Our website uses cookies to enhance your browsing experience.
Accept
to the top
>
>
>
V3194. Calling 'OfType' for collection …
menu mobile close menu
Analyzer diagnostics
General Analysis (C++)
General Analysis (C#)
General Analysis (Java)
Micro-Optimizations (C++)
Diagnosis of 64-bit errors (Viva64, C++)
Customer specific requests (C++)
MISRA errors
AUTOSAR errors
OWASP errors (C++)
OWASP errors (C#)
Problems related to code analyzer
Additional information
toggle menu Contents

V3194. Calling 'OfType' for collection will return an empty collection. It is not possible to cast collection elements to the type parameter.

Jan 15 2024

The analyzer has detected an issue when calling 'OfType' returns an empty collection. This behavior occurs because it is not possible to cast the type of the collection items to the type on which 'OfType' filters.

Look at the example:

public struct SyntaxToken {....}
public class InvocationExpressionSyntax : ExpressionSyntax {....}

public List<SyntaxToken> GetAllTokens() {....}
public List<ExpressionSyntax> GetAllExpressions() {....}

void ProcessInvocationExpressions()
{
  var result = GetAllTokens().OfType<InvocationExpressionSyntax>();
  ....
}

In 'ProcessInvocationExpressions', items of the 'InvocationExpressionSyntax' type are to be handled. For this, the collection is filtered with the 'OfType' method. However, the method is called on a collection with items of the 'SyntaxToken' type. The filtering results in an empty collection, since instances of the 'SyntaxToken' structure cannot be 'InvocationExpressionSyntax'.

In the above example, the method for getting a collection with items of the 'ExpressionSyntax' type has been mistaken for another method. 'GetAllExpressions' should be used instead of 'GetAllTokens'. The correct implementation of 'ProcessInvocationExpressions' is the following:

void ProcessInvocationExpressions()
{
  var result = GetAllExpressions().OfType<InvocationExpressionSyntax>();
  ....
}

In this implementation, the collection with items of the 'ExpressionSyntax' type is filtered out. This is the base type for 'InvocationExpressionSyntax'. Therefore, 'ExpressionSyntax' can be cast to 'InvocationExpressionSyntax'. Thus, calling 'OfType' can result in a non-empty collection.

This diagnostic is classified as:

close form

Fill out the form in 2 simple steps below:

Your contact information:

Step 1
Congratulations! This is your promo code!

Desired license type:

Step 2
Team license
Enterprise license
** By clicking this button you agree to our Privacy Policy statement
close form
Request our prices
New License
License Renewal
--Select currency--
USD
EUR
* By clicking this button you agree to our Privacy Policy statement

close form
Free PVS‑Studio license for Microsoft MVP specialists
* By clicking this button you agree to our Privacy Policy statement

close form
To get the licence for your open-source project, please fill out this form
* By clicking this button you agree to our Privacy Policy statement

close form
I am interested to try it on the platforms:
* By clicking this button you agree to our Privacy Policy statement

close form
check circle
Message submitted.

Your message has been sent. We will email you at


If you do not see the email in your inbox, please check if it is filtered to one of the following folders:

  • Promotion
  • Updates
  • Spam