Yes, overloading Invoke() for PyObjects sounds like a better solution than adding a Portal class. That is so much simpler. It's complete signature should probably be: public object[] Invoke(params object[] objects) This way, with a single method, you can pass down to Python nothing, a single primitive value, or a bunch of them (0, 1, *). Regarding your first overload (object Invoke(...) as opposed to object[] Invoke(...)), I don't believe you can overload by return type alone (maybe I'm thinking in C++), but that would be fine because the overload you indicated that returns an object is less important than the one that returns an object list (with the latter you can achieve what the former does, with the additional utility of being able to return an empty object list to mean "null" where a primitive type would otherwise be expected). The other method... object ToObject(); would be worth having as publics also, in fact I suppose it would nicely encapsulate what the new Invoke() method(s) need to do their internal stuff. Just a nitpick: I don't think you can compile: int i = thing.ToObject() as Int32 ...since "i" is a value type, and the 'as' operator can only be used on reference types (value types cannot hold null). But I get your point... int i = (Int32)thing.ToObject(); // this will throw an exception if the conversion is not valid Mark Barclay Sr. Software Engineer CRi Inc. "Brian Lloyd" <brian@zope.co To: <MBarclay@cri-inc.com> m> cc: <pythondotnet@python.org> Subject: RE: example of calling Python from C# with simple object 11/19/2003 marshalling 02:50 PM I think this points out an area still wanting in the embedding interface (calling into Python and getting back managed objects rather than PyObject wrappers). I'm thinking that a good start would be a variation on what your example does as an overload for the Invoke method of PyObjects: object Invoke(...) object[] Invoke(...) I think it would also be a good idea to have a 'ToObject' method on PyObjects: object ToObject(); which would: - if the Python object represents a managed object, return that object - if the Python object is a primitive type that is convertible to a managed primitive type, return the converted value - otherwise throw an exception Another option could be to have PyObject implement IConvertible, though that would be more work, and might not buy you anything over using: int i = thing.ToObject() as Int32 thoughts? Brian Lloyd brian@zope.com V.P. Engineering 540.361.1716 Zope Corporation http://www.zope.com