Argon.Extensions.Types

Utility types to improve .NET development.

📦 Installation

dotnet add package Argon.Extensions.Types

✨ Features

Optional<T>

A type to safely represent optional values, avoiding errors related to null values.

Characteristics:

• Implicit conversion from and to the underlying type
• Full pattern matching support
• Safe handling of missing values
• Type-safe alternative to nullable values

🚀 Usage

Creating an optional value

using Argon.Extensions.Types;

// With a value
Optional<string> name = new Optional<string>("John");
Optional<string> name2 = "John"; // Implicit conversion

// Without a value
Optional<string> empty = new Optional<string>();

Checking and accessing the value

Optional<string> name = "John";

if (name.HasValue)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Name: {name.Value}");
}

// Implicit conversion (throws InvalidOperationException if empty)
string actualName = name;

Practical example

public class UserService
{
    public Optional<User> FindUserById(int id)
    {
        var user = _repository.GetById(id);
        
        if (user == null)
            return new Optional<User>(); // Returns an empty Optional
            
        return user; // Implicit conversion
    }
}

// Usage
var userOptional = userService.FindUserById(42);

if (userOptional.HasValue)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"User found: {userOptional.Value.Name}");
}
else
{
    Console.WriteLine("User not found");
}

📝 API Reference

Properties

• Value : Gets the encapsulated value. Throws InvalidOperationException if HasValue is false.
• HasValue : Indicates whether the instance contains a value.

Constructors

• Optional() : Creates an empty instance.
• Optional(TValue value) : Creates an instance with the specified value.

Implicit conversions

• TValue → Optional<TValue> : Converts a value to Optional.
• Optional<TValue> → TValue : Extracts the value (throws an exception if empty).

🔗 Links

• Back to main project
• NuGet Package