Delphi property read/write - delphi

Question

is it possible to have different kind of results when declaring property in delphi class?
Example:
property month: string read monthGet(string) write monthSet(integer);
In the example, I want, with the property month, that when I :
READ, I get a string; SET, I set an integer;

Answer 1

The closest you can get is to use Operator Overloading but the Getter/Setter must be the same type. There is no way to change that.
program so_26672343;
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
{$R *.res}
uses
System.SysUtils;
type
TMonth = record
private
FValue: Integer;
procedure SetValue( const Value: Integer );
public
class operator implicit( a: TMonth ): string;
class operator implicit( a: Integer ): TMonth;
property Value: Integer read FValue write SetValue;
end;
TFoo = class
private
FMonth: TMonth;
public
property Month: TMonth read FMonth write FMonth;
end;
{ TMonth }
class operator TMonth.implicit( a: TMonth ): string;
begin
Result := 'Month ' + IntToStr( a.Value );
end;
class operator TMonth.implicit( a: Integer ): TMonth;
begin
Result.FValue := a;
end;
procedure TMonth.SetValue( const Value: Integer );
begin
FValue := Value;
end;
procedure Main;
var
LFoo: TFoo;
LMonthInt: Integer;
LMonthStr: string;
begin
LFoo := TFoo.Create;
try
LMonthInt := 4;
LFoo.Month := LMonthInt;
LMonthStr := LFoo.Month;
finally
LFoo.Free;
end;
end;
begin
try
Main;
except
on E: Exception do
Writeln( E.ClassName, ': ', E.Message );
end;
end.

Answer 2

That is not possible. But properties do not have to correspond to internal storage directly, so you can do:
private
FMonth: Integer;
function GetMonthName: string;
...
property Month: Integer read FMonth write FMonth;
property MonthName: string read GetMonthName;
...
procedure TMyClass.GetMonthName: string;
begin
// code that finds name that corresponds to value of FMonth and returns it in Result.
end;
In other words, you'll have to use two properties, one write-only (or normal), one read-only.

Answer 3

You can't directly do that in Delphi.
What you can do is having a "casting property" like:
private
//...
intMonth: integer
//...
public
//...
property StrMonth: string read GetStrMonth write SetStrMonth;
property IntMonth: integer read intMonth write intMonth;
//...
end;
function YourClass.GetStrMonth: string;
begin
case intMonth of
1: Result := "January";
//...
end;
end;
procedure YourClass.SetStrMonth(Value: string);
begin
if StrMonth = "January" then
intMonth := 1;
//...
end;
end;

Answer 4

There's no way to do that for a property. A property has a single type.
The obvious way to achieve you goal is to have getter and setter functions that you use directly.
function GetMonth: string;
procedure SetMonth(Value: Integer);
You might decide to make the type part of the name to reduce confusion in the calling code. Say GetMonthStr and SetMonthOrd.
You could expose these functions as two separate properties. One read only, the other write only.