Can't convert ListBox.ObjectCollection to a (typed) array

Question

I want to convert the items to a String array or the type that I used to fill the ListBox.DataSource. The type has overridden ToString() but I can't seems to get it converted, not even to String[].

String[] a = (String[])ListBox1.Items;
Contacts[] b = (Contacts[])ListBox1.Items;

Answer 1

String[] a = ListBox1.Items.Select(item => item.ToString()).ToArray();
Contact[] b = ListBox1.Items.Select(item => (Contact)item).ToArray();

or something like that

Answer 2

string[] a = ListBox1.Items.Cast<string>().ToArray();

Of course, if all you plan to do with a is iterate over it, you don't have to call ToArray(). You can directly use the IEnumerable<string> returned from Cast<string>(), e.g.:

foreach (var s in ListBox1.Items.Cast<string>()) {
    do_something_with(s);
}

Or, if you have some way to convert strings to Contacts, you can do something like this:

IEnumerable<Contacts> c = ListBox1.Items.Cast<string>().Select(s => StringToContact(s));