Is there a way around the work of class operators for built-in types

Question

I can use class operators for strings using an intermediate holding record.
So that I can hide the conversion of built-in types.

program TestNewStringHelper; 
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
uses
  System.SysUtils;
type
  TStringRecord = record
  private
    Data: string;
  public
    class operator Implicit(const a: TStringRecord): Integer; inline;
    class operator Implicit(const a: string): TStringRecord; inline;
  end;

{ TStringRecord }

class operator TStringRecord.Implicit(const a: string): TStringRecord;
begin
  pointer(Result.Data):= pointer(a);
end;

class operator TStringRecord.Implicit(const a: TStringRecord): Integer;
begin
  Result:= StrToInt(a.Data);
end;

var
  input: TStringRecord;
  output: integer;

begin
  input:= '42';
  output:= input;
  WriteLn(IntToStr(output));
  ReadLn;
end.

I would like to do something like:

var
  input: string;
  output: integer;

begin
  input:= '42';
  output:= input;  //Class operator magic
  WriteLn(IntToStr(output));
  ReadLn;
end.

According to the online help:

Note. Class helpers and records do not support operator overloading.

and http://qc.embarcadero.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=72253

Is there a workaround for implicit conversion of built-in types without using an intermediate type?

Answer 1

Class and write assistants are the only way to expand the scope of methods for existing types. And assistants do not allow operator overload.

, , .