I'd like to be able to generate a compiled expression to set a property, given the lambda expression that provides the "get" method for a property.
Here's what I'm looking for:
public Action<int> CreateSetter<T>(Expression<Func<T, int>> getter)
{
// returns a compiled action using the details of the getter expression tree, or null
// if the write property is not defined.
}
I'm still trying to understand the various types of Expression classes, so if you can point me in the right direction that would be great.
Using @Ani's answer as a starting point, you can use the following to generate a compiled expression.
[TestMethod]
public void CreateSetterFromGetter()
{
Action<Person, int> ageSetter = InitializeSet((Person p) => p.Age);
Action<Person, string> nameSetter = InitializeSet((Person p) => p.Name);
Person p1 = new Person();
ageSetter(p1, 29);
nameSetter(p1, "John");
Assert.IsTrue(p1.Name == "John");
Assert.IsTrue(p1.Age == 29);
}
public class Person { public int Age { get; set; } public string Name { get; set; } }
public static Action<TContainer, TProperty> InitializeSet<TContainer, TProperty>(Expression<Func<TContainer, TProperty>> getter)
{
PropertyInfo propertyInfo = (getter.Body as MemberExpression).Member as PropertyInfo;
ParameterExpression instance = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TContainer), "instance");
ParameterExpression parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TProperty), "param");
return Expression.Lambda<Action<TContainer, TProperty>>(
Expression.Call(instance, propertyInfo.GetSetMethod(), parameter),
new ParameterExpression[] { instance, parameter }).Compile();
}
You should cache the compiled expression to keep it handy for multiple uses.
You could of course walk the expression-tree and then use Delegate.CreateDelegate
to create the appropriate Action<,>
. It's quite simple, except for all of the validation-checks (I'm unsure if I've covered everything):
I'm no expression-tree expert, but I don't think building an expression-tree and then calling Compile
is possible here since expression-trees can't contain assignment statements, as far as I know. (EDIT: Apparently, these have been added in .NET 4. It's a hard-to-find feature since the C# compiler doesn't seem to be able to build them from lambdas).
public static Action<TContaining, TProperty>
CreateSetter<TContaining, TProperty>
(Expression<Func<TContaining, TProperty>> getter)
{
if (getter == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("getter");
var memberEx = getter.Body as MemberExpression;
if (memberEx == null)
throw new ArgumentException("Body is not a member-expression.");
var property = memberEx.Member as PropertyInfo;
if (property == null)
throw new ArgumentException("Member is not a property.");
if(!property.CanWrite)
throw new ArgumentException("Property is not writable.");
return (Action<TContaining, TProperty>)
Delegate.CreateDelegate(typeof(Action<TContaining, TProperty>),
property.GetSetMethod());
}
Usage:
public class Person { public int Age { get; set; } }
...
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var setter = CreateSetter((Person p) => p.Age);
var person = new Person();
setter(person, 25);
Console.WriteLine(person.Age); // 25
}
Do note that this creates an open instance delegate, meaning that it's not bound to any particular instance of TContaining
. It's simple to modify it to be bound to a specific instance; you'll have to pass a TContaining
as well to the method and then use a different overload of Delegate.CreateDelegate
. The signature of the method would then look something like:
public static Action<TProperty> CreateSetter<TContaining, TProperty>
(Expression<Func<TContaining, TProperty>> getter, TContaining obj)
Pointers only I'm afraid (I'm not at a pc) - but;
- the lambda's .Body will most likely be MemberExpression
- do a safe cast (
as
etc) and access the .Member
- since you belive this a property, this should be a PropertyInfo, so test/cast etc
- from a PropertyInfo, call GetSetMethod() to get the corresponding MethodInfo
- use Delegate.CreateDelegate to get that as a delegate (passing the action type)
- finally, cast the Delegate returned onto the expected delegate type