Unable to use dynamic_cast with generics

Question

I have a generic class Client which has a single type parameter. The type parameter is any reference type derived from Base. So I declare the class as below:

generic <class T>
where T : Base, gcnew()
public ref class Client {
  T val;
  void SetVal(Base ^bval){

    val = dynamic_cast<T>(bval);  // error C2682: cannot use 'dynamic_cast' to convert from 'Base ^' to 'T'

  }  
};

Why do I get a compile error when using dynamic_cast to convert from Base to one of its derived classes? I was expecting the cast to compile but fail at runtime (by returning nullptr) in case the argument was of incorrect type.

Answer 1

Try dynamic_cast <T^>.

Pointers have to be cast to other pointers, handles to other handles, and so forth.