CS1579 - - foreach statement cannot operate on variables of type 'object'

Question

Hello,

I have the following C# code in the ContactsViewModel.cs of a .NET MAUI app: -

 public void ReadContacts()
        {
            var contacts = Contact.GetContacts();
            Contacts.Clear();
            foreach (var contact in contacts) 
// contacts has a red squiggly line beneath it and the Error message is: Error 1579 - foreach statement cannot operate on variables of type 'object' because 'object' does not contain a public instance or extension definition for 'GetEnumerator'
            {
                Contacts.Add(contact);
            }
        }

Answer 1

Contact is not a List, so you can not foreach. If your string contains a list of contacts (maybe separated with commas) you could use "Split" to split the contacts to a list of strings

Answer 2

Contact.GetContacts() is returning an object.

you can not enumerate an object. if the object implement enumerable you can cast, but if not, it will throw an error.

if seems a design flaw that Contact.GetContacts() return an object rather than an a strongly typed enumerable.