No type inference with generic extension method

For anyone interested, for now, I solved the original problem (fluent event invocation API) with a generic class hierarchy. This is basically Hightechrider's answer on steroids.

public abstract class EventInvocatorParametersBase
    <TEventInvocatorParameters, TEventArgs>
    where TEventArgs : EventArgs
    where TEventInvocatorParameters :
        EventInvocatorParametersBase<TEventInvocatorParameters, TEventArgs>

{
    protected EventInvocatorParametersBase(
        EventHandler<TEventArgs> eventHandler,
        Func<Exception, bool> exceptionHandler,
        Func<TEventArgs, bool> breakCondition)
    {
        EventHandler = eventHandler;
        ExceptionHandler = exceptionHandler;
        BreakCondition = breakCondition;
    }

    protected EventInvocatorParametersBase(
        EventHandler<TEventArgs> eventHandler)
        : this(eventHandler, e => false, e => false)
    {
    }

    public Func<TEventArgs, bool> BreakCondition { get; set; }
    public EventHandler<TEventArgs> EventHandler { get; set; }
    public Func<Exception, bool> ExceptionHandler { get; set; }

    public TEventInvocatorParameters Until(
        Func<TEventArgs, bool> breakCondition)
    {
        BreakCondition = breakCondition;
        return (TEventInvocatorParameters)this;
    }

    public TEventInvocatorParameters WithExceptionHandler(
        Func<Exception, bool> exceptionHandler)
    {
        ExceptionHandler = exceptionHandler;
        return (TEventInvocatorParameters)this;
    }

    public ConfiguredEventInvocatorParameters<TEventArgs> With(
        object sender, 
        TEventArgs eventArgs)
    {
        return new ConfiguredEventInvocatorParameters<TEventArgs>(
            EventHandler, ExceptionHandler, BreakCondition,
            sender, eventArgs);
    }
}

public class EventInvocatorParameters<T> :
    EventInvocatorParametersBase<EventInvocatorParameters<T>, T>
    where T : EventArgs
{
    public EventInvocatorParameters(EventHandler<T> eventHandler)
        : base(eventHandler)
    {
    }
}

public class ConfiguredEventInvocatorParameters<T> :
    EventInvocatorParametersBase<ConfiguredEventInvocatorParameters<T>, T>
    where T : EventArgs
{
    public ConfiguredEventInvocatorParameters(
        EventHandler<T> eventHandler,
        Func<Exception, bool> exceptionHandler,
        Func<T, bool> breakCondition, object sender,
        T eventArgs)
        : base(eventHandler, exceptionHandler, breakCondition)
    {
        EventArgs = eventArgs;
        Sender = sender;
    }

    public ConfiguredEventInvocatorParameters(EventHandler<T> eventHandler,
                                              object sender,
                                              T eventArgs)
        : this(eventHandler, e => false, e => false, sender, eventArgs)
    {
    }

    public T EventArgs { get; private set; }
    public object Sender { get; private set; }
}

public static class EventExtensions
{
    public static EventInvocatorParameters<TEventArgs> Until<TEventArgs>(
        this EventHandler<TEventArgs> eventHandler,
        Func<TEventArgs, bool> breakCondition)
        where TEventArgs : EventArgs
    {
        return new EventInvocatorParameters<TEventArgs>(eventHandler).
            Until(breakCondition);
    }

    public static EventInvocatorParameters<TEventArgs> 
        WithExceptionHandler<TEventArgs>(
            this EventHandler<TEventArgs> eventHandler,
            Func<Exception, bool> exceptionHandler)
        where TEventArgs : EventArgs
    {
        return
            new EventInvocatorParameters<TEventArgs>(eventHandler).
                WithExceptionHandler(exceptionHandler);
    }

    public static ConfiguredEventInvocatorParameters<TEventArgs>
        With<TEventArgs>(
            this EventHandler<TEventArgs> eventHandler, object sender,
            TEventArgs eventArgs)
        where TEventArgs : EventArgs
    {
        return new ConfiguredEventInvocatorParameters<TEventArgs>(
            eventHandler, sender, eventArgs);
    }
}

This allows you to write code like this:

Fire.Event(EventName.WithExceptionHandler(e => false)
                    .Until(e => false).With(this, EventArgs.Empty));
Fire.Event(EventName.With(this, EventArgs.Empty));
Fire.Event(EventName.WithExceptionHandler(e => false)
                    .With(this, EventArgs.Empty).Until(e => false));
Fire.Event(EventName.With(this, EventArgs.Empty)
                    .WithExceptionHandler(e => false).Until(e => false));

But it doesn't allow you to write this, because not all necessary info (eventArgs and sender) has been provided:

Fire.Event(EventName.Until(e => false));
Fire.Event(EventName);

UPDATE from November 2020: The original answer below was written in 2011; the rules for generic method type inference, overload resolution, and how "final validation" of methods is done have had small but significant changes in recent versions of C#; this answer, and the link to an archived article on my original MSDN blog about it might no longer be accurate. Also, Microsoft deleted the comments on the original article for legal reasons; there was a huge amount of context and discussion in those comments. I hope to at some point have the time to revisit this article to clarify (1) the rules today, (2) how they have changed, and (3) how the ideas discussed in those deleted comments influenced those decisions, but that's a lot of work and I may not get to it for some time. Remember, I have not been on the C# language design team since November 2012.

---

Generic method type inference deliberately does not make any deductions from the constraints. Rather, deductions are made from the arguments and the formal parameters, and then the deduced type arguments are checked against the constraints.

For a detailed discussion of some of the design issues around constraints and method signatures, including several dozen people telling me that I'm wrong to think that the existing design is sensible, see my article on the subject:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/archive/blogs/ericlippert/constraints-are-not-part-of-the-signature

Is there some reason you need to use an extension method? If you put Until on the EventInvocatorParameters<T> class you can avoid both of the problems mentioned:

public class EventInvocatorParameters<T>
    where T : EventArgs
{
    public Func<T, bool> BreakCondition { get; set; }
    // Other properties used below omitted for brevity.

    public EventInvocatorParameters<T> Until (Func<T, bool> breakCond)
    {
        this.BreakCondition = breakCond;
        return this;
    }
}