C# interfaces with same method name

Question

I dont know if what I'd like to do is simply not possible: or I'm not thinking about it in the correct way.

I'm trying to construct a repository interface class which accepts a generic type and uses this as the basis for the return on most of its methods, ie:

public interface IRepository<T> {
    void Add(T source);
    T Find(int id);
}

This would then be inherited by an actual repository class, like so:

public class TestClientRepository : IRepository<ClientEmailAddress>, IRepository<ClientAccount> {

}

The idea is that within a ClientRepository, for example, I will want to perform operations against a few different object types (ClientAccount, ClientEmailAddress etc); but in the main the types of operations needed are all the same.

When I try to use the TestClientRepository (after implementing the Interfaces explicitly) I cannot see the multiple Find and Add methods.

Can anyone help? Thanks.

Answer 1

Sure - all you've got to do is use it as the appropriate interface:

TestClientRepository repo = new TestClientRepository();

IRepository<ClientEmailAddress> addrRepo = repo;
ClientEmailAddress address = addrRepo.Find(10);

IRepository<ClientAccount> accountRepo = repo;
ClientAccount accoutn = accountRepo.Find(5);

Basically explicitly implemented interface methods can only be called on an expression of the interface type, not on the concrete type that implements the interface.