[SOLVED] Into<Option> for trait objects

help
1

Hello!

I've got a problem making a function applies Into<Option<Box<dyn ToString>>>. The compiler says that trait From for the type but I don't understand why. It's possible to use Into<Option> with a concrete type and it's possible to use Option with a trait object. Could somebody explain it, please?

2

You are trying to go through too many hoops: from some concrete type T : ToString + 'static (such as T = &'static str for instance), you want to go to Box<T> then coerce to Box<dyn ToString + 'static> then wrap that in a Some() with the impl Into<Option< ... >> genericity.

That's far too much for Rust (mainly the Boxing thing, since a heap-allocation should be explicit).

So, by skipping the whole "Box for me", you can have a signature that does the rest (coercion and Some-wrapping):

fn call_trait_object<T : ToString + 'static> (
    val: impl Into<Option< Box<T> >>,
)
{
    let val: Option<Box<dyn ToString + 'static>> =
        val.into().map(|it| it as _)
    ;
    // ...
}

fn main ()
{
    call_trait_object(Box::new(""));
}

But then call_trait_object(None) fails because of type inference...

The other Option is to keep the signature you had, but help it when providing a parameter:

call_trait_object(Box::new("some text") as Box<dyn ToString>); // no error
3

Ok, I get the image. Thanks a lot! Solved.

4

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