C# - Cannot implicitly convert type List<Product> to List<IProduct>

Question

I have a project with all my Interface definitions: RivWorks.Interfaces
I have a project where I define concrete implmentations: RivWorks.DTO

I've done this hundreds of times before but for some reason I am getting this error now:

Cannot implicitly convert type 'System.Collections.Generic.List<RivWorks.DTO.Product>' to 'System.Collections.Generic.List<RivWorks.Interfaces.DataContracts.IProduct>'

Interface definition (shortened):

namespace RivWorks.Interfaces.DataContracts
{
    public interface IProduct
    {
        [XmlElement]
        [DataMember(Name = "ID", Order = 0)]
        Guid ProductID { get; set; }
        [XmlElement]
        [DataMember(Name = "altID", Order = 1)]
        long alternateProductID { get; set; }
        [XmlElement]
        [DataMember(Name = "CompanyId", Order = 2)]
        Guid CompanyId { get; set; }
        ...
    }
}

Concrete class definition (shortened):

namespace RivWorks.DTO
{
    [DataContract(Name = "Product", Namespace = "http://rivworks.com/DataContracts/2009/01/15")]
    public class Product : IProduct
    {
        #region Constructors
        public Product() { }
        public Product(Guid ProductID)
        {
            Initialize(ProductID);
        }
        public Product(string SKU, Guid CompanyID)
        {
            using (RivEntities _dbRiv = new RivWorksStore(stores.RivConnString).NegotiationEntities())
            {
                model.Product rivProduct = _dbRiv.Product.Where(a => a.SKU == SKU && a.Company.CompanyId == CompanyID).FirstOrDefault();
                if (rivProduct != null)
                    Initialize(rivProduct.ProductId);
            }
        }
        #endregion

        #region Private Methods
        private void Initialize(Guid ProductID)
        {
            using (RivEntities _dbRiv = new RivWorksStore(stores.RivConnString).NegotiationEntities())
            {
                var localProduct = _dbRiv.Product.Include("Company").Where(a => a.ProductId == ProductID).FirstOrDefault();
                if (localProduct != null)
                {
                    var companyDetails = _dbRiv.vwCompanyDetails.Where(a => a.CompanyId == localProduct.Company.CompanyId).FirstOrDefault();
                    if (companyDetails != null)
                    {
                        if (localProduct.alternateProductID != null && localProduct.alternateProductID > 0)
                        {
                            using (FeedsEntities _dbFeed = new FeedStoreReadOnly(stores.FeedConnString).ReadOnlyEntities())
                            {
                                var feedProduct = _dbFeed.AutoWithImage.Where(a => a.ClientID == companyDetails.ClientID && a.AutoID == localProduct.alternateProductID).FirstOrDefault();
                                if (companyDetails.useZeroGspPath.Value || feedProduct.GuaranteedSalePrice > 0)     // kab: 2010.04.07 - new rules...
                                    PopulateProduct(feedProduct, localProduct, companyDetails);
                            }
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            if (companyDetails.useZeroGspPath.Value || localProduct.LowestPrice > 0)                // kab: 2010.04.07 - new rules...
                                PopulateProduct(localProduct, companyDetails);
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        private void PopulateProduct(RivWorks.Model.Entities.Product product, RivWorks.Model.Entities.vwCompanyDetails RivCompany)
        {
            this.ProductID = product.ProductId;
            if (product.alternateProductID != null)
                this.alternateProductID = product.alternateProductID.Value;
            this.BackgroundColor = product.BackgroundColor;
            ...
        }
        private void PopulateProduct(RivWorks.Model.Entities.AutoWithImage feedProduct, RivWorks.Model.Entities.Product rivProduct, RivWorks.Model.Entities.vwCompanyDetails RivCompany)
        {
            this.alternateProductID = feedProduct.AutoID;
            this.BackgroundColor = Helpers.Product.GetCorrectValue(RivCompany.defaultBackgroundColor, rivProduct.BackgroundColor);
            ...
        }
        #endregion

        #region IProduct Members
        public Guid ProductID { get; set; }
        public long alternateProductID { get; set; }
        public Guid CompanyId { get; set; }
        ...
        #endregion
    }
}

In another class I have:

using dto = RivWorks.DTO;
using contracts = RivWorks.Interfaces.DataContracts;
...
public static List<contracts.IProduct> Get(Guid companyID)
{
    List<contracts.IProduct> myList = new List<dto.Product>();
    ...

Any ideas why this might be happening? (And I am sure it is something trivially simple!)

Answer 1

Yep it's a covariance limitation in C#. You can't convert a list of one type to a list of another.

Instead of:

List<contracts.IProduct> myList = new List<dto.Product>();

You have to do this

List<contracts.IProduct> myList = new List<contracts.IProduct>();

myList.Add(new dto.Product());

Eric Lippert explains why they implemented it this way: http://blogs.msdn.com/ericlippert/archive/tags/Covariance+and+Contravariance/default.aspx

(And why it is different than working with arrays of items).

Answer 2

You can't do that. If you have a List, you can put any IProduct in it. So if you have a Product2 which implements IProduct you could put it in the list. But the original list was created as List, so anyone using the list would expect only objects of type Product, not Product2 to be in the list.

In .NET 4.0, they added covariance and contravariance for interfaces, so you could convert IEnumerable to IEnumerable. But this still doesn't work for lists, since the list interface allows you both to "put stuff in" and "get stuff out".

Answer 3

Try this instead:

List<contracts.IProduct> myList = new List<contracts.IProduct>((new List<dto.Product>()).Cast<contracts.IProduct>());

Answer 4

Well, you can use this!

        class A {}
        class B : A {}
        ...
        List<B> b = new List<B>();
        ...
        List<A> a = new List<A>(b.ToArray());

Now, to give direct solution,

using dto = RivWorks.DTO;
using contracts = RivWorks.Interfaces.DataContracts;
...
public static List<contracts.IProduct> Get(Guid companyID) {
    List<dto.Product> prodList = new List<dto.Product>();
    ...
    return new List<contracts.IProduct>(prodList.ToArray());
}

Answer 5

Just as a remark: Covariance and Contravariance in Generics was added in C# 4.0.