Use <T> in class properties declare in C#

Question

I have a class like this

public class Tbl
{
    public string Name {get; set}
    public anyClass Datasource {get; set;} //I don't know what to use there
}

//Usage:
List<anyClass> anyList = GetList(); // Assuming I had a list
Tbl Table = new Tbl();
Table.Name = "Table1";
Table.Datasource = anyList;

Here, my propblem is making the Datasource can accept any input Class. How can I declare the Datasource for Tbl class right way?

Thanks very much

Answer 1

If it was Tbl<T>, you might choose to expose IList<T> as the DataSource:

public class Table<T>
{
    public string Name {get; set}
    public IList<T> DataSource {get; set;}
}

For non-generic data you might choose to use the non-generic IList; however, in the core framework it is fairly routine to use object as a DataSource, as this allows use of both IList and IListSource (an abstraction around obtaining a list).

Answer 2

You use the type Object:

public object Datasource { get; set; }

If you want to use generics to specify the type:

public class Tbl<T> {
  public string Name { get; set }
  public T Datasource { get; set; }
}