cast an object to multidimensional string array

Question

I have seen how to cast an object to a string array using the code below,

string[] arr = ((IEnumerable)paraArray).Cast<object>()
                             .Select(x => x.ToString())
                             .ToArray();

My question though is if paraArray is a object (but the data is a multidimensional array) how can I cast it to a multidimensional string array?

Answer 1

You can't achieve this via ToArray. The best, IMHO, you can do is

  object[,] paraArray = new object[,] {
    {1, 2, 3 },
    {4, 5, 6 },
  };

  ...

  string[,] arr = new string[paraArray.GetLength(0), paraArray.GetLength(1)];

  for (int i = 0; i < arr.GetLength(0); ++i)
    for (int j = 0; j < arr.GetLength(1); ++j)
      arr[i, j] = paraArray[i, j].ToString();

2d arrays are not very convenient when working with Linq, that's why often jagged arrays (array of array) are preferable:

  object[][] paraArray = new object[][] {
    new object[] {1, 2, 3 },
    new object[] {4, 5, 6 },
  };

  ... 

  // Working with jagged array is much easier than with 2d one 
  string[][] arr = paraArray
    .Select(line => line
       .Select(item => item.ToString())
       .ToArray())
    .ToArray();