.NET EventHandlers - Generic or no?

Delegate of the following form has been added since .NET Framework 2.0

public delegate void EventHandler<TArgs>(object sender, TArgs args) where TArgs : EventArgs

You approach goes a bit further, since you provide out-of-the-box implementation for EventArgs with single data item, but it lacks several properties of the original idea:

1. You cannot add more properties to the event data without changing dependent code. You will have to change the delegate signature to provide more data to the event subscriber.
2. Your data object is generic, but it is also "anonymous", and while reading the code you will have to decipher the "Item" property from usages. It should be named according to the data it provides.
3. Using generics this way you can't make parallel hierarchy of EventArgs, when you have hierarchy of underlying (item) types. E.g. EventArgs<BaseType> is not base type for EventArgs<DerivedType>, even if BaseType is base for DerivedType.

So, I think it is better to use generic EventHandler<T>, but still have custom EventArgs classes, organized according to the requirements of the data model. With Visual Studio and extensions like ReSharper, it is only a matter of few commands to create new class like that.

To make generic event declaration easier, I created a couple of code snippets for it. To use them:

• Copy the whole snippet.
• Paste it in a text file (e.g. in Notepad).
• Save the file with a .snippet extension.
• Put the .snippet file in your appropriate snippet directory, such as:

Visual Studio 2008\Code Snippets\Visual C#\My Code Snippets

Here's one that uses a custom EventArgs class with one property:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<CodeSnippets  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
  <CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
    <Header>
      <Title>Generic event with one type/argument.</Title>
      <Shortcut>ev1Generic</Shortcut>
      <Description>Code snippet for event handler and On method</Description>
      <Author>Ryan Lundy</Author>
      <SnippetTypes>
        <SnippetType>Expansion</SnippetType>
      </SnippetTypes>
    </Header>
    <Snippet>
      <Declarations>
        <Literal>
          <ID>type</ID>
          <ToolTip>Type of the property in the EventArgs subclass.</ToolTip>
          <Default>propertyType</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>argName</ID>
          <ToolTip>Name of the argument in the EventArgs subclass constructor.</ToolTip>
          <Default>propertyName</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>propertyName</ID>
          <ToolTip>Name of the property in the EventArgs subclass.</ToolTip>
          <Default>PropertyName</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>eventName</ID>
          <ToolTip>Name of the event</ToolTip>
          <Default>NameOfEvent</Default>
        </Literal>
      </Declarations>
      <Code Language="CSharp"><![CDATA[public class $eventName$EventArgs : System.EventArgs
      {
        public $eventName$EventArgs($type$ $argName$)
        {
          this.$propertyName$ = $argName$;
        }

        public $type$ $propertyName$ { get; private set; }
      }

      public event EventHandler<$eventName$EventArgs> $eventName$;
            protected virtual void On$eventName$($eventName$EventArgs e)
            {
                var handler = $eventName$;
                if (handler != null)
                    handler(this, e);
            }]]>
      </Code>
      <Imports>
        <Import>
          <Namespace>System</Namespace>
        </Import>
      </Imports>
    </Snippet>
  </CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

And here's one that has two properties:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<CodeSnippets  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
  <CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
    <Header>
      <Title>Generic event with two types/arguments.</Title>
      <Shortcut>ev2Generic</Shortcut>
      <Description>Code snippet for event handler and On method</Description>
      <Author>Ryan Lundy</Author>
      <SnippetTypes>
        <SnippetType>Expansion</SnippetType>
      </SnippetTypes>
    </Header>
    <Snippet>
      <Declarations>
        <Literal>
          <ID>type1</ID>
          <ToolTip>Type of the first property in the EventArgs subclass.</ToolTip>
          <Default>propertyType1</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>arg1Name</ID>
          <ToolTip>Name of the first argument in the EventArgs subclass constructor.</ToolTip>
          <Default>property1Name</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>property1Name</ID>
          <ToolTip>Name of the first property in the EventArgs subclass.</ToolTip>
          <Default>Property1Name</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>type2</ID>
          <ToolTip>Type of the second property in the EventArgs subclass.</ToolTip>
          <Default>propertyType1</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>arg2Name</ID>
          <ToolTip>Name of the second argument in the EventArgs subclass constructor.</ToolTip>
          <Default>property1Name</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>property2Name</ID>
          <ToolTip>Name of the second property in the EventArgs subclass.</ToolTip>
          <Default>Property2Name</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>eventName</ID>
          <ToolTip>Name of the event</ToolTip>
          <Default>NameOfEvent</Default>
        </Literal>
      </Declarations>
      <Code Language="CSharp">
        <![CDATA[public class $eventName$EventArgs : System.EventArgs
      {
        public $eventName$EventArgs($type1$ $arg1Name$, $type2$ $arg2Name$)
        {
          this.$property1Name$ = $arg1Name$;
          this.$property2Name$ = $arg2Name$;
        }

        public $type1$ $property1Name$ { get; private set; }
        public $type2$ $property2Name$ { get; private set; }
      }

      public event EventHandler<$eventName$EventArgs> $eventName$;
            protected virtual void On$eventName$($eventName$EventArgs e)
            {
                var handler = $eventName$;
                if (handler != null)
                    handler(this, e);
            }]]>
      </Code>
      <Imports>
        <Import>
          <Namespace>System</Namespace>
        </Import>
      </Imports>
    </Snippet>
  </CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

You can follow the pattern to create them with as many properties as you like.