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Update an object from a list of destination derived classes with an object from a list of derived source classes using a generic converter

I have a list of source classes derived from a base source class and a list with destination classes derived from a base destination class. There is only one destination class corresponding to a source class. I want to make a generic converter which updates an existing destination object, given his corresponding source object.
Updated completely:
I have the following code:
using System;
namespace ConsoleApp1
{
internal class Program
{
private static void Main(string[] args)
{
S1 newItem = new S1()
{
Age = 11,
Name = "John"
};
D1 oldItem = new D1()
{
Age = 10
};
//there is an item in a database which is of D1 type. This convertor receives an object S1 in order to update the D1 item.
// the rule is that Sx updatates Dx (where x is 1,2,3,4,5...)
Convertor<S1, D1> convertor = new Convertor<S1, D1>(newItem, oldItem);
S2 newItem2 = new S2()
{
City = "London",
Name = "Lynda"
};
D2 oldItem2 = new D2()
{
City = "Paris"
};
Convertor<S2, D2> convertor2 = new Convertor<S2, D2>(newItem2, oldItem2);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
public abstract class SourceDomain
{
public string Name { get; set; }
internal abstract void SetItem<Y>(Y oldItem) where Y : DestinationDomain;
}
public class S1 : SourceDomain
{
public int Age { get; set; }
internal override void SetItem<Y>(Y oldItem)
{
Console.WriteLine("here I want to update the age of oldItem (10) with the new value (11)");
//oldItem.Age = Age;
}
}
public class S2 : SourceDomain
{
public string City { get; set; }
internal override void SetItem<Y>(Y oldItem)
{
Console.WriteLine("here I want to update the city of oldItem Paris with the new value London");
// oldItem.City = City;
}
}
public class DestinationDomain { }
public class D1 : DestinationDomain
{
public int Age { get; set; }
}
public class D2 : DestinationDomain
{
public string City { get; set; }
}
public class Convertor<X, Y> where X : SourceDomain where Y : DestinationDomain
{
protected X item;
protected Y oldItem;
public Convertor(X newObject, Y oldObject)
{
item = newObject;
oldItem = oldObject;
//here I want to call, depending of item type, the proper method, not the base one.
item.SetItem(oldItem);
}
}
}
SourceDomain and DestinationDomain are base classes and there are a lot of derived classes for each of them S1, S2, D1, D2, etc.
This converter receives two classes as types and two objects of that classes and tries to update the destination item of type Y with source item of type X.
In the above example, I want to change update the age of the D1 oldItem variable with 11, and the City oldItem2 with the "London" value, but I cannot access that properties in SetItem method.

This needs to be done with a combination of inheritance and generics, and we'll make the two work together with generic type constraints.
Here are the requirements as I understand them:
You've got some data you want to copy from Source to Destination; one kind of data has an Age, one has a City, maybe another has a Poodle or a SwimmingPool. We'll define an interface that says: "This is a data object which can copy its own properties from another object of the same type", and we'll put all our data in little classes which know how to copy themselves. The "I can copy things like me" interface doesn't know what properties will be copied; it just requires the concrete class to implement a method that knows those details internally. As far as this example goes it could be a base class, but my assumption is the “copyability” isn’t the core indentity of these objects. It’s not what they represent; it’s just one thing we need to be able to do with them along the way.
The other things we need are a "source thing", and a "destination thing". A source thing just needs to provide a data object that can be copied. A destination thing just needs to receive a data object that can be copied.
You confused yourself by trying to mix up the sources and destinations with the data items. If you're going crazy trying to make your class do two contradictory things at once, try breaking it up into two classes that each does one thing.
You never do anything with your SourceDomain Name property, so I won't either. If you need to, I'll leave that as an exercise.
public interface ICopyable<T>
{
void CopyFrom(T other);
}
internal class Program
{
private static void Main(string[] args)
{
var newItem = new SourceDomain<Person>
{
Item = new Person { Age = 11 },
Name = "John"
};
var oldItem = new DestinationDomain<Person>
{
Item = new Person { Age = 10 }
};
//there is an item in a database which is of D1 type. This convertor receives an object S1 in order to update the D1 item.
// the rule is that Sx updatates Dx (where x is 1,2,3,4,5...)
Convertor<Person> convertor = new Convertor<Person>(newItem, oldItem);
var newItem2 = new SourceDomain<Location>()
{
Item = new Location { City = "London" },
Name = "Lynda"
};
var oldItem2 = new DestinationDomain<Location>()
{
Item = new Location { City = "Paris" }
};
Convertor<Location> convertor2 = new Convertor<Location>(newItem2, oldItem2);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
public class SourceDomain<T>
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public T Item { get; set; }
}
public class DestinationDomain<T> where T : ICopyable<T>, new()
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public T Item { get; set; }
public void CopyItemFrom(T other)
{
if (Item == null)
{
Item = new T();
}
Item.CopyFrom(other);
}
}
// A person is a thing which can turn itself into a copy of another Person.
// You could define a class Wombat : ICopyable<Locomotive>, if you wanted to be
// able to convert Locomotives to Wombats. You'd just add another CopyFrom()
// overload, public void CopyFrom(Locomotive other).
public class Person : ICopyable<Person>
{
public int Age { get; set; }
public void CopyFrom(Person other)
{
Age = other.Age;
}
}
public class Location : ICopyable<Location>
{
public String City { get; set; }
public void CopyFrom(Location other)
{
City = other.City;
}
}
public class Convertor<X> where X : ICopyable<X>, new()
{
protected SourceDomain<X> item;
protected DestinationDomain<X> oldItem;
public Convertor(SourceDomain<X> newObject, DestinationDomain<X> oldObject)
{
item = newObject;
oldItem = oldObject;
//here I want to call, depending of item type, the proper method, not the base one.
//newObject.Data = oldItem.Data;
oldItem.CopyItemFrom(item.Item);
}
}
Homework:
Modify this code so DestinationDomain.CopyItemFrom() receives the source itself, not the source's item.
I think it's better the way I wrote it. Think of reasons why I might have thought that.
Seriously, find out what ref does, and never again use a keyword in your code if you are only guessing about what it might mean. Don't just throw code at the wall, hoping it sticks. You'll get yourself in a lot of frustrating trouble that way.

Finally i have done this:
namespace ConsoleApp1
{
internal class Program
{
private static void Main(string[] args)
{
S1 newItem = new S1()
{
Age = 11,
Name = "John"
};
D1 oldItem = new D1()
{
Age = 10
};
//there is an item in a database which is of D1 type. This convertor receives an object S1 in order to update the D1 item.
// the rule is that Sx updatates Dx (where x is 1,2,3,4,5...)
Convertor<S1, D1> convertor = new Convertor<S1, D1>(newItem, oldItem);
S2 newItem2 = new S2()
{
City = "London",
Name = "Lynda"
};
D2 oldItem2 = new D2()
{
City = "Paris"
};
Convertor<S2, D2> convertor2 = new Convertor<S2, D2>(newItem2, oldItem2);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
public interface ICopyable<T>
{
void CopyFrom(T other);
}
public abstract class SourceDomain
{
public string Name { get; set; }
}
public class S1 : SourceDomain
{
public int Age { get; set; }
}
public class S2 : SourceDomain
{
public string City { get; set; }
}
public class DestinationDomain { }
public class D1 : DestinationDomain, ICopyable<S1>
{
public int Age { get; set; }
public void CopyFrom(S1 other)
{
Console.WriteLine("oldItem.Age " + Age + " new Age; = " + other.Age);
Age = other.Age;
Console.WriteLine("oldItem.Age " + Age + " new Age; = " + other.Age);
}
}
public class D2 : DestinationDomain, ICopyable<S2>
{
public string City { get; set; }
public void CopyFrom(S2 other)
{
City = other.City;
Console.WriteLine(" oldItem.City = City;");
}
}
public class Convertor<X, Y> where X : SourceDomain where Y : DestinationDomain, ICopyable<X>
{
protected X item;
protected Y oldItem;
public Convertor(X newObject, Y oldObject)
{
item = newObject;
oldItem = oldObject;
//here I want to call, depending of X type, the proper method, not the base one.
oldItem.CopyFrom(item);
Console.WriteLine(item);
}
}
}

Get Property Value of Nested Classes is always null

I have following two classes
public class Family
{
public string ChildName { get; set; }
}
public class Employee
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public Family Child { get; set; }
}
I have an instance of Employee class as follows.
Employee employee = new Employee();
employee.Name = "Ram";
employee.Id = 77;
employee.Child = new Family() { ChildName = "Lava" };
I have a method which gets the property value based on the property name as follows:
public static object GetPropertyValue(object src, string propName)
{
string[] nameParts = propName.Split('.');
if (nameParts.Length == 1)
{
return src.GetType().GetRuntimeProperty(propName).GetValue(src, null);
}
foreach (String part in nameParts)
{
if (src == null) { return null; }
Type type = src.GetType();
PropertyInfo info = type.GetRuntimeProperty(part);
if (info == null)
{ return null; }
src = info.GetValue(src, null);
}
return src;
}
In the above method,when I try to get property value of nested class like
GetPropertyValue(employee, "employee.Child.ChildName")
or
GetPropertyValue(GetPropertyValue(employee, "Family"), "ChildName"
doesn't return any value because type.GetRuntimeProperty(part) is always null.
Is there any way to fix this problem?

You problem lies in this line:
foreach (String part in nameParts)
Because you are iterating over each part of nameParts, you are also iterating over "employee", which of course is not a valid property.
Try either this:
foreach (String part in nameParts.Skip(1))
Or calling the method like this:
GetPropertyValue(employee, "Child.ChildName")
(Notice no "employee.", because you already pass in an employee)

The problem in this case is that when you split the string employee.Child.ChildName, the "employee" is the first part. However, employee is not a property of the source i.e. Employee Class.
Try this:
public class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
Employee employee = new Employee();
employee.Name = "Ram";
employee.Id = 77;
employee.Child = new Family() { ChildName = "Lava" };
GetPropertyValue(employee, "employee.Child.ChildName");
}
public class Family
{
public string ChildName { get; set; }
}
public class Employee
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public Family Child { get; set; }
}
public static object GetPropertyValue(object src, string propName)
{
string[] nameParts = propName.Split('.');
if (nameParts.Length == 1)
{
return src.GetType().GetRuntimeProperty(propName).GetValue(src, null);
}
nameParts = nameParts.Skip(1).ToArray();
foreach (String part in nameParts)
{
if (src == null) { return null; }
Type type = src.GetType();
PropertyInfo info = type.GetRuntimeProperty(part);
if (info == null)
{ return null; }
src = info.GetValue(src, null);
}
return src;
}
Here, i have skipped the first part of the string i.e. "employee". However, you can solve the problem by passing Child.ChildName

This question is around 2 years old, but I found a another working solution for you question, which is easy to understand. If you initialize the object in calling calss constructor you can use dot(.) notation to assign or read property. Example -
public class Family{
public string ChildName { get; set; }
}
public class Employee{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public Family Child { get; set; }
public Employee(){
Child = new Family();
}
}
Employee emp = new Employee();
emp.Family.ChildName = "Nested calss attribute value";

Remove the null property from object

,I have one class in which I have three properties now what I want to do, if in the object if any one of null or empty then I want to remove it from the object below is my code.
public class TestClass
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public int ID { get; set; }
public DateTime? DateTime { get; set; }
public string Address { get; set; }
}
TestClass t=new TestClass();
t.Address="address";
t.ID=132;
t.Name=string.Empty;
t.DateTime=null;
Now here I want the object of TestClass but in that Name and DateTime property should not be their in the object,
is it possible?
Please help me

There's no such concept as removing a property from an individual object. The type decided which properties are present - not individual objects.
In particular, it will always be valid to have a method like this:
public void ShowDateTime(TestClass t)
{
Console.WriteLine(t.DateTme);
}
That code has no way of knowing whether you've wanted to "remove" the DateTime property from the object that t refers to. If the value is null, it will just get that value - that's fine. But you can't remove the property itself.
If you're listing the properties of an object somewhere, you should do the filtering there, instead.
EDIT: Okay, no you've given us some context:
ok I am using Schemaless database so null and empty value also store space in database that's the reason
So in the code you're using which populates that database, just don't set any fields which corresponds to properties with a null value. That's purely a database population concern - not a matter for the object itself.
(I'd also argue that you should consider how much space you'll really save by doing this. Do you really care that much?)

I was bored and got this in LINQPad
void Main()
{
TestClass t=new TestClass();
t.Address="address";
t.ID=132;
t.Name=string.Empty;
t.DateTime=null;
t.Dump();
var ret = t.FixMeUp();
((object)ret).Dump();
}
public static class ReClasser
{
public static dynamic FixMeUp<T>(this T fixMe)
{
var t = fixMe.GetType();
var returnClass = new ExpandoObject() as IDictionary<string, object>;
foreach(var pr in t.GetProperties())
{
var val = pr.GetValue(fixMe);
if(val is string && string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(val.ToString()))
{
}
else if(val == null)
{
}
else
{
returnClass.Add(pr.Name, val);
}
}
return returnClass;
}
}
public class TestClass
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public int ID { get; set; }
public DateTime? DateTime { get; set; }
public string Address { get; set; }
}

Hereby a 'slightly' more clear and shorter version of the accepted answer.
/// <returns>A dynamic object with only the filled properties of an object</returns>
public static object ConvertToObjectWithoutPropertiesWithNullValues<T>(this T objectToTransform)
{
var type = objectToTransform.GetType();
var returnClass = new ExpandoObject() as IDictionary<string, object>;
foreach (var propertyInfo in type.GetProperties())
{
var value = propertyInfo.GetValue(objectToTransform);
var valueIsNotAString = !(value is string && !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(value.ToString()));
if (valueIsNotAString && value != null)
{
returnClass.Add(propertyInfo.Name, value);
}
}
return returnClass;
}

You could take advantage of the dynamic type:
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
List<dynamic> list = new List<dynamic>();
dynamic
t1 = new ExpandoObject(),
t2 = new ExpandoObject();
t1.Address = "address1";
t1.ID = 132;
t2.Address = "address2";
t2.ID = 133;
t2.Name = "someName";
t2.DateTime = DateTime.Now;
list.AddRange(new[] { t1, t2 });
// later in your code
list.Select((obj, index) =>
new { index, obj }).ToList().ForEach(item =>
{
Console.WriteLine("Object #{0}", item.index);
((IDictionary<string, object>)item.obj).ToList()
.ForEach(i =>
{
Console.WriteLine("Property: {0} Value: {1}",
i.Key, i.Value);
});
Console.WriteLine();
});
// or maybe generate JSON
var s = JsonSerializer.Create();
var sb=new StringBuilder();
var w=new StringWriter(sb);
var items = list.Select(item =>
{
sb.Clear();
s.Serialize(w, item);
return sb.ToString();
});
items.ToList().ForEach(json =>
{
Console.WriteLine(json);
});
}
}

May be interfaces will be handy:
public interface IAdressAndId
{
int ID { get; set; }
string Address { get; set; }
}
public interface INameAndDate
{
string Name { get; set; }
DateTime? DateTime { get; set; }
}
public class TestClass : IAdressAndId, INameAndDate
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public int ID { get; set; }
public DateTime? DateTime { get; set; }
public string Address { get; set; }
}
Creating object:
IAdressAndId t = new TestClass()
{
Address = "address",
ID = 132,
Name = string.Empty,
DateTime = null
};
Also u can put your interfaces in separate namespace and make your class declaration as internal. After that create some public factories which will create the instances of your classes.

how to fill Sql Table with Generic Reflection method?

Hi; I have 4 tables, one of them is main table also there is one to many relation between tables. TID is Foreign key and ID is PK. As a result. i don't want to fill table with classic method. I should access table property and generic <T> I want to set all TID to T_Table ,C_Table, Q_Table
MY CODES(this is test project not real project but logis is the same as real project) Below codes return to me ERROR( in first foreach loop): Null reference exception; Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
using System.Reflection;
namespace App.ReflectionToGeneric
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string[] PropertyNames = new string[] { "TID", "AnyID" };
int[] Vals = new int[] { 1, 2 };
new DataManager().Save<QTable>(PropertyNames, Vals);
}
}
public class DataManager
{
IEnumerable<Table> list = new GetData().GetVals();
public void Save<TModel>( string[] PropertyNames, int[] Vals ) where TModel : class, new()
{
var instance = new TModel();
Type calcType = instance.GetType();
// object calcInstance = Activator.CreateInstance(calcType);
foreach (string PropertyName in PropertyNames)
{
// ERROR RETURN TO ME BELOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
calcType.GetProperty(PropertyName).SetValue(instance, Vals[0], null);
}
foreach (string PropertyName in PropertyNames)
{
Console.WriteLine(calcType.GetProperty(PropertyName).GetValue(instance, null).ToString());
}
}
}
public class GetData
{
public IEnumerable<Table> GetVals()
{
List<Table> list = new List<Table>();
list.Add(new Table() { ID = 1, Name = "yusuf" });
list.Add(new Table() { ID = 2, Name = "berkay" });
return list;
}
}
public class Table
{
internal int ID { get; set; }
internal string Name { get; set; }
}
public class CTable
{
internal int ID { get; set; }
internal int TID { get; set; }
internal int AnyID { get; set; }
}
public class QTable
{
internal int ID { get; set; }
internal int TID { get; set; }
internal int AnyID { get; set; }
}
public class TTable
{
internal int ID { get; set; }
internal int TID { get; set; }
internal int AnyID { get; set; }
}
}

It looks like the problem is simply that the properties are non-public, so GetProperty("AnyID") etc will return null. To fetch non-public properties, you need binding flags:
calcType.GetProperty(PropertyName, BindingFlags.Instance|BindingFlags.NonPublic)
You might also want to loop at something like dapper which will do the binding for you, and is much faster (it pre-generates IL via the emit API, rather than per-item/per-member reflection).

Recursively Get Properties & Child Properties Of An Object

Ok so at first I thought this was easy enough, and maybe it is and I'm just too tired - but here's what I'm trying to do. Say I have the following objects:
public class Container
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public List<Address> Addresses { get; set; }
}
public class Address
{
public string AddressLine1 { get; set; }
public string AddressLine2 { get; set; }
public List<Telephone> Telephones { get; set; }
}
public class Telephone
{
public string CellPhone { get; set; }
}
What I need to be able to do, is 'flatten' Containers property names in to a string (including ALL child properties AND child properties of child properties) that would look something like this:
Container.Name, Container.Addresses.AddressLine1, Container.Addresses.AddressLine2, Container.Addresses.Telephones.CellPhone
Does that make any sense? I can't seem to wrap it around my head.

I suggest you to mark all the classes, you need to grab, with custom attribute after that you could do something like this
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var lines = ExtractHelper.IterateProps(typeof(Container)).ToArray();
foreach (var line in lines)
Console.WriteLine(line);
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
static class ExtractHelper
{
public static IEnumerable<string> IterateProps(Type baseType)
{
return IteratePropsInner(baseType, baseType.Name);
}
private static IEnumerable<string> IteratePropsInner(Type baseType, string baseName)
{
var props = baseType.GetProperties();
foreach (var property in props)
{
var name = property.Name;
var type = ListArgumentOrSelf(property.PropertyType);
if (IsMarked(type))
foreach (var info in IteratePropsInner(type, name))
yield return string.Format("{0}.{1}", baseName, info);
else
yield return string.Format("{0}.{1}", baseName, property.Name);
}
}
static bool IsMarked(Type type)
{
return type.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(ExtractNameAttribute), true).Any();
}
public static Type ListArgumentOrSelf(Type type)
{
if (!type.IsGenericType)
return type;
if (type.GetGenericTypeDefinition() != typeof(List<>))
throw new Exception("Only List<T> are allowed");
return type.GetGenericArguments()[0];
}
}
[ExtractName]
public class Container
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public List<Address> Addresses { get; set; }
}
[ExtractName]
public class Address
{
public string AddressLine1 { get; set; }
public string AddressLine2 { get; set; }
public List<Telephone> Telephones { get; set; }
}
[ExtractName]
public class Telephone
{
public string CellPhone { get; set; }
}
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class | AttributeTargets.Struct, Inherited = true, AllowMultiple = true)]
public sealed class ExtractNameAttribute : Attribute
{ }

Per my comment, you could use something like this if it will always be a generic List type that you want to link to a child type. IteratePropertiesRecursively is an iterator over the properties of the given type, that will recursively enumerate the properties of the type and all child types linked through a generic List.
protected void Test()
{
Type t = typeof(Container);
string propertyList = string.Join(",", IteratePropertiesRecursively("", t).ToArray<string>());
// do something with propertyList
}
protected IEnumerable<string> IteratePropertiesRecursively(string prefix, Type t)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(prefix) && !prefix.EndsWith(".")) prefix += ".";
prefix += t.Name + ".";
// enumerate the properties of the type
foreach (PropertyInfo p in t.GetProperties())
{
Type pt = p.PropertyType;
// if property is a generic list
if (pt.Name == "List`1")
{
Type genericType = pt.GetGenericArguments()[0];
// then enumerate the generic subtype
foreach (string propertyName in IteratePropertiesRecursively(prefix, genericType))
{
yield return propertyName;
}
}
else
{
// otherwise enumerate the property prepended with the prefix
yield return prefix + p.Name;
}
}
}
Note: This code will not correctly handle a type that recursively includes itself as a type of one of its properties. Trying to iterate over such a type will result in a StackOverflowException, as pointed out by #Dementic (thanks!).