How do I create a delegate for a .NET property?

Question

I am trying to create a delegate (as a test) for:

Public Overridable ReadOnly Property PropertyName() As String

My intuitive attempt was declaring the delegate like this:

Public Delegate Function Test() As String

And instantiating like this:

Dim t As Test = AddressOf e.PropertyName

But this throws the error:

Method 'Public Overridable ReadOnly Property PropertyName() As String' does not have a signature compatible with delegate 'Delegate Function Test() As String'.

So because I was dealing with a property I tried this:

Public Delegate Property Test() As String

But this throws a compiler error.

So the question is, how do I make a delegate for a property?

---

See this link:

http://peisker.net/dotnet/propertydelegates.htm

Answer 1

Here is a C#/.NET 2.0 version of Marc Gravell's response:

using System;
using System.Reflection;

class Program
{
 private delegate void SetValue<T>(T value);
 private delegate T GetValue<T>();

 private class Foo
 {
  private string _bar;

  public string Bar
  {
   get { return _bar; }
   set { _bar = value; }
  }
 }

 static void Main()
 {
  Foo foo = new Foo();
  Type type = typeof (Foo);
  PropertyInfo property = type.GetProperty("Bar");

  // setter
  MethodInfo methodInfo = property.GetSetMethod();
  SetValue<string> setValue =
   (SetValue<string>) Delegate.CreateDelegate(typeof (SetValue<string>), foo, methodInfo);
  setValue("abc");

  // getter
  methodInfo = property.GetGetMethod();
  GetValue<string> getValue =
   (GetValue<string>) Delegate.CreateDelegate(typeof (GetValue<string>), foo, methodInfo);
  string myValue = getValue();

  // output results
  Console.WriteLine(myValue);
 }
}

Again, 'Delegate.CreateDelegate' is what is fundamental to this example.

Answer 2

This is good idea

Test t = () => e.PropertyName; // C# 3.0

But take care if your are doing something like this:

List<Func<int>> funcs = new List<Func<int>>();
foreach (var e in Collection)
   funcs.Add(new Func<int>(() => e.Property));

Calling this:

foreach(var f in funcs)
   f();

Will always return value of property of the last object in Collection

In this case you should call method:

foreach (var e in Collection)
   funcs.Add(new Func<int>(e.GetPropValue));

Answer 3

Here's a C# example but all the types are the same:

First create the interface(delegate). Remember, a method that you attach to your delegate must return the same type, and take the same parameters as your delegate's declaration. Don't define your delegate in the same scope as your event.

public delegate void delgJournalBaseModified();        

Make an event based on the delegate:

public static class JournalBase {
    public static event delgJournalBaseModified evntJournalModified;
};

Define a method that can be tied to your event that has an interface identical to the delegate.

void UpdateEntryList()
{
}

Tie the method to the event. The method is called when the event is fired. You can tie as many methods to your event. I don't know the limit. It's probably something crazy.

 JournalBase.evntJournalModified += new delgJournalBaseModified(UpdateEntryList);

What happens here is the method is added as a callback for your event. When the event is fired, your method(s) will be called.

Next we make a method that will fire the event when called:

public static class JournalBase {
    public static  void JournalBase_Modified()
    {
    if (evntJournalModified != null)
        evntJournalModified();
    }
};

Then you simply call the method -- JournalBase_Modified() -- somewhere in your code and all methods tied to your event are called too, one after another.

Answer 4

I just create an helper with pretty good performance : http://thibaud60.blogspot.com/2010/10/fast-property-accessor-without-dynamic.html It don't use IL / Emit approach and it is very fast !

Edit by oscilatingcretin 2015/10/23

The source contains some casing issues and peculiar ="" that have to be removed. Before link rot sets in, I thought I'd post a cleaned-up version of the source for easy copy pasta, as well as an example of how to use it.

Revised source

using System;
using System.Collections.Concurrent;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Reflection;

namespace Tools.Reflection
{
    public interface IPropertyAccessor
    {
        PropertyInfo PropertyInfo { get; }
        object GetValue(object source);
        void SetValue(object source, object value);
    }

    public static class PropertyInfoHelper
    {
        private static ConcurrentDictionary<PropertyInfo, IPropertyAccessor> _cache =
            new ConcurrentDictionary<PropertyInfo, IPropertyAccessor>();

        public static IPropertyAccessor GetAccessor(PropertyInfo propertyInfo)
        {
            IPropertyAccessor result = null;
            if (!_cache.TryGetValue(propertyInfo, out result))
            {
                result = CreateAccessor(propertyInfo);
                _cache.TryAdd(propertyInfo, result); ;
            }
            return result;
        }

        public static IPropertyAccessor CreateAccessor(PropertyInfo PropertyInfo)
        {
            var GenType = typeof(PropertyWrapper<,>)
                .MakeGenericType(PropertyInfo.DeclaringType, PropertyInfo.PropertyType);
            return (IPropertyAccessor)Activator.CreateInstance(GenType, PropertyInfo);
        }
    }

    internal class PropertyWrapper<TObject, TValue> : IPropertyAccessor where TObject : class
    {
        private Func<TObject, TValue> Getter;
        private Action<TObject, TValue> Setter;

        public PropertyWrapper(PropertyInfo PropertyInfo)
        {
            this.PropertyInfo = PropertyInfo;

            MethodInfo GetterInfo = PropertyInfo.GetGetMethod(true);
            MethodInfo SetterInfo = PropertyInfo.GetSetMethod(true);

            Getter = (Func<TObject, TValue>)Delegate.CreateDelegate
                    (typeof(Func<TObject, TValue>), GetterInfo);
            Setter = (Action<TObject, TValue>)Delegate.CreateDelegate
                    (typeof(Action<TObject, TValue>), SetterInfo);
        }

        object IPropertyAccessor.GetValue(object source)
        {
            return Getter(source as TObject);
        }

        void IPropertyAccessor.SetValue(object source, object value)
        {
            Setter(source as TObject, (TValue)value);
        }

        public PropertyInfo PropertyInfo { get; private set; }
    }
}

Use it like this:

public class MyClass
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

MyClass e = new MyClass();
IPropertyAccessor[] Accessors = e.GetType().GetProperties()
    .Select(pi => PropertyInfoHelper.CreateAccessor(pi)).ToArray();

foreach (var Accessor in Accessors)
{
    Type pt = Accessor.PropertyInfo.PropertyType;
    if (pt == typeof(string))
        Accessor.SetValue(e, Guid.NewGuid().ToString("n").Substring(0, 9));
    else if (pt == typeof(int))
        Accessor.SetValue(e, new Random().Next(0, int.MaxValue));

    Console.WriteLine(string.Format("{0}:{1}",
        Accessor.PropertyInfo.Name, Accessor.GetValue(e)));
}

Answer 5

VB version:

Dim prop As PropertyInfo = GetType(foo).GetProperty("bar")
Dim foo1 As New foo

Dim getForAnyFoo As Func(Of foo, String) = TryCast([Delegate].CreateDelegate(GetType(Func(Of foo, String)), Nothing, prop.GetGetMethod()), Func(Of foo, String))

Dim setForAnyFoo As Action(Of foo, String) = TryCast([Delegate].CreateDelegate(GetType(Action(Of foo, String)), Nothing, prop.GetSetMethod()), Action(Of foo, String))

Dim getForFixedFoo As Func(Of String) = TryCast([Delegate].CreateDelegate(GetType(Func(Of String)), foo1, prop.GetGetMethod()), Func(Of String))

Dim setForFixedFoo As Action(Of String) = TryCast([Delegate].CreateDelegate(GetType(Action(Of String)), foo1, prop.GetSetMethod()), Action(Of String))

    setForAnyFoo(foo1, "abc")
    Debug.WriteLine(getForAnyFoo(foo1))

    setForFixedFoo("def")
    Debug.WriteLine(getForFixedFoo())

Answer 6

Re the problem using AddressOf - if you know the prop-name at compile time, you can (in C#, at least) use an anon-method / lambda:

Test t = delegate { return e.PropertyName; }; // C# 2.0
Test t = () => e.PropertyName; // C# 3.0

I'm not a VB expert, but reflector claims this is the same as:

Dim t As Test = Function 
    Return e.PropertyName
End Function

Does that work?

---

Original answer:

You create delegates for properties with Delegate.CreateDelegate; this can be open for any instance of the type, of fixed for a single instance - and can be for getter or setter; I'll give an example in C#...

using System;
using System.Reflection;
class Foo
{
    public string Bar { get; set; }
}
class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        PropertyInfo prop = typeof(Foo).GetProperty("Bar");
        Foo foo = new Foo();

        // create an open "getter" delegate
        Func<Foo, string> getForAnyFoo = (Func<Foo, string>)
            Delegate.CreateDelegate(typeof(Func<Foo, string>), null,
                prop.GetGetMethod());

        Func<string> getForFixedFoo = (Func<string>)
            Delegate.CreateDelegate(typeof(Func<string>), foo,
                prop.GetGetMethod());

        Action<Foo,string> setForAnyFoo = (Action<Foo,string>)
            Delegate.CreateDelegate(typeof(Action<Foo, string>), null,
                prop.GetSetMethod());

        Action<string> setForFixedFoo = (Action<string>)
            Delegate.CreateDelegate(typeof(Action<string>), foo,
                prop.GetSetMethod());

        setForAnyFoo(foo, "abc");
        Console.WriteLine(getForAnyFoo(foo));
        setForFixedFoo("def");
        Console.WriteLine(getForFixedFoo());
    }
}