Deep cloning objects

Question

I want to do something like:

MyObject myObj = GetMyObj(); // Create and fill a new object
MyObject newObj = myObj.Clone();

And then make changes to the new object that are not reflected in the original object.

I don't often need this functionality, so when it's been necessary, I've resorted to creating a new object and then copying each property individually, but it always leaves me with the feeling that there is a better or more elegant way of handling the situation.

How can I clone or deep copy an object so that the cloned object can be modified without any changes being reflected in the original object?

Answer 1

Whilst the standard practice is to implement the ICloneable interface (described here, so I won't regurgitate), here's a nice deep clone object copier I found on The Code Project a while ago and incorporated it in our stuff.

As mentioned elsewhere, it does require your objects to be serializable.

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary;

/// <summary>
/// Reference Article http://www.codeproject.com/KB/tips/SerializedObjectCloner.aspx
/// Provides a method for performing a deep copy of an object.
/// Binary Serialization is used to perform the copy.
/// </summary>
public static class ObjectCopier
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Perform a deep Copy of the object.
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T">The type of object being copied.</typeparam>
    /// <param name="source">The object instance to copy.</param>
    /// <returns>The copied object.</returns>
    public static T Clone<T>(T source)
    {
        if (!typeof(T).IsSerializable)
        {
            throw new ArgumentException("The type must be serializable.", "source");
        }

        // Don't serialize a null object, simply return the default for that object
        if (Object.ReferenceEquals(source, null))
        {
            return default(T);
        }

        IFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
        Stream stream = new MemoryStream();
        using (stream)
        {
            formatter.Serialize(stream, source);
            stream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
            return (T)formatter.Deserialize(stream);
        }
    }
}

The idea is that it serializes your object and then deserializes it into a fresh object. The benefit is that you don't have to concern yourself about cloning everything when an object gets too complex.

And with the use of extension methods (also from the originally referenced source):

In case you prefer to use the new extension methods of C# 3.0, change the method to have the following signature:

public static T Clone<T>(this T source)
{
   //...
}

Now the method call simply becomes objectBeingCloned.Clone();.

EDIT (January 10 2015) Thought I'd revisit this, to mention I recently started using (Newtonsoft) Json to do this, it should be lighter, and avoids the overhead of [Serializable] tags. (NB @atconway has pointed out in the comments that private members are not cloned using the JSON method)

/// <summary>
/// Perform a deep Copy of the object, using Json as a serialisation method. NOTE: Private members are not cloned using this method.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T">The type of object being copied.</typeparam>
/// <param name="source">The object instance to copy.</param>
/// <returns>The copied object.</returns>
public static T CloneJson<T>(this T source)
{            
    // Don't serialize a null object, simply return the default for that object
    if (Object.ReferenceEquals(source, null))
    {
        return default(T);
    }

    // initialize inner objects individually
    // for example in default constructor some list property initialized with some values,
    // but in 'source' these items are cleaned -
    // without ObjectCreationHandling.Replace default constructor values will be added to result
    var deserializeSettings = new JsonSerializerSettings {ObjectCreationHandling = ObjectCreationHandling.Replace};

    return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<T>(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(source), deserializeSettings);
}

Answer 2

The reason not to use ICloneable is not because it doesn't have a generic interface. The reason not to use it is because it's vague. It doesn't make clear whether you're getting a shallow or a deep copy; that's up to the implementer.

Yes, MemberwiseClone makes a shallow copy, but the opposite of MemberwiseClone isn't Clone; it would be, perhaps, DeepClone, which doesn't exist. When you use an object through its ICloneable interface, you can't know which kind of cloning the underlying object performs. (And XML comments won't make it clear, because you'll get the interface comments rather than the ones on the object's Clone method.)

What I usually do is simply make a Copy method that does exactly what I want.

Answer 3

I wanted a cloner for very simple objects of mostly primitives and lists. If your object is out of the box JSON serializable then this method will do the trick. This requires no modification or implementation of interfaces on the cloned class, just a JSON serializer like JSON.NET.

public static T Clone<T>(T source)
{
    var serialized = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(source);
    return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<T>(serialized);
}

Also, you can use this extension method

public static class SystemExtension
{
    public static T Clone<T>(this T source)
    {
        var serialized = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(source);
        return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<T>(serialized);
    }
}

Answer 4

Here is a deep copy implementation:

public static object CloneObject(object opSource)
{
    //grab the type and create a new instance of that type
    Type opSourceType = opSource.GetType();
    object opTarget = CreateInstanceOfType(opSourceType);

    //grab the properties
    PropertyInfo[] opPropertyInfo = opSourceType.GetProperties(BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);

    //iterate over the properties and if it has a 'set' method assign it from the source TO the target
    foreach (PropertyInfo item in opPropertyInfo)
    {
        if (item.CanWrite)
        {
            //value types can simply be 'set'
            if (item.PropertyType.IsValueType || item.PropertyType.IsEnum || item.PropertyType.Equals(typeof(System.String)))
            {
                item.SetValue(opTarget, item.GetValue(opSource, null), null);
            }
            //object/complex types need to recursively call this method until the end of the tree is reached
            else
            {
                object opPropertyValue = item.GetValue(opSource, null);
                if (opPropertyValue == null)
                {
                    item.SetValue(opTarget, null, null);
                }
                else
                {
                    item.SetValue(opTarget, CloneObject(opPropertyValue), null);
                }
            }
        }
    }
    //return the new item
    return opTarget;
}

Answer 5

Follow these steps:

• Define an ISelf<T> with a read-only Self property that returns T, and ICloneable<out T>, which derives from ISelf<T> and includes a method T Clone().
• Then define a CloneBase type which implements a protected virtual generic VirtualClone casting MemberwiseClone to the passed-in type.
• Each derived type should implement VirtualClone by calling the base clone method and then doing whatever needs to be done to properly clone those aspects of the derived type which the parent VirtualClone method hasn't yet handled.

For maximum inheritance versatility, classes exposing public cloning functionality should be sealed, but derive from a base class which is otherwise identical except for the lack of cloning. Rather than passing variables of the explicit clonable type, take a parameter of type ICloneable<theNonCloneableType>. This will allow a routine that expects a cloneable derivative of Foo to work with a cloneable derivative of DerivedFoo, but also allow the creation of non-cloneable derivatives of Foo.

Answer 6

I have created a version of the accepted answer that works with both '[Serializable]' and '[DataContract]'. It has been a while since I wrote it, but if I remember correctly [DataContract] needed a different serializer.

Requires System, System.IO, System.Runtime.Serialization, System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary, System.Xml;

public static class ObjectCopier
{

    /// <summary>
    /// Perform a deep Copy of an object that is marked with '[Serializable]' or '[DataContract]'
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T">The type of object being copied.</typeparam>
    /// <param name="source">The object instance to copy.</param>
    /// <returns>The copied object.</returns>
    public static T Clone<T>(T source)
    {
        if (typeof(T).IsSerializable == true)
        {
            return CloneUsingSerializable<T>(source);
        }

        if (IsDataContract(typeof(T)) == true)
        {
            return CloneUsingDataContracts<T>(source);
        }

        throw new ArgumentException("The type must be Serializable or use DataContracts.", "source");
    }


    /// <summary>
    /// Perform a deep Copy of an object that is marked with '[Serializable]'
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// Found on http://stackoverflow.com/questions/78536/cloning-objects-in-c-sharp
    /// Uses code found on CodeProject, which allows free use in third party apps
    /// - http://www.codeproject.com/KB/tips/SerializedObjectCloner.aspx
    /// </remarks>
    /// <typeparam name="T">The type of object being copied.</typeparam>
    /// <param name="source">The object instance to copy.</param>
    /// <returns>The copied object.</returns>
    public static T CloneUsingSerializable<T>(T source)
    {
        if (!typeof(T).IsSerializable)
        {
            throw new ArgumentException("The type must be serializable.", "source");
        }

        // Don't serialize a null object, simply return the default for that object
        if (Object.ReferenceEquals(source, null))
        {
            return default(T);
        }

        IFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
        Stream stream = new MemoryStream();
        using (stream)
        {
            formatter.Serialize(stream, source);
            stream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
            return (T)formatter.Deserialize(stream);
        }
    }


    /// <summary>
    /// Perform a deep Copy of an object that is marked with '[DataContract]'
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T">The type of object being copied.</typeparam>
    /// <param name="source">The object instance to copy.</param>
    /// <returns>The copied object.</returns>
    public static T CloneUsingDataContracts<T>(T source)
    {
        if (IsDataContract(typeof(T)) == false)
        {
            throw new ArgumentException("The type must be a data contract.", "source");
        }

        // ** Don't serialize a null object, simply return the default for that object
        if (Object.ReferenceEquals(source, null))
        {
            return default(T);
        }

        DataContractSerializer dcs = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(T));
        using(Stream stream = new MemoryStream())
        {
            using (XmlDictionaryWriter writer = XmlDictionaryWriter.CreateBinaryWriter(stream))
            {
                dcs.WriteObject(writer, source);
                writer.Flush();
                stream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
                using (XmlDictionaryReader reader = XmlDictionaryReader.CreateBinaryReader(stream, XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas.Max))
                {
                    return (T)dcs.ReadObject(reader);
                }
            }
        }
    }


    /// <summary>
    /// Helper function to check if a class is a [DataContract]
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="type">The type of the object to check.</param>
    /// <returns>Boolean flag indicating if the class is a DataContract (true) or not (false) </returns>
    public static bool IsDataContract(Type type)
    {
        object[] attributes = type.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DataContractAttribute), false);
        return attributes.Length == 1;
    }

}