Develop Reference

Opinions on mapping fields of nested/hierarchical objects to flat list?

I'm writing a tool which accesses a word document to prefill it with data. The document has a subset of custom document properties, each identified by a name, whose values are used to update fields in the document.
My ViewModel should both be able to initiate/update its instances from data of those document properties, aswell as write its values back and update the fields of the document.
Something like this:
class PersonVM : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
// properties
string Name { get; set; }
string PhoneNumber { get; set; }
// methods to get data or save data of this properties to or from the word document
void saveMyPropertyValuesToWord()
{
// …
}
void updateMyPropertiesFromWord()
{
// …
}
}
class ProjectVM : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
int ProjectNumber { get; set; }
PersonVM Manager { get; set; }
PersonVM Mechanic1 { get; set; }
PersonVM Mechanic2 { get; set; }
void saveMyPropertyValuesToWord()
{
Manager.saveMyPropertyValuesToWord();
Mechanic1.saveMyPropertyValuesToWord();
Mechanic2.saveMyPropertyValuesToWord();
// handle ProjectNumber etc.
}
void updateMyPropertiesFromWord()
{
Manager.updateMyPropertiesFromWord();
Mechanic1.updateMyPropertiesFromWord();
Mechanic2.updateMyPropertiesFromWord();
// handle ProjectNumber etc.
}
class CompanyVM : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
string Name { get; set; }
PersonVM Owner { get; set; }
ProjectVM Project1 { get; set; }
ProjectVM Project2 { get; set; }
// …
}
// …
}
Right now I have a class with static string properties for each document property that might be present in a word document from which I would like to load the data accordingly:
class WordUtils
{
// Company
static string CompanyName = "dp_CompanyName";
// Company.Owner
static string CompanyOwnerName = "dp_CompanyOwnerName";
static string CompanyOwnerPhone = "dp_CompanyOwnerPhone";
// Company.Project1
static string CompanyProject1Number = "dp_CompanyProject1Number";
// Company.Project1.Manager
static string CompanyProject1ManagerName = "dp_CompanyProject1ManagerName";
static string CompanyProject1ManagerPhone = "dp_CompanyProject1ManagerPhone";
// Company.Project1.Mechanic1
// … etc
}
Now back to implementing those PersonVM.saveMyPropertyValuesToWord() - I thought of something like this:
void saveMyPropertyValuesToWord()
{
Name = MyApp.MyWordDocument.GetCustomProperty(WordUtils.OwnerName);
}
but here I need to know on class Level exactly what instance of it this is called from (i.e. what PersonVM am I, Company.Owner or Project1.Manager or ?) in order to decide which WordUtils.Name I need to provide.
I'm not sure how this should be done, maybe make PersonVM abstract and make a new class for each role (which would again only have one instance of itself, not very pretty in my eyes)? I have also taken a short look at Attributes and expect those might be helpfull in this scenario. Maybe I am missing something obvious, but extensive search for a robust way to tackle this problem have been fruitless so far.

How about something like this:
class Property
{
public string Key { get; }
public string Value { get; set; }
public Property(string key) => Key = key;
}
interface IPropertyTree
{
IEnumerable<IPropertyTree> ChildNodes { get; }
IEnumerable<Property> Properties { get; }
}
class PersonVM : IPropertyTree
{
private readonly string prefix;
public PersonVM(string prefix)
{
Name = new Property(prefix + "Name" );
PhoneNumber = new Property(prefix + "PhoneNumber");
}
public Property Name { get; }
public Property PhoneNumber { get; }
public IEnumerable<IPropertyTree> ChildNodes => Enumerable.Empty<IPropertyTree>();
public IEnumerable<Property> Properties => new[] {Name, PhoneNumber};
}
static class PropertyTreeExtensions
{
public static void Update(this IPropertyTree self)
{
foreach (var property in self.Flatten().SelectMany(tree => tree.Properties))
{
property.Value = MyApp.MyWordDocument.GetCustomProperty(property.Key);
}
}
public static IEnumerable<IPropertyTree> Flatten(this IPropertyTree self)
{
var stack = new Stack<IPropertyTree>();
stack.Push(self);
while (stack.Count > 0)
{
var current = stack.Pop();
yield return current;
foreach (var child in current.ChildNodes)
{
stack.Push(child);
}
}
}
}
This should allow each property to have a unique key, and keep the key and property value tightly coupled. It should also allow you to move the save/update logic to a centralized place.

Of course you can implement a concrete class of IPerson for each type and hard code the individual implementations.
Since you know the person type the moment you are creating an instance of PersonVMM, you could add an attribute PersonTypeId and set it from the constructor,
void SomeMethod()
{
var personVm = new PersonVM(WordUtils.OwnerName);
}
class PersonVM : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
// properties
string PersonTypeId { get; set; }
string Name { get; set; }
string PhoneNumber { get; set; }
public PersonVM()
{}
public PersonVM(string personTypeId)
{
PersonTypeId = personTypeId;
}
// methods to get data or save data of this properties to or from the word document
void saveMyPropertyValuesToWord()
{
Name = MyApp.MyWordDocument.GetCustomProperty(PersonTypeId);
}
}

Get existing instance of List<T>

I've inherited a bloated project that uses a huge class as an in-memory database:
public class Database
{
public class Parameter1
{
public string Code { get; set; }
public string Label { get; set; }
public List<Parameter1Value> paramValues;
}
public class Parameter2
{
public string Code { get; set; }
public string Label { get; set; }
public List<Parameter2Value> paramValues;
}
public class Parameter1Value
{
public string Value { get; set;}
public Parameter parameter { get; set;}
}
public class Parameter2Value
{
public int Value { get; set;}
public Parameter2 parameter { get; set;}
}
public List<Parameter1> parameter1List { get; set; }
public List<Parameter2> parameter2List { get; set; }
}
I am creating a generic method that creates instances of Parameter1 or Parameter2 (see below) and should add those to their respective lists, but I don't know how to use those types to get the parameter1List or parameter2List instances from my Database class. The Database class holds only one List<T> property for each defined type. Is this possible?
This is the generic method used to create instances:
public static Database Add<T>(this Database database, string code, string label) where T : new()
{
T itemToCreate = (T)Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(T));
itemToCreate.Code = code;
itemToCreate.Label = label;
var listForItem = database.GetList<T>; // This is the missing functionality
listForItem.Add(itemToCreate);
return database;
}

Here is a solution using interfaces and generic constraints.
Create an interface to represent a generic parameter class and add members to the interface as required:
public interface IParameter { ... }
And an interface to represent a list of parameters:
public interface IParameterList<TParameter> where TParameter : IParameter
{
List<TParameter> ParameterList { get; set; }
}
Have the Database and Parameter classes implement these new interfaces:
public class Parameter1 : IParameter
public class Parameter2 : IParameter
public class Database : IParameterList<Parameter1>, IParameterList<Parameter2>
{
List<Parameter1> IParameterList<Parameter1>.ParameterList { get => parameter1List; set => parameter1List = value; }
List<Parameter2> IParameterList<Parameter2>.ParameterList { get => parameter2List; set => parameter2List = value; }
...
}
Add a where TParameter : IParameter constraint to your generic Parameter factory function, and have the factory function require an argument of type IParameterList<TParameter> which is an instance of the Database class. This satisfies the compiler that the Database class owns a list of TParameter. Now we just do db.ParameterList.Add(r) to add our new parameter to the correct list.
public static TParameter CreateParameter<TParameter>(IParameterList<TParameter> db) where TParameter : IParameter, new()
{
var r = new TParameter(); // This is the generic function you mentioned. Do stuff here to create your Parameter class.
db.ParameterList.Add(r); // Add the newly created parameter to the correct list
return r;
}
Code dump (full working version after I picked up your edit which added the generic factory function):
public class Parameter1 : IParameter
{
public string Code { get; set; }
public string Label { get; set; }
public List<Parameter1Value> paramValues;
}
public class Parameter2 : IParameter
{
public string Code { get; set; }
public string Label { get; set; }
public List<Parameter2Value> paramValues;
}
public class Parameter1Value
{
public string Value { get; set; }
public Parameter parameter { get; set; }
}
public class Parameter2Value
{
public int Value { get; set; }
public Parameter2 parameter { get; set; }
}
public class Database : IParameterList<Parameter1>, IParameterList<Parameter2>
{
// Note: Setters for the List properties probably not needed here or in IParameterList as with the following code we instantiate them at class construction time and, in this MCVE at least, there are no further assignments
public List<Parameter1> parameter1List { get; set; } = new List<Parameter1>();
public List<Parameter2> parameter2List { get; set; } = new List<Parameter2>();
List<Parameter1> IParameterList<Parameter1>.ParameterList { get => parameter1List; set => parameter1List = value; }
List<Parameter2> IParameterList<Parameter2>.ParameterList { get => parameter2List; set => parameter2List = value; }
public static TParameter Add<TParameter>(IParameterList<TParameter> db, string code, string label) where TParameter : IParameter, new()
{
var itemToCreate = new TParameter();
itemToCreate.Code = code;
itemToCreate.Label = label;
db.ParameterList.Add(itemToCreate); // Add the newly created parameter to the correct list
return itemToCreate;
}
}
public interface IParameter
{
string Code { get; set; }
string Label { get; set; }
}
public interface IParameterList<TParameter> where TParameter : IParameter
{
List<TParameter> ParameterList { get; set; }
}
// Testing:
void Main()
{
var db = new Database();
Database.Add<Parameter1>(db, "hello", "hello2");
Database.Add<Parameter1>(db, "hello", "hello2");
Database.Add<Parameter2>(db, "hello", "hello2");
Console.WriteLine($"P1 count (should be 2): {db.parameter1List.Count()}; P2 count (should be 1): {db.parameter2List.Count}");
}
Output:
P1 count (should be 2): 2; P2 count (should be 1): 1

Here is a solution which acquires the target list using generics and reflection:
public static List<T> GetList<T>(this Database dataBase) where T : new()
{
return dataBase.GetType()
.GetProperties()
.Where(x => x.PropertyType == typeof(List<T>))
.Select(x => (List<T>)x.GetValue(dataBase))
.FirstOrDefault();
}
Credit: Michael Randall in the comments

Linq query - "Where" on List<T> Where reflected property Contains text/value

I would like to build a Function where user could search if certain property from list contains value
Let say we will have List, and Company will be defined as a class with properties like :
public class Company
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string CompanyAddress1 { get; set; }
public string CompanyPostCode { get; set; }
public string CompanyCity { get; set; }
public string CompanyCounty { get; set; }
}
Now - Ideally I would like to have function with this parameters
List<Company> FilterCompanies(List<Company> unfilteredList, string fieldToQueryOn, string query)
{
// linq version what ideally would like to archeve
return unfilteredList.Where(x => x."fieldToQueryOn".ToString().ToLower().Contains(query.ToLower())).ToList();
}
and call :
var variable = FilterCompanies(NotNullFilledUnfilteredList, "CompanyCity", "New York")
I tried to follow the tutorial at learn.microsoft.com and it's easy, but I don't have clue how to extend that solution with reflection on Type and use it in an expression tree.

You can use Type.GetProperty to find a property by name using reflection, and then use GetValue to retrieve the value:
List<Company> FilterCompanies(List<Company> list, string propertyName, string query)
{
var pi = typeof(Company).GetProperty(propertyName);
query = query.ToLower();
return list
.Where(x => pi.GetValue(x).ToString().ToLower().Contains(query))
.ToList();
}
You should probably add some error handling though in case someone uses a property that is invalid. For example, you could do (pi?.GetValue(x) ?? string.Empty).ToString().ToLower()… to be on the safe side.
I’ve also moved the query.ToLower() out of the lambda expression to make sure it only runs once. You can also try other case-insensitive ways to check whether query is a substring of the value to avoid having to convert any string. Check out the question “Case insensitive 'Contains(string)'” for more information.
Btw. if you are generally interested in running dynamic queries, you should take a look at dynamic LINQ.

Generics and lambda:
namespace WhereTest
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var companies = new[] { new Company { Id = 1, Name = "abc" }, new Company { Id = 2, CompanyAddress1 = "abc" } };
foreach (var company in FilterCompanies(companies, "abc", x => x.Name, x => x.CompanyCity))
{
Console.WriteLine(company.Id);
}
}
static List<Company> FilterCompanies(IEnumerable<Company> unfilteredList, string query, params Func<Company, string>[] properties)
{
return unfilteredList.Where(x => properties.Any(c => c.Invoke(x) == query)).ToList();
}
}
public class Company
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string CompanyAddress1 { get; set; }
public string CompanyPostCode { get; set; }
public string CompanyCity { get; set; }
public string CompanyCounty { get; set; }
}
}
Advantages: no reflection, strongly typed code.

You can use GetProperty combined with GetValue
List<Company> FilterCompanies(List<Company> unfilteredList, string fieldToQueryOn, string query)
{
return unfilteredList
.Where(x => x.GetType.GetProperty(fieldToQueryOn).GetValue(x)
.ToString().ToLower().Contains(query.ToLower())).ToList();
}
OR: property accessors using string (same as javascript obj[property])
You can modify your class:
public class Company
{
// just add this code block to all your classes that would need to access
// your function
public object this[string propertyName]
{
get{
Type myType = typeof(Company);
PropertyInfo myPropInfo = myType.GetProperty(propertyName);
return myPropInfo.GetValue(this, null);
}
set{
Type myType = typeof(Company);
PropertyInfo myPropInfo = myType.GetProperty(propertyName);
myPropInfo.SetValue(this, value, null);
}
}
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string CompanyAddress1 { get; set; }
public string CompanyPostCode { get; set; }
public string CompanyCity { get; set; }
public string CompanyCounty { get; set; }
}
and then you can change your function like this:
List<Company> FilterCompanies(List<Company> unfilteredList, string key, string query)
{
// linq version what ideally would like to archeve
return unfilteredList.Where(x => x[key].ToString().ToLower().Contains(query.ToLower())).ToList();
}
Check this Demo
NOTE:
In order for your function to work, you need to add this code to your classes:
public object this[string propertyName]
{
get{
Type myType = typeof(<YOUR CLASS HERE>);
PropertyInfo myPropInfo = myType.GetProperty(propertyName);
return myPropInfo.GetValue(this, null);
}
set{
Type myType = typeof(<YOUR CLASS HERE>);
PropertyInfo myPropInfo = myType.GetProperty(propertyName);
myPropInfo.SetValue(this, value, null);
}
}
Bonus: you can now retrieve values using myObject["someproperty"] and you can even set their values!

How to use interface from entity framework database first auto-generated code

I have the following two classes auto generated with Entity Framework using database first;
public partial class UserXml
{
public UserXml()
{
this.UserXmlHotel = new HashSet<UserXmlHotel>();
}
public long UserId { get; set; }
public string Password { get; set; }
public bool Enabled { get; set; }
public byte FailedAttempt { get; set; }
public virtual User User { get; set; }
public virtual UserXmlIp UserXmlIp { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<UserXmlHotel> UserXmlHotel { get; set; }
}
and
public partial class UserCustomer
{
public UserCustomer ()
{
this.UserCustomerHotel = new HashSet<UserCustomerHotel >();
}
public long UserId { get; set; }
public bool Enabled { get; set; }
public string Password { get; set; }
}
I've then created the following classes;
public partial class UserXml : IUser
{
}
public partial class UserCustomer : IUser
{
}
public static class EntityExtensions
{
public static IQueryable<T> Enabled<T>(this IQueryable<T> source) where T : IUser
{
return source.Where(x => x.Enabled);
}
}
I have a interface as;
public interface IUser
{
bool Enabled { get; }
}
Want I'm wanting to do is combine the same call for each entity using the same re-usable code; So take
using(var Context = new EscapeEntities())
{
bool bEnabled = Context.UserXml.First(u => u.UserId == iUserId).Enabled;
}
and
using(var Context = new EscapeEntities())
{
bool bEnabled = Context.UserCustomer.First(u => u.UserId == iUserId).Enabled;
}
I'm wanting to use my EntityExtensions class, but I'm having trouble getting it to work. Any pointers ?

When you use expressions on generic types which implement an interface, the expression builder adds a cast to the expression, like below:
x => x.Enabled // converts to something like below:
x => ((IUser)x).Enabled
So what you need to do is to tell the expression builder to not add the cast expression by defining your generic type as a class, which means your Enabled(...) extension method needs to be like this:
public static IQueryable<T> Enabled<T>(this IQueryable<T> source)
where T : class, IUser // added 'class' constraint
{
return source.Where(x => x.Enabled);
}
Another approach (which needs much more work) is to define an ExpressionVisitor class to remove the convert on the expression which is explained on this stackoverflow answer.
So after this correction, you can user your extension method easily:
using(var Context = new EscapeEntities())
{
IQueryable<UserXml> query = Context.UserXml
.Where(u => u.Password == "Foo")).Enabled();
List<UserXml> res = query.ToList();
}
P.S. I think you'd be better off with defining another extra "base" User table with two children named UserXml and UserCustomer and abstract out the common columns into User table, which removes the need for extra interfaces and is also compatible with object oriented design.

C# - copying property values from one instance to another, different classes

I have two C# classes that have many of the same properties (by name and type). I want to be able to copy all non-null values from an instance of Defect into an instance of DefectViewModel. I was hoping to do it with reflection, using GetType().GetProperties(). I tried the following:
var defect = new Defect();
var defectViewModel = new DefectViewModel();
PropertyInfo[] defectProperties = defect.GetType().GetProperties();
IEnumerable<string> viewModelPropertyNames =
defectViewModel.GetType().GetProperties().Select(property => property.Name);
IEnumerable<PropertyInfo> propertiesToCopy =
defectProperties.Where(defectProperty =>
viewModelPropertyNames.Contains(defectProperty.Name)
);
foreach (PropertyInfo defectProperty in propertiesToCopy)
{
var defectValue = defectProperty.GetValue(defect, null) as string;
if (null == defectValue)
{
continue;
}
// "System.Reflection.TargetException: Object does not match target type":
defectProperty.SetValue(viewModel, defectValue, null);
}
What would be the best way to do this? Should I maintain separate lists of Defect properties and DefectViewModel properties so that I can do viewModelProperty.SetValue(viewModel, defectValue, null)?
Edit: thanks to both Jordão's and Dave's answers, I chose AutoMapper. DefectViewModel is in a WPF application, so I added the following App constructor:
public App()
{
Mapper.CreateMap<Defect, DefectViewModel>()
.ForMember("PropertyOnlyInViewModel", options => options.Ignore())
.ForMember("AnotherPropertyOnlyInViewModel", options => options.Ignore())
.ForAllMembers(memberConfigExpr =>
memberConfigExpr.Condition(resContext =>
resContext.SourceType.Equals(typeof(string)) &&
!resContext.IsSourceValueNull
)
);
}
Then, instead of all that PropertyInfo business, I just have the following line:
var defect = new Defect();
var defectViewModel = new DefectViewModel();
Mapper.Map<Defect, DefectViewModel>(defect, defectViewModel);

Take a look at AutoMapper.

There are frameworks for this, the one I know of is Automapper:
http://automapper.codeplex.com/
http://www.lostechies.com/blogs/jimmy_bogard/archive/2009/01/22/automapper-the-object-object-mapper.aspx

Replace your erroneous line with this:
PropertyInfo targetProperty = defectViewModel.GetType().GetProperty(defectProperty.Name);
targetProperty.SetValue(viewModel, defectValue, null);
Your posted code is attempting to set a Defect-tied property on a DefectViewModel object.

In terms of organizing the code, if you don't want an external library like AutoMapper, you can use a mixin-like scheme to separate the code out like this:
class Program {
static void Main(string[] args) {
var d = new Defect() { Category = "bug", Status = "open" };
var m = new DefectViewModel();
m.CopyPropertiesFrom(d);
Console.WriteLine("{0}, {1}", m.Category, m.Status);
}
}
// compositions
class Defect : MPropertyGettable {
public string Category { get; set; }
public string Status { get; set; }
// ...
}
class DefectViewModel : MPropertySettable {
public string Category { get; set; }
public string Status { get; set; }
// ...
}
// quasi-mixins
public interface MPropertyEnumerable { }
public static class PropertyEnumerable {
public static IEnumerable<string> GetProperties(this MPropertyEnumerable self) {
return self.GetType().GetProperties().Select(property => property.Name);
}
}
public interface MPropertyGettable : MPropertyEnumerable { }
public static class PropertyGettable {
public static object GetValue(this MPropertyGettable self, string name) {
return self.GetType().GetProperty(name).GetValue(self, null);
}
}
public interface MPropertySettable : MPropertyEnumerable { }
public static class PropertySettable {
public static void SetValue<T>(this MPropertySettable self, string name, T value) {
self.GetType().GetProperty(name).SetValue(self, value, null);
}
public static void CopyPropertiesFrom(this MPropertySettable self, MPropertyGettable other) {
self.GetProperties().Intersect(other.GetProperties()).ToList().ForEach(
property => self.SetValue(property, other.GetValue(property)));
}
}
This way, all the code to achieve the property-copying is separate from the classes that use it. You just need to reference the mixins in their interface list.
Note that this is not as robust or flexible as AutoMapper, because you might want to copy properties with different names or just some sub-set of the properties. Or it might downright fail if the properties don't provide the necessary getters or setters or their types differ. But, it still might be enough for your purposes.

This is cheap and easy. It makes use of System.Web.Script.Serialization and some extention methods for ease of use:
public static class JSONExts
{
public static string ToJSON(this object o)
{
var oSerializer = new System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer();
return oSerializer.Serialize(o);
}
public static List<T> FromJSONToListOf<T>(this string jsonString)
{
var oSerializer = new System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer();
return oSerializer.Deserialize<List<T>>(jsonString);
}
public static T FromJSONTo<T>(this string jsonString)
{
var oSerializer = new System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer();
return oSerializer.Deserialize<T>(jsonString);
}
public static T1 ConvertViaJSON<T1>(this object o)
{
return o.ToJSON().FromJSONTo<T1>();
}
}
Here's some similiar but different classes:
public class Member
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public int Age { get; set; }
public bool IsCitizen { get; set; }
public DateTime? Birthday { get; set; }
public string PetName { get; set; }
public int PetAge { get; set; }
public bool IsUgly { get; set; }
}
public class MemberV2
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public int Age { get; set; }
public bool IsCitizen { get; set; }
public DateTime? Birthday { get; set; }
public string ChildName { get; set; }
public int ChildAge { get; set; }
public bool IsCute { get; set; }
}
And here's the methods in action:
var memberClass1Obj = new Member {
Name = "Steve Smith",
Age = 25,
IsCitizen = true,
Birthday = DateTime.Now.AddYears(-30),
PetName = "Rosco",
PetAge = 4,
IsUgly = true,
};
string br = "<br /><br />";
Response.Write(memberClass1Obj.ToJSON() + br); // just to show the JSON
var memberClass2Obj = memberClass1Obj.ConvertViaJSON<MemberV2>();
Response.Write(memberClass2Obj.ToJSON()); // valid fields are filled

For one thing I would not place that code (somewhere) external but in the constructor of the ViewModel:
class DefectViewModel
{
public DefectViewModel(Defect source) { ... }
}
And if this is the only class (or one of a few) I would not automate it further but write out the property assignments. Automating it looks nice but there may be more exceptions and special cases than you expect.

Any chance you could have both classes implement an interface that defines the shared properties?