Looping though a dictionary containing objects - c#

I have the following loop over a dictionary type collection
foreach(KeyValuePair<Vector2, Object> entry in v_map.map_set)
{
}
I want to access the object properties, but the expected syntax doesn't work. E.G:
foreach(KeyValuePair<Vector2, Object> entry in v_map.map_set)
{
Object ob = entry.Value;
ob.property;
}
Fails because C# can't find the property wanted.
So, how do I access the desired properties?
solution:
foreach(KeyValuePair<Vector2, Object> entry in v_map.map_set)
{
if (entry.Value is warehouse)
{
warehouse ob = (warehouse)entry.Value;
}
}

If you know the type of the objects that are in the KeyValuePair, you can cast it to that type, and you will be able to find the properties you need.
And if you have several different objects stored, you can check which type it is by using is.
Like so:
if(entry.Value is Foo)
{
Foo lFoo = (Foo)entry.Value;
}
else if(entry.Value is Bar)
{
Bar lBar = (Bar)entry.Value;
}

You can make use of Refection to get the value of proerty of the object.
something like this
PropertyInfo info2 = object.GetType().GetProperty("prpertyname");
Object val = info2.GetValue(object, null);

You need to cast entry.Value to the type you need. The Object type itself isn't going to expose the properties you want.

If you just need to access the values, and you know the expected type you can use
foreach(ExpectedType value in v_map.map_set.Values.OfType<ExpectedType>())
{
var property = value.Property;
}
where Property is a property on ExpectedType.

The problem is that you're using an object which isn't typed. So you're going to need to use reflection like this:
PropertyInfo pi = ob.GetType().GetProperty("PropertyName");
var val = pi.GetValue(ob, null);
Now, if the property isn't public then you'll need to employ something else like this:
PropertyInfo pi = ob.GetType().GetProperty("PropertyName", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic);
var val = pi.GetValue(ob, null);
Now, if this is actually a field you're trying to get to, you're going to need to do something different even yet:
FieldInfo fi = ob.GetType().GetField("fieldName");
var val = fi.GetValue(ob);
GetProperty method
BindingFlags enumeration
GetField method

Related

How can I set a List<foo> field of an object with the value of List<dynamic>

I have been trying to set some field values of specific objects in C#.
For other reasons I need to construct a List of values from a string then I want to assign this to a field in an object.
The way I indicate the value type of the list is something like this in string
name:type{listItemName:listItemType{listItemValue}}
This list can be of any type, so it is undetermined until we reach conversion.
I am using
List<dynamic> ldy = new List<dynamic>();
foreach (string listElement in listElements)
{
if (listElement == "") continue;
Type leDataType = GetDataType(listElement);
string leData = GetDataRaw(listElement);
var leDynamic = ConstructDataObject(leDataType, leData, listElement);
ldy.Add(leDynamic);
}
Which ends up with the correct data and with the correct data type when I enquire, however when I am trying to use the resulting ldy list and assign it to a field, of course it acts as a List<object>
thus not allowing me to assign.
Finally so, I am using field.SetValue(targetObject, ldy); to assign the value to the field.
The error message I am getting is
ArgumentException: Object of type 'System.Collections.Generic.List`1[System.Object]' cannot be converted to type 'System.Collections.Generic.List`1[System.Int32]'.
Which to be clear, I do understand and I do understand why, however I dont really see how could I solve this issue, not by solving this nor by changing the fundaments of my code design.
Please help!
As #juharr suggested I have searched for solutions to do this with reflection.
Here is my solution:
private static IList GetTypedList(Type t)
{
var listType = typeof(List<>);
var constructedListType = listType.MakeGenericType(t);
var instance = Activator.CreateInstance(constructedListType);
return (IList)instance;
}

How to use the properties of a passed list of known objects

this might be a simple fix but I can't seem to find anything about it. I am very new to C# if it's not obvious.
I'm passing a list of objects from my main method but I haven't been able to use the properties of the objects. I want to use a property called "Asset" This is my code:
private void GetDueDates(List<object> objects)
{
Type myType = objects.GetType();
IList<PropertyInfo> props = new List<PropertyInfo>(myType.GetProperties());
if(props.Contains(Asset)
{
doStuff();
}
}
I thought if I got the type of object then I could use the correct property but that didn't work. Do I even need to find which type it is?
Asset isn't a valid expression here, unless you've actually got a variable called Asset somewhere. You want to find out if the name of any property is Asset... and you want to do it on each object, not on the list itself:
foreach (var item in objects)
{
var props = item.GetType().GetProperties();
var assetProperty = props.FirstOrDefault(p => p.Name == "Asset");
if (assetProperty != null)
{
var value = assetProperty.GetValue(item, null);
// Do stuff...
}
}
Alternatively, if you're only looking for a public property, you can pass the name to GetProperty:
foreach (var item in objects)
{
var assetProperty = item.GetType().GetProperty("Asset");
if (assetProperty != null)
{
var value = assetProperty.GetValue(item, null);
// Do stuff...
}
}
Having said this, it would be cleaner if you had an interface or something similar:
var assetItems = objects.OfType<IHasAsset>();
foreach (var assetItem in assetItems)
{
var asset = assetItem.Asset;
...
}
If you know what type all of the objects in objects should be, then objects should be a list of that type, instead of a list of object (so List<MyType>). At this point, you can simply refer to objects[0].Asset, since all of the objects in the list are of type MyType.
If you still want objects to be a List<object>, then you'll have to typecast each of the objects in the list to a MyType in order to use the Asset property of the MyType class: ((MyType)objects[0]).Asset.
If you do this, and you aren't sure that all of the objects in the list are actually of type MyType, you need to check that:
if (objects[0] is MyType)
{
// do stuff with ((MyType)objects[0]).Asset
}

How to iterate properties of two objects dynamically

I have two object of same class, I want to update the p2 with fields which are are in Dirty list. So far I managed to write the following code but struggling to get the value of p1 properties. What object should I pass here as parameter to GetValue method.
Person p1 = new Person();
p1.FirstName = "Test";
Person p2 = new Person();
var allDirtyFields = p1.GetAllDirtyFields();
foreach (var dirtyField in allDirtyFields)
{
p2.GetType()
.GetProperty(dirtyField)
.SetValue(p1.GetType().GetProperty(dirtyField).GetValue());
}
_context.UpdateObject(p2);
_context.SaveChanges();
Thanks in advance.
You should try that:
foreach (var dirtyField in allDirtyFields)
{
var prop = p2.GetType().GetProperty(dirtyField);
prop.SetValue(p2, prop.GetValue(p1));
}
It is a better to store PropertyInfo instance in a variable, then trying to resolve it twice.
Did you know that you don't need to retrieve the property for each object?
Type metadata is common to any object of the whole type.
For example:
// Firstly, get dirty property informations!
IEnumerable<PropertyInfo> dirtyProperties = p2.GetType().GetProperties(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public)
.Where
(
property => allDirtyFields.Any
(
field => property.Name == field
)
);
// Then, just iterate the whole property informations, but give the
// "obj" GetValue/SetValue first argument the references "p2" or "p1" as follows:
foreach(PropertyInfo dirtyProperty in dirtyProperties)
{
dirtyProperty.SetValue(p2, dirtyProperty.GetValue(p1));
}
Check that the first parameter of PropertyInfo.GetValue(...) and PropertyInfo.SetValue(...) is the object for which you want to get or set the value of the whole property.
In each iteration, you have to get a reference to the PropertyInfo. When you call it's SetValue method, you should pass in 2 parameters, the object for which you will set the property and the actual value you are setting. For the latter one, you should invoke the GetValue method on the same property, passing in the p1 object as parameter, i.e. the source for the value.
Try this:
foreach (var dirtyField in allDirtyFields)
{
var p = p2.GetType().GetProperty(dirtyField);
p.SetValue(p2, p.GetValue(p1));
}
I would recommend you to keep the dirtyField variables in a dictionary and retrieve the associated PropertyInfo object from this dictionary. It should be much faster.
Firstly, declare some static variable in your class:
static Dictionary<string, PropertyInfo>
personProps = new Dictionary<string, PropertyInfo>();
Then you may change your method to:
foreach (var dirtyField in allDirtyFields)
{
PropertyInfo p = null;
if (!personProps.ContainsKey(dirtyField))
{
p = p2.GetType().GetProperty(dirtyField);
personProps.Add(dirtyField, p);
}
else
{
p = personProps[dirtyField];
}
p.SetValue(p2, p.GetValue(p1));
}
You need to pass the instance from which you want to get the property value, like so:
p1.GetType().GetProperty(dirtyField).GetValue(p1, null)
The second parameter, can be used to retrieve a value at a certain index if the property type is indexed.
IIrc you send p1 being the instance that holds the value and null to indicate you're not searching for a specific index value.

Extract a generic value using reflection

I have the following interface in my project.
public interface Setting<T>
{
T Value { get; set; }
}
Using reflection, I would like to examine properties that implement this interface and extract Value.
So far I have written this, which successfully creates a list of properties that implement Setting.
var properties = from p in obj.GetType().GetProperties(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public)
where p.PropertyType.GetInterfaces().Any(x => x.IsGenericType && x.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(IAplSetting<>))
select p;
Next I would like to do this: (Please ignore the undefined variables, you can assume that they really do exist in my actual code.)
foreach (var property in properties)
{
dictionary.Add(property.Name, property.GetValue(_theObject, null).Value);
}
The problem is that GetValue returns an object. In order to access Value, I need to be able to cast to Setting<T>. How would I get Value and store it, without needing to know the exact type of T?
You could continue this approach with one more level of indirection:
object settingsObject = property.GetValue(_theObject, null);
dictionary.Add(
property.Name,
settingsObject.GetType().GetProperty("Value")
.GetValue(settingsObject, null));
If you're using dynamic (re: your comment about ExpandoObject), this can be much simpler:
dynamic settingsObject = property.GetValue(_theObject, null);
dictionary.Add(property.Name, settingsObject.Value);

Is there something like Python's getattr() in C#?

Is there something like Python's getattr() in C#? I would like to create a window by reading a list which contains the names of controls to put on the window.
There is also Type.InvokeMember.
public static class ReflectionExt
{
public static object GetAttr(this object obj, string name)
{
Type type = obj.GetType();
BindingFlags flags = BindingFlags.Instance |
BindingFlags.Public |
BindingFlags.GetProperty;
return type.InvokeMember(name, flags, Type.DefaultBinder, obj, null);
}
}
Which could be used like:
object value = ReflectionExt.GetAttr(obj, "PropertyName");
or (as an extension method):
object value = obj.GetAttr("PropertyName");
Use reflection for this.
Type.GetProperty() and Type.GetProperties() each return PropertyInfo instances, which can be used to read a property value on an object.
var result = typeof(DateTime).GetProperty("Year").GetValue(dt, null)
Type.GetMethod() and Type.GetMethods() each return MethodInfo instances, which can be used to execute a method on an object.
var result = typeof(DateTime).GetMethod("ToLongDateString").Invoke(dt, null);
If you don't necessarily know the type (which would be a little wierd if you new the property name), than you could do something like this as well.
var result = dt.GetType().GetProperty("Year").Invoke(dt, null);
Yes, you can do this...
typeof(YourObjectType).GetProperty("PropertyName").GetValue(instanceObjectToGetPropFrom, null);
There's the System.Reflection.PropertyInfo class that can be created using object.GetType().GetProperties(). That can be used to probe an object's properties using strings. (Similar methods exist for object methods, fields, etc.)
I don't think that will help you accomplish your goals though. You should probably just create and manipulate the objects directly. Controls have a Name property that you can set, for example.

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