So it looks like the answer is there is no way to implicitly cast a Vector of a type to valid super type. It must be performed explicitly with the global Vector.<> function.
So my actual problem was a mix of problems :)
It is correct to use Vector. as a generic reference to another Vector, but, it cannot be performed like this:
var spriteList:Vector.<Sprite> = new Vector.<Sprite>()
var genericList:Vector.<Object> = new Vector.<Object>()
genericList = spriteList // this will cause a type casting error
The assignment should be performed using the global Vector() function/cast like so:
var spriteList:Vector.<Sprite> = new Vector.<Sprite>()
var genericList:Vector.<Object> = new Vector.<Object>()
genericList = Vector.<Object>(spriteList)
It was a simple case of me not reading the documentation.
Below is some test code, I would expect the Vector. to cast implicitly to Vector.<*>.
public class VectorTest extends Sprite
{
public function VectorTest()
{
// works, due to <*> being strictly the same type as the collection in VectorContainer
var collection:Vector.<*> = new Vector.<String>()
// compiler complains about implicit conversion of <String> to <*>
var collection:Vector.<String> = new Vector.<String>()
collection.push("One")
collection.push("Two")
collection.push("Three")
for each (var eachNumber:String in collection)
{
trace("eachNumber: " + eachNumber)
}
var vectorContainer:VectorContainer = new VectorContainer(collection)
while(vectorContainer.hasNext())
{
trace(vectorContainer.next)
}
}
}
public class VectorContainer
{
private var _collection:Vector.<*>
private var _index:int = 0
public function VectorContainer(collection:Vector.<*>)
{
_collection = collection
}
public function hasNext():Boolean
{
return _index < _collection.length
}
public function get next():*
{
return _collection[_index++]
}
}