[RESOLVED] VS 2012 - Generic Function for Data Conversion

[circuits2]

I think I traded posts similar to this topic with john (jmcilhinney) back in 2006-2007, but I can't find them anymore.

I'm trying to get my head wrapped around Generics....again. My goal is to create a public function that resides in a module that is used to convert data in one format to another.

For example: I would call the function by passing it a string date such as "mmddyyyy" with an integer code of 2. That tells me what I am receiving and I should return the same string as "mm/dd/yy".

I could also call the same function by passing a string such as "mm/dd/yy" with an integer code of 27. That tells me I am receiving a string and should return a date object that matches that day.


So far I think I should be doing something like this:

Module Cvsn
 
    Public Function DoCvsn(Of T)(ByVal TheInput As T, ByVal CvsnCode As Integer) As T
 
    End Function
 
End Module

The problem is, I don't really understand what this code is setting me up for, or how I would proceed to code the function without losing Type safety.

Can anyone help get me on the right track?


Thanks in advance!