Converting between F# and C# types

Every now and again in F# you run into needing to convert a Seq to something like IList<>. Depending on how often you do this, and if you are like me, you will need to search for this or try different things for longer than you would care to admit. So if nothing else, here I am capturing for myself how to tackle some of these conversions.

TL;DR

For the sake of this post being a reference post, I am going to post this class which captures a lot of the conversions. Here I try and capture the C# type as the type most closely related to an F# type, if that makes sense. In most cases, this is an 'T array, since this is equivalent to a 'T [] array in C#. I do encourage you to read the rest of the article at least once, as I will try break down the types a bit so in the future it should be easier to figure out the conversions yourself.

For many of these, you will need to convert to seq and then to the F# type you want to work with. If that is not acceptable perhaps do it yourself with a loop.

From	To	Conversion
IEnumerable<int>	int seq	alias for
List<int>	ResizeArray	alias for
IEnumerable	seq	Seq.cast
IEnumerable	int array	Seq.cast |> Seq.toArray
IEnumerable	int list	Seq.cast |> Seq.toList
ICollection<int>	int seq	:> seq<_>
IList<int>	int seq	:> seq<_>
int []	int array	alias for
System.Array	obj seq	System.Linq.Enumerable.OfType<obj>
seq/array/list	ResizeArray	ResizeArray ctor
int seq	IEnumerable	:> IEnumerable
int array	ICollection<int>	:> ICollection<int>
ResizeArray	ICollection<int>	:> ICollection<int>
ResizeArray	IList<int>	:> IList<int>
ResizeArray	int seq	:> seq<_>
ResizeArray	int array	.ToArray() instance method
f: unit -> int	Func<int>	Func<int>(f) ctor
Func<int>	unit -> int	fun () -> f.Invoke()

For those that can be cast with :> seq<_> like ICollection<> and IList<> you can use directly with the Seq module functions like toList, since those interfaces implement IEnumerable<>.

Example

// This is for demonstration purposes only
type CSharpyType() =
    // seq<int>
    let mutable enumerableTProp = Seq.empty
    // seq<obj>
    let mutable enumerableProp = Seq.empty
    // int []
    let mutable arrayTProp = Array.empty
    // obj []
    let mutable arrayProp = Array.empty
    // int list
    let mutable listTProp = ResizeArray()
    // int []
    let mutable ilistTProp  = Array.empty
    // int []
    let mutable icollectionTProp = Array.empty
    // unit -> DateTimeOffset
    let mutable dtFun = fun () -> System.DateTimeOffset.UtcNow
    // Convert between expressions: http://www.fssnip.net/ts/title/F-lambda-to-C-LINQ-Expression
    
    member _.IEnumerableTProp 
        with get() : System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<int> = enumerableTProp
        and set(v : System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<int>) = enumerableTProp <- v 
    
    member _.IEnumerableProp 
        with get() : System.Collections.IEnumerable = enumerableProp :> System.Collections.IEnumerable
        and set(v : System.Collections.IEnumerable ) = enumerableProp <- v |> Seq.cast

    member _.ArrayTProp 
        with get() : int[] = arrayTProp
        and set(v  : int[]) = arrayTProp <- v 

    member _.ArrayProp   
        with get() : System.Array = arrayProp :> System.Array
        and set(v : System.Array) = arrayProp <- v |> System.Linq.Enumerable.OfType<obj> |> Seq.toArray

    member _.ListTProp 
        with get() : System.Collections.Generic.List<int> = listTProp
        and set(v : System.Collections.Generic.List<int>) = listTProp <- v

    member _.ICollectionTProp 
        with get() : System.Collections.Generic.ICollection<int> = icollectionTProp :> System.Collections.Generic.ICollection<int>
        and set(v : System.Collections.Generic.ICollection<int>) = icollectionTProp <- v |> Seq.toArray

    member _.IListTProp 
        with get() : System.Collections.Generic.IList<int> = ilistTProp :> System.Collections.Generic.IList<int>
        and set(v : System.Collections.Generic.IList<int>) = ilistTProp <- v |> Seq.toArray

    member _.FuncProp 
        with get() : System.Func<System.DateTimeOffset> = System.Func<System.DateTimeOffset>(dtFun)
        and set(f : System.Func<System.DateTimeOffset>) = dtFun <- fun () -> f.Invoke()

Breakdown

Well done for pushing past just copy pasting the code you need from above. We will go through the F# types and see what interfaces they implement, as well as if they have corresponding types in .NET BCL types.

System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<_>

So as a type, seq<'T> is an alias for IEnumerable<'T> in FSharp.Core.

// FSharp.Core
type seq<'T> = IEnumerable<'T>

If you are just getting started with F#, you may have noticed that it can be a lot more particular about it's types than C#. It can be easy to forget that this actually works. You can assign 'a list or 'a array to a seq.

let mutable ss = seq { 1; 2 }
ss <- [1;2]
ss <- [|1;2|]

This is because seq is IEnumerable<'T> and 'a list and 'a array implement IEnumerable<'T>.

// FSharp.Core
type List<'T> = 
       | ([])  :                  'T list
       | (::)  : Head: 'T * Tail: 'T list -> 'T list
       interface System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<'T>
       interface System.Collections.IEnumerable
       interface System.Collections.Generic.IReadOnlyCollection<'T>
       interface System.Collections.Generic.IReadOnlyList<'T>

As it turns out, this gets us a very long way with interacting with C#, since IEnumerable and IEnumerable<'T> are pretty ubiquitous.

let csharp = CSharpyType()
csharp.IEnumerableTProp <- seq { 0..10 }
csharp.IEnumerableTProp <- [0..10]
csharp.IEnumerableTProp <- [|0..10|]

So, working with IEnumerable<'T> in F# is as simple as using seq.

System.Collections.IEnumerable

For working with System.Collections.IEnumerable we can make use of a function on the Seq module, Seq.cast. This takes an System.Collections.IEnumerable and turns it into a seq. Now it is in a more natural form for working with in F#.
In terms of assigning, 'a seq, 'a list, and 'a array can be assigned to it, since they all implement IEnumerable.

let csharp = CSharpyType()
csharp.IEnumerableProp <- seq { 0..10 }
csharp.IEnumerableProp <- [0..10]
csharp.IEnumerableProp <- [|0..10|]

It is worth noting we can also just use them in the usual constructs like:

for i in (csharp.IEnumerableProp) do 
    printfn "i: %A" i

int []

With a typed array, we can just use 'T array since they are the same across F# and the .NET BCL.

let csharp = CSharpyType()
csharp.ArrayTProp <- [|0..10|]
//csharp.ArrayTProp <- seq {0..10} // Compile error: This expression was expected to have type 'int []' but here has type 'seq<int>'

Make use of whatever you need from the Array module.

System.Array

The above is still true when using System.Array.

let csharp = CSharpyType()
csharp.ArrayProp <- [|0..10|]

When trying to assign an instance of this type to an F# value you will need to give it a Type. This can be done using a static method out of Linq to get us an IEnumerable<'T> ie seq, like so: arr |> System.Linq.Enumerable.OfType<obj>. From there you can make use of the functions in the Seq module.

System.Collections.Generic.List<_>

It can be confusing initially since list in F# is not the same as List<> in C#. The equivalent of a C# list in F# is ResizeArray.

// FSharp.Core
type ResizeArray<'T> = System.Collections.Generic.List<'T>

You can convert F# types to a ResizeArray.

csharp.ListTProp <- [0..10] |> ResizeArray
csharp.ListTProp <- [|0..10|] |> ResizeArray
csharp.ListTProp <- seq { 0..10 } |> ResizeArray

And of course remember that List<'T> implements IEnumerable<'T> and ICollection<'T>, which we will look at next.

System.Collections.Generic.ICollection<> & IList<>

Remember that array and List<'T> aka ResizeArray already implement IEnumerable<'T>, ICollection<'T>, and IList<'T>.

csharp.ICollectionTProp <- [|0..10|]
csharp.ICollectionTProp <- [|0..10|] |> ResizeArray

csharp.IListTProp <- [|0..10|]
csharp.IListTProp <- [|0..10|] |> ResizeArray

ResizeArray

One thing you might be left wondering is converting from a ResizeArray, back to more natural F# types.

let resizeArr = [0..10] |> ResizeArray
let xs = resizeArr :> seq<_> // Implements IEnumerable<T> so we can just cast
let arr = resizeArr.ToArray() // ResizeArray / List<T> has a `ToArray` method. This is an O(n) activity.
let lst = xs |> Seq.toList // Once we have a seq, we can use Seq functions

Bonus: System.Func<_>

Another kind of conversion I often find myself doing when working with C# APIs is with Func and F# functions. Converting a F# function to a Func is as simple as passing it into the Func constructor if need be. We can often simply assign a F# function to a Func and the compiler will handle that.

csharp.FuncProp <- (fun () -> System.DateTimeOffset.UnixEpoch)
let f = fun () -> csharp.FuncProp.Invoke()

Conclusion

So that is my potted run through of converting between F# and C# types. This was meant to be more of a reference than a post that teaches or tells a story so I hope the lack of continuity was not too off-putting.

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You may be interested in

• How to F# - Part 1
• How to F# - Part 2
• How to F# - Part 7

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