[RESOLVED] assign to variable if inherits from class .NET 2.0

Hello,

I think I remember reading somewhere that it was possible to assign items to a variable if the item inherited from a base class, but I can't remember how.

I want to have a class that gets properties set and one of the properties is an error code property. I want to assign any exceptions that occur to the property, but it could be any type of exception. I remember that all exceptions inherit from the Exception class.

How can I assign an exception to a property based on the class it inherits from?

Thank you for your help.

As you say, all exceptions inherit the Exception class so you simply declare a variable or property of type Exception and then you can assign any exception to it. Of course, you'll only be able to access members of the Exception class because those are the only members that you know for sure that the object will have.

So when, say, a webexception is assigned to a property of type exception it does the same or similar to when an item is assigned to a property of type object? Does it lose the trace information?

How can I do something like this?

Code:

---

    Private Sub X()
        Dim genericexception As Exception
        Dim webExc As System.Net.WebException

        genericexception = webExc
        Dim genericExceptionType As Type = genericexception.GetType

        Dim newWebException As System.Net.WebException = CType(genericexception, genericExceptionType<--Type genericExceptionType is not defined)

        messagebox.show(newWebException.ToString)

    End Sub

---

I know that is kind of a cracked out example, but I hope it conveys my intent.

You know what? Scratch my last post. That was retarted. I know what I am trying to do, but that clearly isn't going to get me there. I need to rethink this.

Well, I can't do exactly what I wanted to do in .NET 2.0. If I wanted to switch to .NET 3.5 I could possibly try letting it infer, but no thank you. I will just do this and move on.

Thank you for your help, jmcilhinney.