Using Conversion Operators (C# Programming Guide) 

Conversion operators can be explicit or implicit. Implicit conversion operators are easier to use, but explicit operators are useful when you want users of the operator to be aware that a conversion is taking place. This topic demonstrates both types.

Example 1

This is an example of an explicit conversion operator. This operator converts from the type Byte to a value type called Digit. Because not all bytes can be converted to a digit, the conversion is explicit, meaning that a cast must be used, as shown in the Main method.

struct Digit
{
    byte value;

    public Digit(byte value)  //constructor
    {
        if (value > 9)
        {
            throw new System.ArgumentException();
        }
        this.value = value;
    }

    public static explicit operator Digit(byte b)  // explicit byte to digit conversion operator
    {
        Digit d = new Digit(b);  // explicit conversion

        System.Console.WriteLine("conversion occurred");
        return d;
    }
}

class TestExplicitConversion
{
    static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            byte b = 3;
            Digit d = (Digit)b;  // explicit conversion
        }
        catch (System.Exception e)
        {
            System.Console.WriteLine("{0} Exception caught.", e);
        }
    }
}

Output 1

conversion occurred

Example 2

This example demonstrates an implicit conversion operator by defining a conversion operator that undoes what the previous example did: it converts from a value class called Digit to the integral Byte type. Because any digit can be converted to a Byte, there's no need to force users to be explicit about the conversion.

struct Digit
{
    byte value;

    public Digit(byte value)  //constructor
    {
        if (value > 9)
        {
            throw new System.ArgumentException();
        }
        this.value = value;
    }

    public static implicit operator byte(Digit d)  // implicit digit to byte conversion operator
    {
        System.Console.WriteLine("conversion occurred");
        return d.value;  // implicit conversion
    }
}

class TestImplicitConversion
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Digit d = new Digit(3);
        byte b = d;  // implicit conversion -- no cast needed
    }
}

Output 2

conversion occurred

See Also

Concepts

C# Programming Guide
Conversion Operators (C# Programming Guide)

Other Resources

C# Reference