'casting' with reflection

Question

Consider the following sample code:

class SampleClass
{
    public long SomeProperty { get; set; }
}

public void SetValue(SampleClass instance, decimal valu         


        

Answer 1

Thomas answer only works for types that implement IConvertible interface:

For the conversion to succeed, value must implement the IConvertible interface, because the method simply wraps a call to an appropriate IConvertible method. The method requires that conversion of value to conversionType be supported.

This code compile a linq expression that does the unboxing (if needed) and the conversion:

    public static object Cast(this Type Type, object data)
    {
        var DataParam = Expression.Parameter(typeof(object), "data");
        var Body = Expression.Block(Expression.Convert(Expression.Convert(DataParam, data.GetType()), Type));

        var Run = Expression.Lambda(Body, DataParam).Compile();
        var ret = Run.DynamicInvoke(data);
        return ret;
    }

The resulting lambda expression equals to (TOut)(TIn)Data where TIn is the type of the original data and TOut is the given type