Retrieving Property name from lambda expression

Question

Is there a better way to get the Property name when passed in via a lambda expression? Here is what i currently have.

eg.

GetSortingInfo<User>(u => u.UserId);

It worked by casting it as a memberexpression only when the property was a string. because not all properties are strings i had to use object but then it would return a unaryexpression for those.

public static RouteValueDictionary GetInfo<T>(this HtmlHelper html, 
    Expression<Func<T, object>> action) where T : class
{
    var expression = GetMemberInfo(action);
    string name = expression.Member.Name;

    return GetInfo(html, name);
}

private static MemberExpression GetMemberInfo(Expression method)
{
    LambdaExpression lambda = method as LambdaExpression;
    if (lambda == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("method");

    MemberExpression memberExpr = null;

    if (lambda.Body.NodeType == ExpressionType.Convert)
    {
        memberExpr = 
            ((UnaryExpression)lambda.Body).Operand as MemberExpression;
    }
    else if (lambda.Body.NodeType == ExpressionType.MemberAccess)
    {
        memberExpr = lambda.Body as MemberExpression;
    }

    if (memberExpr == null)
        throw new ArgumentException("method");

    return memberExpr;
}

Answer 1

Well, there's no need to call .Name.ToString(), but broadly that is about it, yes. The only consideration you might need is whether x.Foo.Bar should return "Foo", "Bar", or an exception - i.e. do you need to iterate at all.

(re comment) for more on flexible sorting, see here.

Answer 2

With C# 7 pattern matching:

public static string GetMemberName<T>(this Expression<T> expression)
{
    switch (expression.Body)
    {
        case MemberExpression m:
            return m.Member.Name;
        case UnaryExpression u when u.Operand is MemberExpression m:
            return m.Member.Name;
        default:
            throw new NotImplementedException(expression.GetType().ToString());
    }
}

Example:

public static RouteValueDictionary GetInfo<T>(this HtmlHelper html, 
    Expression<Func<T, object>> action) where T : class
{
    var name = action.GetMemberName();
    return GetInfo(html, name);
}

Answer 3

I have done the INotifyPropertyChanged implementation similar to the method below. Here the properties are stored in a dictionary in the base class shown below. It is of course not always desirable to use inheritance, but for view models I think it is acceptable and gives very clean property references in the view model classes.

public class PhotoDetailsViewModel
    : PropertyChangedNotifierBase<PhotoDetailsViewModel>
{
    public bool IsLoading
    {
        get { return GetValue(x => x.IsLoading); }
        set { SetPropertyValue(x => x.IsLoading, value); }
    }

    public string PendingOperation
    {
        get { return GetValue(x => x.PendingOperation); }
        set { SetPropertyValue(x => x.PendingOperation, value); }
    }

    public PhotoViewModel Photo
    {
        get { return GetValue(x => x.Photo); }
        set { SetPropertyValue(x => x.Photo, value); }
    }
}

The somewhat more complex base class is shown below. It handles the translation from lambda expression to property name. Note that the properties are really pseudo properties since only the names are used. But it will appear transparent to the view model and references to the properties on the view model.

public class PropertyChangedNotifierBase<T> : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    readonly Dictionary<string, object> _properties = new Dictionary<string, object>();

    protected U GetValue<U>(Expression<Func<T, U>> property)
    {
        var propertyName = GetPropertyName(property);

        return GetValue<U>(propertyName);
    }

    private U GetValue<U>(string propertyName)
    {
        object value;

        if (!_properties.TryGetValue(propertyName, out value))
        {
            return default(U);
        }

        return (U)value;
    }

    protected void SetPropertyValue<U>(Expression<Func<T, U>> property, U value)
    {
        var propertyName = GetPropertyName(property);

        var oldValue = GetValue<U>(propertyName);

        if (Object.ReferenceEquals(oldValue, value))
        {
            return;
        }
        _properties[propertyName] = value;

        RaisePropertyChangedEvent(propertyName);
    }

    protected void RaisePropertyChangedEvent<U>(Expression<Func<T, U>> property)
    {
        var name = GetPropertyName(property);
        RaisePropertyChangedEvent(name);
    }

    protected void RaisePropertyChangedEvent(string propertyName)
    {
        if (PropertyChanged != null)
        {
            PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
        }
    }

    private static string GetPropertyName<U>(Expression<Func<T, U>> property)
    {
        if (property == null)
        {
            throw new NullReferenceException("property");
        }

        var lambda = property as LambdaExpression;

        var memberAssignment = (MemberExpression) lambda.Body;
        return memberAssignment.Member.Name;
    }

    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
}

Answer 4

I found another way you can do it was to have the source and property strongly typed and explicitly infer the input for the lambda. Not sure if that is correct terminology but here is the result.

public static RouteValueDictionary GetInfo<T,P>(this HtmlHelper html, Expression<Func<T, P>> action) where T : class
{
    var expression = (MemberExpression)action.Body;
    string name = expression.Member.Name;

    return GetInfo(html, name);
}

And then call it like so.

GetInfo((User u) => u.UserId);

and voila it works.
Thanks all.

Answer 5

I created an extension method on ObjectStateEntry to be able to flag properties (of Entity Framework POCO classes) as modified in a type safe manner, since the default method only accepts a string. Here's my way of getting the name from the property:

public static void SetModifiedProperty<T>(this System.Data.Objects.ObjectStateEntry state, Expression<Func<T>> action)
{
    var body = (MemberExpression)action.Body;
    string propertyName = body.Member.Name;

    state.SetModifiedProperty(propertyName);
}

Answer 6

public string GetName<TSource, TField>(Expression<Func<TSource, TField>> Field)
{
    return (Field.Body as MemberExpression ?? ((UnaryExpression)Field.Body).Operand as MemberExpression).Member.Name;
}

This handles member and unary expressions. The difference being that you will get a UnaryExpression if your expression represents a value type whereas you will get a MemberExpression if your expression represents a reference type. Everything can be cast to an object, but value types must be boxed. This is why the UnaryExpression exists. Reference.

For the sakes of readability (@Jowen), here's an expanded equivalent:

public string GetName<TSource, TField>(Expression<Func<TSource, TField>> Field)
{
    if (object.Equals(Field, null))
    {
        throw new NullReferenceException("Field is required");
    }

    MemberExpression expr = null;

    if (Field.Body is MemberExpression)
    {
        expr = (MemberExpression)Field.Body;
    }
    else if (Field.Body is UnaryExpression)
    {
        expr = (MemberExpression)((UnaryExpression)Field.Body).Operand;
    }
    else
    {
        const string Format = "Expression '{0}' not supported.";
        string message = string.Format(Format, Field);

        throw new ArgumentException(message, "Field");
    }

    return expr.Member.Name;
}