .NET built-ins:

• bool
• char
• byte
• sbyte
• short
• ushort
• int
• uint
• long
• ulong
• IntPtr / nint
• UIntPtr / nuint
• float
• double
• DateTime
• TimeSpan
• DateOnly
• TimeOnly
• Index
• Range
• all enums
• ValueTuples such as (int, int)

Tip

Any provides conversion operators for these (and more) BCL types; implicit operators for types that are known to be inlinable, and explicit operators for types that that require boxing. Due to the large amount of them, they're not shown in the documentation.

Any has a built-in representation for null, which can be checked for using HasValue. Because Any can already be "null" by itself, there's typically no need for having a nullable Any (Any? / Nullable<Any>), as that will result in "double" nullability.

The default value of Any is null.

Properties

HasValue

Returns true if the value is not null.

[Pure]
public bool HasValue { get; }

Property Value

bool

Type

Returns the Type of the contained value or null if the value is null.

[Pure]
public Type? Type { get; }

Property Value

Type

Remarks

This never returns typeof(Any).

Methods

BitwiseEquals(Any, Any)

Check if the two Any instances are identical.

This is checked by comparing the object references to the heap data and the raw bitpattern of the inlined struct data (if any).

It does not call the inner value's .Equals implementation.

[Pure]
public static bool BitwiseEquals(Any a, Any b)

Parameters

a Any

b Any

Returns

bool

Remarks

This is the spiritual equivalent of Object.ReferenceEquals(a, b), but for Any instances.

Create<T>(T)

Wrap the provided value inside a new Any, avoiding boxing whenever possible.

Boxing can be prevented for any value type that:

• is 8 bytes in size or less, and:
• does not contain references.

[Pure]
public static Any Create<T>(T value)

Parameters

value T

Returns

Any

Type Parameters

T

Equals(Any)

Call the inner value's .Equals implementation.

Which .Equals method is called depends on the runtime values of this and other:

• If both are null: true
• If only one is null: false
• If both are inlined structs of the same type: EqualityComparer<T>.Default.Equals(this, other)
• If both are inlined structs, but of different types: false
• If this is heap allocated and other is inlined: other.Equals((object)this)
• All other cases: this.Equals((object)other)

[Pure]
public bool Equals(Any other)

Parameters

other Any

Returns

bool

GetHashCode()

Invoke GetHashCode() on the inner value.

[Pure]
public override int GetHashCode()

Returns

int

ToObject()

Box the inner value, if it wasn't already.

[Pure]
public object? ToObject()

Returns

object

ToString()

Invoke ToString() on the inner value.

[Pure]
public override string? ToString()

Returns

string

TryGetValue<T>(out T)

Attempt to downcast to the specified type T. If the current instance represents null, the attempt always returns false.

public bool TryGetValue<T>(out T value) where T : notnull

Parameters

value T

On success; the downcast value.

Returns

bool

true is the conversion succeeded. Otherwise false.

Type Parameters

T

The type to downcast to.

Remarks

For more ergonomic access, you might be interested in the .As<T>(), .Is<T>() and .Cast<T>() extension methods.

Exceptions

InvalidOperationException

Type parameter T is a nullable value type.

Operators

operator ==(Any, Any)

Check for equality using the inner value's .Equals implementation. See Equals(Any) for more information.

[Pure]
public static bool operator ==(Any left, Any right)

Parameters

left Any

right Any

Returns

bool

operator !=(Any, Any)

Check for inequality using the inner value's .Equals implementation. See Equals(Any) for more information.

[Pure]
public static bool operator !=(Any left, Any right)

Parameters

left Any

right Any

Returns

bool