I want to convert this:
Func<dynamic, object> myFunc = t => return t.Name + " " + t.Surname;
Into an Expression Tree.
What I have came up with, is this:
ParameterExpression target = ExpressionParameter(typeof(dynamic), "target");
ParameterExpression result = ExpressionParameter(typeof(object), "result");
BlockExpression block = Expression.Block(
new [] { result },
Expression.Assign(
result,
Expression.Add(
Expression.Add(
Expression.Property(target, "Name"),
Expression.Constant(" ", typeof(string))
),
Expression.Property(target, "Surname")
)
)
);
Func<dynamic, object> myFunc = Expression.Lambda<dynamic, object>>(block, target).Compile();
However, the compiler doesn't like typeof(dynamic)
, and I kind of get it. dynamic
isn't a type, it is an object
in essence.
So I proceeded to change the ParameterExpression
:
ParameterExpression target = ExpressionParameter(typeof(object), "target");
The code now compiles, but there is a problem at runtime.
I am trying to get the value of the property Name
of target
, which may have sense if the object was dynamic
.
But since target
is considered of type object
, the Expression throws an error telling me Name
doesn't exist as a property.
Is there an Expression for fetching a dynamic property?
For those who are or were interested in a solution:
ParameterExpression target = Expression.Parameter(typeof(object), "target");
ParameterExpression result = Expression.Parameter(typeof(object), "result");
CallSiteBinder getName = Binder.GetMember(
CSharpBinderFlags.None, "Name", typeof(Program),
new CSharpArgumentInfo[] {
CSharpArgumentInfo.Create(CSharpArgumentInfoFlags.None, null)
}
);
CallSiteBinder getSurname= Binder.GetMember(
CSharpBinderFlags.None, "Surname", typeof(Program),
new CSharpArgumentInfo[] {
CSharpArgumentInfo.Create(CSharpArgumentInfoFlags.None, null)
}
);
BlockExpression block = Expression.Block(
new[] { result },
Expression.Assign(
result,
Expression.Call(typeof(string).GetMethod("Concat", new Type[] { typeof(object[]) }),
Expression.NewArrayInit(typeof(object),
Expression.Dynamic(getName, typeof(object), target),
Expression.Constant(" ", typeof(object)),
Expression.Dynamic(getSurname, typeof(object), target)
)
)
)
);
Func<dynamic, object> myFunc = Expression.Lambda<Func<dynamic, object>>(block, target).Compile();
Here's exactly what I am doing:
- Created a
CallSiteBinder
that obtains the value of the dynamic property Name
of the dynamic object passed as argument
- Created a
CallSiteBinder
that obtains the value of the dynamic property Surname
of the dynamic object passed as argument
- Invoked the method
string.Concat(params object[] args)
. For that, I need to send my arguments as an array of object
. I'm creating the array with the values of getName
, " "
, and getSurname
.
I used the following answer as a guide and reference:
C# 4 “dynamic” in expression trees
With the above approach, one could do something like this:
dynamic person = new ExpandoObject();
person.Name = "Matt";
person.Surname = "Smith";
object value = myFunc(person);
Console.WriteLine(value); //Will print out "Matt Smith"
//Internally it just calls:
//string.Concat(new object[] { person.Name, " ", person.Surname });