Converting from String to <T>

Question

I really should be able to get this, but I'm just to the point where I think it'd be easier to ask.

In the C# function:

public static T GetValue<T>(String value) where T:new() {    //Magic happens here } 

What's a good implementation for the magic? The idea behind this is that I have xml to parse and the desired values are often primitives (bool, int, string, etc.) and this is the perfect place to use generics... but a simple solution is eluding me at the moment.

btw, here's a sample of the xml I'd need to parse

<Items>     <item>         <ItemType>PIANO</ItemType>         <Name>A Yamaha piano</Name>         <properties>             <allowUpdates>false</allowUpdates>             <allowCopy>true</allowCopy>         </properties>        </item>     <item>         <ItemType>PIANO_BENCH</ItemType>         <Name>A black piano bench</Name>         <properties>             <allowUpdates>true</allowUpdates>             <allowCopy>false</allowCopy>             <url>www.yamaha.com</url>         </properties>     </item>     <item>         <ItemType>DESK_LAMP</ItemType>         <Name>A Verilux desk lamp</Name>         <properties>             <allowUpdates>true</allowUpdates>             <allowCopy>true</allowCopy>             <quantity>2</quantity>         </properties>     </item> </Items> 

Answer 1

I would suggest instead of trying to parse XML yourself, you try to create classes that would deserialize from the XML into the classes. I would strongly recommend following bendewey's answer.

But if you cannot do this, there is hope. You can use Convert.ChangeType.

public static T GetValue<T>(String value) {   return (T)Convert.ChangeType(value, typeof(T)); } 

And use like so

GetValue<int>("12"); // = 12 GetValue<DateTime>("12/12/98"); 

Answer 2

You can start with something roughly like this:

TypeConverter converter = TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(typeof(T)); if (converter != null) {    return (T)converter.ConvertFrom(value); } 

If you have to parse attributes that are special types, like colors or culture strings or whatnot, you will of course have to build special cases into the above. But this will handle most of your primitive types.