C# "Boxing" into a property / 1-Arg Constructor By Assignment

Question

In C#, suppose you have a simple class like:

public class MyFloat
{
    public float Value { get; set; }

    public MyFloat()
    {}

    public MyFloat(float _Value)
    {
        Value = _Value;
    }
}

Does such a syntax exist that would allow you to short-hand initialize its Value property as something like:

MyFloat[] Arg_f;
Arg_f = new MyFloat[] { 1, 2, 3 };

Rather than needing to explicitly call the constructor, like:

Arg_f = new MyFloat[] { new MyFloat(1), new MyFloat(2), new MyFloat(3) };

Or equivalently, i.e.

MyFloat myFloat = 5f;          //Implicitly assign 5f to myFloat.Value
float myFloatValue = myFloat;  //Implicitly get myFloat.Value

This is obviously similar to boxing/unboxing, except that I'm trying to "box" into a specific object property. Or you might say I'm trying to implicitly call the 1-arg constructor by assignment.

Is something like this possible in C#, or am I just on a wild goose chase?

Answer 1

This is possible via an implicit conversion:

public static implicit operator MyFloat(float f)
{
      return new MyFloat(f);
}

Now this will work:

 var myFloats = new MyFloat[] { 1, 2 };

This is obviously similar to boxing/unboxing, except that I'm trying to "box" into a specific object property.

This isn't about boxing, it is about the ability to convert one type to another, implicitly, as you don't want the explicit type declaration.

Personally, although possible, I don't like using implicit conversions. They cause ambiguity ("how is this converted to MyFloat?") and may surprise developers when reading the codebase.