Incorrect Cast! IManFolder vs. IManDocumentFolder

System

Hello Techies--
Can anyone explain why I am getting the error message: "Specific Cast is not valid" ? I realize that I'm returning an IManFolder instead of an IManDocumentFolder based running this through debug--but-- I really don't understand why exactly. Here is the snippet that fails--more specifically, here is the line that fails:

IManDocumentFolder checkFolder = (IManDocumentFolder)allFolders.ItemByIndex(i); //I thought allFolders had ONLY DocumentFolders? It doesn't??

*sigh* Help!!

Warm regards,
--p
-------------------------------------- CODE SNIPPET-------------------------------------------------------------------


private IManDocuments BringBackAllDocs(IManSession user_session,string doc_type,string doc_status)
{
IManWorkspace specificWS = null;
IManDocumentFolder specificDF = null;
IManDocuments docsWanted = null;

try
{
IManDatabase oDB = user_session.PreferredDatabase;

foreach(IManWorkspace oWorkspace in oDB.Session.WorkArea.RecentWorkspaces)
{

specificWS = (IManWorkspace)oWorkspace;
Console.WriteLine("Workspace name: " + specificWS.Name + "\n");

} // end of cycling through all recent workspaces

//Return Folder back to calling program.
IManDocumentFolders allFolders = specificWS.DocumentFolders; // folders in WS.
for(int i = 1; i < allFolders.Count; i++)
{
IManDocumentFolder checkFolder = (IManDocumentFolder)allFolders.ItemByIndex(i);
Console.WriteLine("Specific Document Folder: " + checkFolder.Name + "\n");

specificDF = (IManDocumentFolder)checkFolder;

}

}
catch(Exception error)
{
Utility.ReportErrors(error);

}

return docsWanted;

}




Paula DiTallo - Middleware Architect/ .NET Developer
plditallo@metro-design-dev.com

Migrateduser

I decided to respond to my own post just in case anyone else decides to sift through the archives looking for an answer to this one:

the API documentation and the context help on mouseover shows that an IManDocumentFolders object will always be returned when one calls the DocumentFolders property of a workspace and therefore one would assume is a collection of IManDocumentFolder objects, yet apparently in runtime it can hold a collection of any object that inherits from the IManFolder interface. Here is the example from the API doc:

Usage

The following example obtains an IManDocumentFolders collection object from the workspace.



//objWorkspace is a valid IManWorkspace object

IManDocumentFolders objDocFolders = objWorkspace.DocumentFolders;

In reality WorkSite will always return IManFolder (for a workspace, tab or folder) or IManContent (for a document, task, event, etc.) regardless of the fact that it is named IManDocumentFolder.

Here's the approach to the solution!

// workspace is a valid IManWorkspace object

IManDocumentFolders oFldrs = workSpace.DocumentFolders;

foreach ( IManFolder oFldr in oFldrs )

{

// Either do this way before casting

//if ( oFldr.ObjectType.ObjectType == imObjectType.imTypeDocumentFolder )

//{

// IManDocumentFolder oDocFldr = oFldr;

//

// or the cool c# way that swallows any cast exceptions (my preference)

IManDocumentFolder oDocFldr = oFldr as IManDocumentFolder;

if ( oDocFldr != null )

{

IManContents oContents = oDocFldr.Contents;

foreach ( IManContent content in oContents )

{

// Do this stuff again

IManDocument oDoc = content as IManDocument;

if ( content != null )

{

// Interesting our documents don't have a name...

Console.WriteLine(

String.Format( "Document Name {0}:\n\t{1}", oDoc.Name, oDoc.Description ))

}

}

}

}






Paula DiTallo - Middleware Architect/ .NET Developer
plditallo@metro-design-dev.com