Explicit/implicit cast operator fails when using LINQ's .Cast() operator

Question

I am trying to use a class that has a explicit (but also fails with implicit) cast operator that fails when using LINQ's Cast<T>() function. Here is the definitions of the two classes

public class DatabaseInfoElement : ConfigurationElement
{
    [ConfigurationProperty("AllowedServer", IsRequired = true)]
    public string AllowedServer { get { return (string)base["AllowedServer"]; } }

    [ConfigurationProperty("DatabaseName", IsRequired = true)]
    public string DatabaseName { get { return (string)base["DatabaseName"]; } }

    [ConfigurationProperty("SqlInstance", IsRequired = true)]
    public string SqlInstance { get { return (string)base["SqlInstance"]; } }

    public static explicit operator DatabaseInfo(DatabaseInfoElement element)
    {
        return new DatabaseInfo(element.AllowedServer, element.DatabaseName, element.SqlInstance);
    }

}

public class DatabaseInfo
{
    public DatabaseInfo(string allowedServer, string sqlInstance, string databaseName)
    {
        AllowedServer = allowedServer;
        SqlInstance = sqlInstance;
        DatabaseName = databaseName;
    }

    public string AllowedServer { get; set; }
    public string SqlInstance { get; set; }
    public string DatabaseName { get; set; }
}

Here is the code I am using to test it.

//Gets the ConfigurationSection that contains the collection "Databases"
var section = DatabaseInfoConfig.GetSection();

//This line works perfectly.
DatabaseInfo test = (DatabaseInfo)section.Databases[0];

//This line throws a execption
var test2 = new List<DatabaseInfo>(section.Databases.Cast<DatabaseInfo>());

Here is the exception I get

System.InvalidCastException was unhandled by user code
  HResult=-2147467262
  Message=Unable to cast object of type 'Server.Config.DatabaseInfoElement' to type 'Server.DatabaseInfo'.
  Source=System.Core
  StackTrace:
       at System.Linq.Enumerable.d__b1`1.MoveNext()
       at System.Collections.Generic.List`1..ctor(IEnumerable`1 collection)
       at Sandbox.Main() in E:\Code\Sandbox\Program.cs:line 82
  InnerException:

What am I doing wrong in my casting to get this to work the way I want?

Answer 1

When you define explicit/implicit cast operators, they are bound at call-sites at compile-time. That's why the first line works: the compiler can work out all the type information needed, and so it can substitute your custom explicit cast operator for the default one.

However, since the Cast<T> just performs a generic cast, the compiler doesn't know about your operator, and thus it is ignored. Result: invalid cast exception.

You can get around this by instead performing a .Select(x => (DatabaseInfo)x) . Alternatively, you could add on a method called ToDatabaseInfo() , so that you're not hiding what's actually going on.