Mantis#2126. Thank you kindly, Ralphos for a patch that addresses:

Types extracted from a LSL_Types.list have to be down-cast initially 
to the exact type of value type object that the Object actually is.
This would make for very cumbersome, ugly code when extracting list 
parameter items in ll functions where a few implicit conversions 
should be applied such as key -> LSLString and LSLInteger -> LSLFloat 
(but not LSLFloat -> LSLInteger). This patch adds a set of GetXXXItem 
member functions to the LLS_Type.list class, where XXX is the name 
of the LSL_Type to be extracted: LSLFLoat, LSLInteger etc. All take 
a single, int parameter that is the item number to be extracted.

2 files changed, 70 insertions, 8 deletions

diff --git a/OpenSim/Region/ScriptEngine/Shared/Api/Implementation/LSL_Api.cs b/OpenSim/Region/ScriptEngine/Shared/Api/Implementation/LSL_Api.cs
index 74c2d89..93dfeea 100644
--- a/OpenSim/Region/ScriptEngine/Shared/Api/Implementation/LSL_Api.cs
+++ b/OpenSim/Region/ScriptEngine/Shared/Api/Implementation/LSL_Api.cs
@@ -5726,13 +5726,13 @@ namespace OpenSim.Region.ScriptEngine.Shared.Api
                         if (remain < 7)
                             return;
 
-                        bool flexi = (LSL_Types.LSLInteger)rules.Data[idx++];
-                        int softness = (LSL_Types.LSLInteger)rules.Data[idx++];
-                        float gravity = (float)(LSL_Types.LSLFloat)rules.Data[idx++];
-                        float friction = (float)(LSL_Types.LSLFloat)rules.Data[idx++];
-                        float wind = (float)(LSL_Types.LSLFloat)rules.Data[idx++];
-                        float tension = (float)(LSL_Types.LSLFloat)rules.Data[idx++];
-                        LSL_Types.Vector3 force = (LSL_Types.Vector3)rules.Data[idx++];
+                        bool flexi = rules.GetLSLIntegerItem(idx++);
+                        int softness = rules.GetLSLIntegerItem(idx++);
+                        float gravity = (float)rules.GetLSLFloatItem(idx++);
+                        float friction = (float)rules.GetLSLFloatItem(idx++);
+                        float wind = (float)rules.GetLSLFloatItem(idx++);
+                        float tension = (float)rules.GetLSLFloatItem(idx++);
+                        LSL_Types.Vector3 force = rules.GetVector3Item(idx++);
 
                         SetFlexi(part, flexi, softness, gravity, friction, wind, tension, force);
 
diff --git a/OpenSim/Region/ScriptEngine/Shared/LSL_Types.cs b/OpenSim/Region/ScriptEngine/Shared/LSL_Types.cs
index 85abdb0..4713283 100644
--- a/OpenSim/Region/ScriptEngine/Shared/LSL_Types.cs
+++ b/OpenSim/Region/ScriptEngine/Shared/LSL_Types.cs
@@ -421,6 +421,58 @@ namespace OpenSim.Region.ScriptEngine.Shared
                 }
             }
 
+        // Member functions to obtain item as specific types.
+        // For cases where implicit conversions would apply if items
+        // were not in a list (e.g. integer to float, but not float
+        // to integer) functions check for alternate types so as to
+        // down-cast from Object to the correct type.
+        // Note: no checks for item index being valid are performed
+
+            public LSL_Types.LSLFloat GetLSLFloatItem( int itemIndex )
+            {
+                if (m_data[itemIndex] is LSL_Types.LSLInteger)
+                {
+                    return (LSL_Types.LSLInteger)m_data[itemIndex];
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    return (LSL_Types.LSLFloat)m_data[itemIndex];
+                }
+            }
+
+            public LSL_Types.LSLString GetLSLStringItem(int itemIndex)
+            {
+              if (m_data[itemIndex] is LSL_Types.key)
+              {
+                return (LSL_Types.key)m_data[itemIndex];
+              }
+              else
+              {
+                return (LSL_Types.LSLString)m_data[itemIndex];
+              }
+            }
+
+            public LSL_Types.LSLInteger GetLSLIntegerItem(int itemIndex)
+            {
+              return (LSL_Types.LSLInteger)m_data[itemIndex];
+            }
+
+            public LSL_Types.Vector3 GetVector3Item(int itemIndex)
+            {
+              return (LSL_Types.Vector3)m_data[itemIndex];
+            }
+
+            public LSL_Types.Quaternion GetQuaternionItem(int itemIndex)
+            {
+              return (LSL_Types.Quaternion)m_data[itemIndex];
+            }
+
+            public LSL_Types.key GetKeyItem(int itemIndex)
+            {
+              return (LSL_Types.key)m_data[itemIndex];
+            }
+
+
             public static list operator +(list a, list b)
             {
                 object[] tmp;
@@ -1164,7 +1216,12 @@ namespace OpenSim.Region.ScriptEngine.Shared
 
             static public implicit operator String(key k)
             {
-                return k.value;
+              return k.value;
+            }
+
+            static public implicit operator LSLString(key k)
+            {
+              return k.value;
             }
 
             public static bool operator ==(key k1, key k2)
@@ -1190,6 +1247,11 @@ namespace OpenSim.Region.ScriptEngine.Shared
                 return value.GetHashCode();
             }
 
+            public override string ToString()
+            {
+                return value;
+            }
+
             #endregion
         }