Is there a built-in way to convert IEnumerator to IEnumerable

Question

Is there a built-in way to convert IEnumerator to IEnumerable?

Answer 1

This is a variant I have written... The specific is a little different. I wanted to do a MoveNext() on an IEnumerable<T>, check the result, and then roll everything in a new IEnumerator<T> that was "complete" (so that included even the element of the IEnumerable<T> I had already extracted)

// Simple IEnumerable<T> that "uses" an IEnumerator<T> that has
// already received a MoveNext(). "eats" the first MoveNext() 
// received, then continues normally. For shortness, both IEnumerable<T>
// and IEnumerator<T> are implemented by the same class. Note that if a
// second call to GetEnumerator() is done, the "real" IEnumerator<T> will
// be returned, not this proxy implementation.
public class EnumerableFromStartedEnumerator<T> : IEnumerable<T>, IEnumerator<T>
{
    public readonly IEnumerator<T> Enumerator;

    public readonly IEnumerable<T> Enumerable;

    // Received by creator. Return value of MoveNext() done by caller
    protected bool FirstMoveNextSuccessful { get; set; }

    // The Enumerator can be "used" only once, then a new enumerator
    // can be requested by Enumerable.GetEnumerator() 
    // (default = false)
    protected bool Used { get; set; }

    // The first MoveNext() has been already done (default = false)
    protected bool DoneMoveNext { get; set; }

    public EnumerableFromStartedEnumerator(IEnumerator<T> enumerator, bool firstMoveNextSuccessful, IEnumerable<T> enumerable)
    {
        Enumerator = enumerator;
        FirstMoveNextSuccessful = firstMoveNextSuccessful;
        Enumerable = enumerable;
    }

    public IEnumerator<T> GetEnumerator()
    {
        if (Used)
        {
            return Enumerable.GetEnumerator();
        }

        Used = true;
        return this;
    }

    IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
    {
        return GetEnumerator();
    }

    public T Current
    {
        get
        {
            // There are various school of though on what should
            // happens if called before the first MoveNext() or
            // after a MoveNext() returns false. We follow the 
            // "return default(TInner)" school of thought for the
            // before first MoveNext() and the "whatever the 
            // Enumerator wants" for the after a MoveNext() returns
            // false
            if (!DoneMoveNext)
            {
                return default(T);
            }

            return Enumerator.Current;
        }
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        Enumerator.Dispose();
    }

    object IEnumerator.Current
    {
        get
        {
            return Current;
        }
    }

    public bool MoveNext()
    {
        if (!DoneMoveNext)
        {
            DoneMoveNext = true;
            return FirstMoveNextSuccessful;
        }

        return Enumerator.MoveNext();
    }

    public void Reset()
    {
        // This will 99% throw :-) Not our problem.
        Enumerator.Reset();

        // So it is improbable we will arrive here
        DoneMoveNext = true;
    }
}

Use:

var enumerable = someCollection<T>;

var enumerator = enumerable.GetEnumerator();
bool res = enumerator.MoveNext();
// do whatever you want with res/enumerator.Current

var enumerable2 = new EnumerableFromStartedEnumerator<T>(enumerator, res, enumerable);

Now, the first GetEnumerator() that will be requested to enumerable2 will be given through the enumerator enumerator. From the second onward the enumerable.GetEnumerator() will be used.

Answer 2

You could use the following which will kinda work.

public class FakeEnumerable<T> : IEnumerable<T> {
  private IEnumerator<T> m_enumerator;
  public FakeEnumerable(IEnumerator<T> e) {
    m_enumerator = e;
  }
  public IEnumerator<T> GetEnumerator() { 
    return m_enumerator;
  }
  // Rest omitted 
}

This will get you into trouble though when people expect successive calls to GetEnumerator to return different enumerators vs. the same one. But if it's a one time only use in a very constrained scenario, this could unblock you.

I do suggest though you try and not do this because I think eventually it will come back to haunt you.

A safer option is along the lines Jonathan suggested. You can expend the enumerator and create a List<T> of the remaining items.

public static List<T> SaveRest<T>(this IEnumerator<T> e) {
  var list = new List<T>();
  while ( e.MoveNext() ) {
    list.Add(e.Current);
  }
  return list;
}