Refactoring Many Methods into One - c#

I dont know how to name the question properly, so fell free to change it. My question is, I have around 10 methods that look like:
[WebMethod(EnableSession = true)]
public string ReadUserAdditional()
{
EUser user = (EUser)Session["user"];
var json = new { result = true, user.Image, user.Biography };
return new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(json);
}
[WebMethod(EnableSession = true)]
public string ReadUserBasicInformation()
{
EUser user = (EUser)Session["user"];
var json = new { result = true, user.Name, user.Username};
return new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(json);
}
The methods are very similar, but they return different fields. Im thinking about refactoring all methods into one, receveing the fields to return as parameters. Is it a good idea? How can I do that? Reflection?

First of all you need to know that object and dictionary are presented in json simmilar.
[WebMethod(EnableSession = true)]
public string ReadUserAdditional()
{
return GetUserInfo(new []
{
new FieldInfo {Name = "Image", u => u.Image},
new FieldInfo {Name = "Biography", u => u.Biography}
});
}
private string GetUserInfo(FieldInfo[] infos)
{
EUser user = (EUser)Session["user"];
var dict = new Dictionary<string, object>{ { "result", true } };
foreach(var info in infos)
{
dictionary.Add(info.Name, info.Accessor(user));
}
return new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(dict );
}
public class FieldInfo
{
public Func<EUser, object> Accessor { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set;}
}

I don't think it's a terrible idea, especially if you have tons of these methods and want to simplify your API.
A few downsides:
1) Reflection comes at a perf cost. This probably doesn't matter a whole lot unless you're the size of Twitter.
2) There would potentially be security concerns if the data had any properties you do NOT wanting users getting access to, such as some sort of internal database keys or what not. Make sure every property on your class is one you're totally okay becoming public information.

You can use a lambda to refactor away the duplication:. This would reduce all your methods to a single line of code:
[WebMethod(EnableSession = true)]
public string ReadUserAdditional()
{
return GetUserJSON(x => new { result = true, x.Image, x.Biography });
}
[WebMethod(EnableSession = true]
public string ReadUserBasicInformation()
{
return GetUserJSON(x => new { result = true, x.Name, x.UserName });
}
private string GetUserJSON(Func<EUser, string> jsonFields)
{
EUser user = (EUser)Session["user"];
var json = jsonFields(user);
return new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(json);
}

Another approach is to use Automapper or similar library to project your data.
[WebMethod(EnableSession = true)]
public string ReadUserAdditional()
{
return GetUserInfo<UserAdditionalDto>();
}
private string GetUserInfo<TDto>(FieldInfo[] infos)
{
EUser user = (EUser)Session["user"];
var dto = Mapper.Map<TDto>(user); // Mapper is Automapper entry class.
return new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(dto );
}
public class UserAdditionalDto
{
public string Image { get; set; }
public string Biography { get; set;}
}

Related

Is it possible to easily get variable names in a method as well as their values

Following my Is it possible to have a Function that takes any number of variables of any type?
I have the function that gets any number of any type of variables and it works perfectly
public string funcVars(params object[] paths)
{
string strVars = String.Join(", ", paths.Select(x => x.ToString()));
return strVars;
}
To call it I'd simply need to
string someString ="asd"; int someInt = 123; bool someBool=false;
funcVars(someString,someInt,someBool);
And the output would be
asd,123,false
is there any simple way I can also get the variable names as well as their values, so the output would be
asd,123,false,someString,someInt,someBool //(or any other similar form)
Or do I need to hardcode the names every time I call my method ?
funcVars("someString","someInt","someBool",someString,someInt,someBool);
What you really should be doing is creating a class to hold your variables:
internal class MyValues
{
internal string SomeString { get; set; }
internal int SomeInt { get; set; }
internal bool SomeBool { get; set; }
}
Then you can pass an instance of your class:
var mv = new MyValues() { SomeString = "asd", SomeInt = 123, SomeBool = false };
funcVars(mv);
Here is funcVars:
public string funcVars(MyValues values)
{
string strVars =
String.Join(", ", new[] { values.SomeString,
values.SomeInt.ToString(), values.SomeBool.ToString() });
return strVars;
}
Straight up stealing roy.ap's code and adding the "nameof()" method since getting the name of the property seemed to be apart of the question.
class Program
{
internal class MyValues
{
internal string SomeString { get; set; }
internal int SomeInt { get; set; }
internal bool SomeBool { get; set; }
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var mv = new MyValues() { SomeString = "asd", SomeInt = 123, SomeBool = false };
Console.WriteLine(funcVars(mv));
Console.ReadLine();
}
public static string funcVars(MyValues values)
{
string strVars =
String.Join(", ", new[]
{
nameof(values.SomeString), values.SomeString,
nameof(values.SomeInt), values.SomeInt.ToString(),
nameof(values.SomeBool), values.SomeBool.ToString()
});
return strVars;
}
}
There really isn't a way to get the variable names via the the function itself because the scope changes once you're in the method. That is even if you pass an array of objects, if you perform a foreach to go through each object you will give the individual objects a new scope specific name.
No, because the variables are not actually passed
No it is not possible, because the variables themselves are not actually passed. Their values are passed.
Consider this code:
string someString ="asd"; int someInt = 123; bool someBool=false;
funcVars(someString,someInt,someBool);
In your call to funcVars, all the parameters are passed by value. All three variables are copied, and copy of them is put on the stack. These stack variables are identified by completely different symbols-- (e.g. paths[0],paths[1], etc.)
After all, what would happen if you called it like this?
funcVars("Hello",245+25,test != null);
Obviously those values do not have variable names. There is no way your function can possibly retrieve what doesn't exist.
Use ExpandoObject instead
The System.Dynamic.ExpandoObject seems like a really good fit for this problem.
var args = new System.Dynamic.ExpandoObject();
args.SomeString = "hello";
args.SomeInt = 32;
args.SomeBool = false;
funcVars(args);
public static string funcVars(ExpandoObject inputs)
{
var sb = new StringBuilder();
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, object> kvp in inputs)
{
sb.Append(String.Format("{0} = {1}", kvp.Key, kvp.Value);
}
return sb.ToString();
}

JSON with dynamic Root-Object

problably I'm not experienced enought and my question is kind of dumb:
For learning purposes I'm trying to connect to a REST-Service, which delivers JSON-Data.
From what I've learned, the purpose of JSON is to deliver the same data to any possible client without having a State of itself.
My code is looking like this:
public static void DoSomething()
{
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
client.BaseAddress = new Uri("SomeUrl"));
// Add an Accept header for JSON format.
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));
// List data response.
HttpResponseMessage response = client.GetAsync("").Result;
if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
Task<Stream> readTask = response.Content.ReadAsStreamAsync();
readTask.ContinueWith(task =>
{
DataContractJsonSerializer ser = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(RootObject));
using (Stream result = task.Result)
{
result.Position = 0;
RootObject obj = (RootObject)ser.ReadObject(result);
}
});
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("{0} ({1})", (int)response.StatusCode, response.ReasonPhrase);
}
}
public class Sum
{
public int id { get; set; }
public string name { get; set; }
public int profileIconId { get; set; }
public int summonerLevel { get; set; }
public long revisionDate { get; set; }
}
public class RootObject
{
public Sum khalgor { get; set; }
}
But here's my Problem: I've created this classes "Sum" and "RootObject" by using the Website http://json2csharp.com/, the JSON-String is looking like this:
{"khalgor":{"id":23801741,"name":"Khalgor","profileIconId":7,"summonerLevel":30,"revisionDate":1396876104000}}
The Problem: The Name "Khalgor" seems to be used as a Root-Object, but it's a Name. So if I'd like to user for another Name, I'd have to user another RootObject.
It does not make that much sense to create such a Structure, so my question: What's the best practice here? Do I map this RootObject/Property to another object manually? Do I use some Reflection to dynamically create an Property or rename it?
As usual, thanks a lot for all Responses
Matthias
Edit:
I tinkered arround a bit and that's my first idea of a solution:
public static class LOLObjectFactory
{
public static ILOLObject Create(string jsonString)
{
JavaScriptSerializer jss = new JavaScriptSerializer();
Dictionary<String, object> entry = (jss.Deserialize<dynamic>(jsonString) as Dictionary<string, object>).First().Value as Dictionary<String, object>;
Type selectedType = null;
List<string> fieldNames = entry.Select(f => f.Key).OrderBy(f => f).ToList();
Type[] types = typeof(ILOLObject).Assembly.GetTypes();
foreach(var type in types)
{
List<string> typeProperties = type.GetProperties().Select(f => f.Name).OrderBy(f => f).ToList();
if (fieldNames.SequenceEqual(typeProperties) && typeof(ILOLObject).IsAssignableFrom(type))
{
selectedType = type;
break;
}
}
ILOLObject result = System.Activator.CreateInstance(selectedType) as ILOLObject;
foreach(var prop in result.GetType().GetProperties())
{
prop.SetValue(result, entry.First(f => f.Key == prop.Name).Value);
}
return result;
}
}
So all the objects I have have the ILOLObject implemented. I'm sure it's not working for everything, but I guess that would be a good approach?
Edit2: Just by looking at it I see I'll have a lot of work to do, but I think the idea behind it is quite clear.
I think your best bet for json "fragments" is to deserialize into a dynamic object:
dynamic stuff = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(inputData);
Then you can deserialize parts that make sense into proper .NET objects.
SomeObject o = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<SomeObject>(stuff["someProperty"].ToString());
If you want to ignore the root altogether (e.g. it changes its name everytime) use Json.NET to parse it into an object and ignore the topmost element. Example:
JObject obj = JObject.Parse(json);
if (obj != null)
{
var root = obj.First;
if (root != null)
{
var sumJson = root.First;
if (sumJson != null)
{
var sum = sumJson.ToObject<Sum>();
}
}
}

NHibernate QueryByExample including only certain properties

I have created a custom Property Selector to accept an array in the constructor to say which properties should be included in the search. The approach works well as long as there are no component types, but how do I deal with those? Here is an example:
public class Customer
{
public virtual int Id { get; private set; }
public virtual Name Name { get; set; }
public virtual bool isPreferred { get; set; }
//...etc
}
public class Name
{
public string Title { get; set; }
public string Firstname { get; set; }
public string Lastname { get; set; }
public string Fullname { get; }
}
public class CustomerPropertySelector : Example.IPropertySelector
{
private string[] _propertiesToInclude = { };
public CustomerPropertySelector(string[] propertiesToInclude)
{
this._propertiesToInclude = propertiesToInclude;
}
public bool Include(object propertyValue, String propertyName, NHibernate.Type.IType type)
{
//...Checking for null and zeros etc, excluded for brevity
if (!_propertiesToInclude.Contains(propertyName))
return false;
return true;
}
}
I would like to be able to search by first name, but not necessarily last. The property name is Name however, so both first and last names seem to be part of the same property, and something like Name.Firstname, which would normally work as a criterion, doesn't seem to work here. What would be the best way around that?
EXAMPLE:
Customer exampleCust = new Customer(FirstName: "Owen");
IList<Customer> matchedCustomers = _custRepo.GetByExample(exampleCust, new string[] { "Name.FirstName" });
Given that there are 2 customers in db, only one named "Owen", but both have isPreferred = false, I would like my query to only return the first one. Standard QBE will return both based on isPreferred property.
SOLUTION:
Thank you for the answers, the solution is mostly based on answer by therealmitchconnors, however I couldn't have done it without Mark Perry's answer either.
The trick was to realise that rather than including Name.FirstName property, I actually want to exclude Name.LastName, since QBE only allows us to exclude properties. I used a method adapted from therealmitchconnors's answer to help me determine fully qualified names of properties. Here is the working code:
public IList<T> GetByExample(T exampleInstance, params string[] propertiesToInclude)
{
ICriteria criteria = _session.CreateCriteria(typeof(T));
Example example = Example.Create(exampleInstance);
var props = typeof(T).GetProperties();
foreach (var prop in props)
{
var childProperties = GetChildProperties(prop);
foreach (var c in childProperties)
{
if (!propertiesToInclude.Contains(c))
example.ExcludeProperty(c);
}
}
criteria.Add(example);
return criteria.List<T>();
}
private IEnumerable<string> GetChildProperties(System.Reflection.PropertyInfo property)
{
var builtInTypes = new List<Type> { typeof(bool), typeof(byte), typeof(sbyte), typeof(char),
typeof(decimal), typeof(double), typeof(float), typeof(int), typeof(uint), typeof(long),
typeof(ulong), typeof(object), typeof(short), typeof(ushort), typeof(string), typeof(DateTime) };
List<string> propertyNames = new List<string>();
if (!builtInTypes.Contains(property.PropertyType) && !property.PropertyType.IsGenericType)
{
foreach (var subprop in property.PropertyType.GetProperties())
{
var childNames = GetChildProperties(subprop);
propertyNames = propertyNames.Union(childNames.Select(r => property.Name + "." + r)).ToList();
}
}
else
propertyNames.Add(property.Name);
return propertyNames;
}
I wasn't sure of the best way to determine whether a property was a component class or not, any suggestions on how to improve the code are very welcome.
The following code would replace the logic you are using to populate propertiesToInclude. I changed it from an array to a list so I could use the Add method because I am lazy, but I think you get the picture. This does only work for one sub-level of properties. For n levels you would need to recurse.
List<string> _propertiesToInclude = new List<string>();
Type t;
var props = t.GetProperties();
foreach (var prop in props)
{
if (prop.PropertyType.IsClass)
foreach (var subprop in prop.PropertyType.GetProperties())
_propertiesToInclude.Add(string.Format("{0}.{1}", prop.Name, subprop.Name));
else
_propertiesToInclude.Add(prop.Name);
}
I thought I had something but reading your question again you want to know why the QBE NHibernate code doesn't work with component properties.
I think you need to create a sub-criteria query for the Name part.
Perhaps something like this:
public IList<Customer> GetByExample(Customer customer, string[] propertiesToExclude){
Example customerQuery = Example.Create(customer);
Criteria nameCriteria = customerQuery.CreateCriteria<Name>();
nameCriteria.Add(Example.create(customer.Name));
propertiesToExclude.ForEach(x=> customerQuery.ExcludeProperty(x));
propertiesToExclude.ForEach(x=> nameCriteria.ExcludeProperty(x));
return customerQuery.list();
}
This is an example from the NHibernate Test Project, it shows how to exclude Component properties.
[Test]
public void TestExcludingQBE()
{
using (ISession s = OpenSession())
using (ITransaction t = s.BeginTransaction())
{
Componentizable master = GetMaster("hibernate", null, "ope%");
ICriteria crit = s.CreateCriteria(typeof(Componentizable));
Example ex = Example.Create(master).EnableLike()
.ExcludeProperty("Component.SubComponent");
crit.Add(ex);
IList result = crit.List();
Assert.IsNotNull(result);
Assert.AreEqual(3, result.Count);
master = GetMaster("hibernate", "ORM tool", "fake stuff");
crit = s.CreateCriteria(typeof(Componentizable));
ex = Example.Create(master).EnableLike()
.ExcludeProperty("Component.SubComponent.SubName1");
crit.Add(ex);
result = crit.List();
Assert.IsNotNull(result);
Assert.AreEqual(1, result.Count);
t.Commit();
}
}
Source code link

Writing a Workflow Foundation workflow with C#

I'm trying to write some activities with C# instead of the designer and XAML. VS2010 has been buggy and very slow for that, and it also has very poor compilation support (for variables names, properties and so on).
So I'm trying to create activities by inheriting from the Activity class directly, but I'm encountering a snag.
Here's my code:
public class TestActivity : Activity
{
public InArgument<string> Username { get; set; }
public InArgument<string> Password { get; set; }
public OutArgument<bool> ValidCredential { get; set; }
public OutArgument<ProvisioningRole> Role { get; set; }
public OutArgument<Guid> Guid { get; set; }
protected override Func<Activity> Implementation
{
get
{
return () =>
{
return new Sequence()
{
Activities =
{
new AuthenticateUserActivity()
{
Username = this.Username,
Password = this.Password,
Guid = this.Guid,
Result = this.ValidCredential
},
new If()
{
Condition = this.ValidCredential,
Then = new GetUserRoleActivity()
{
Username = this.Username,
Password = this.Password,
Result = this.Role
}
},
}
};
};
}
set { base.Implementation = value; }
}
}
The problem is with the If(), the condition. It's supposed to be an InArgument, but this.ValidCredential is an OutArgument. I've tried creating a Variable, assign the value of ValidCredential to it. I also tried to put the result of AuthenticateUserActivity in the variable and then assign it to ValidCredential, but I get an error saying the To property of Assign needs to be specified.
I've looked around for proper tutorials, but all I found was an MSDN article that had a quick and dirty code implementation, and it used literals instead of the passed arguments, so no help from there.
I found out how to do it. You just need to create new InArgument from the original one. There is a constructor that takes an expression for it.
Username = new InArgument<bool>((ActivityContext c) => this.ValidCredential.Get(c))
So I changed my whole activity to
return new CompensableActivity()
{
Body = new Sequence()
{
Activities =
{
new AuthenticateUserActivity()
{
Username = this.Username.In(),
Password = this.Password.In(),
Guid = this.Guid.Out(),
Result = this.ValidCredential.Out()
},
new If(this.ValidCredential.In())
{
Then = new GetUserRoleActivity()
{
Username = this.Username.In(),
Password = this.Password.In(),
Result = this.Role.Out()
},
Else = new Assign<ProvisioningRole>()
{
To = this.Role.Out(),
Value = ProvisioningRole.User
}
}
}
},
};
In and Out being extension methods I wrote:
public static class WorkflowExtensions
{
#region In
public static InArgument<T> In<T>(this InArgument<T> self)
{
return new InArgument<T>(context => self.Get(context));
}
public static InArgument<T> In<T>(this OutArgument<T> self)
{
return new InArgument<T>(context => self.Get(context));
}
#endregion
#region Out
public static OutArgument<T> Out<T>(this InArgument<T> self)
{
return new OutArgument<T>(context => self.Get(context));
}
public static OutArgument<T> Out<T>(this OutArgument<T> self)
{
return new OutArgument<T>(context => self.Get(context));
}
#endregion
}
And now all is well!
You should be able to get this to work. The basic approach should be to use a Variable to store data, use an OutArgument to get data out of activities into the Variable and InArguments to get data from a Variable into an activity.
Also note that the expressions to tie InArguments to Variables are VisualBasicValue expressions. So something like:
Condition = new VisualBasicValue("System.DateTime.Now.Hour < 12")
This blog post isn't about using arguments and variables but shows a couple of examples.
Going to shamelessly plug my own library that I ended up making for this:
http://code.google.com/p/system-transactions/
Allows basic compensation of code without the ginormous hassle of WF. Also, compiles properly and is easily debuggable.

Is it possible to modify the attribute of a property at runtime?

Is it possible to modify the attribute of a property at runtime?
let's say I have some class:
public class TheClass
{
[TheAttribute]
public int TheProperty { get; set; }
}
Is there a way to do this?
if (someCondition)
{
// disable attribute. Is this possible and how can this be done?
}
No this is not possible. You cannot modify attribute values from metadata, or metadata in general, at runtime
Strictly speaking the above is not true. There are certain APIs which do allow allow for some metadata generation and modification. But they are very scenario specific, (ENC, profiling, debugging) and should not be used in general purpose programs.
It depends; from a reflection perspective: no. You can't. But if you are talking about attributes used by System.ComponentModel in things like data-binding, they you can use TypeDescriptor.AddAttributes to append extra attributes. Or other customer models involving custom descriptors. So it depends on the use-case.
In the case of xml serialization, it gets more interesting. Firstly, we can use fun object models:
using System;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
public class MyData
{
[XmlAttribute]
public int Id { get; set; }
[XmlAttribute]
public string Name { get; set; }
[XmlIgnore]
public bool NameSpecified { get; set; }
static void Main()
{
var ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyData));
var obj1 = new MyData { Id = 1, Name = "Fred", NameSpecified = true };
ser.Serialize(Console.Out, obj1);
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine();
var obj2 = new MyData { Id = 2, Name = "Fred", NameSpecified = false };
ser.Serialize(Console.Out, obj2);
}
}
The bool {name}Specified {get;set;} pattern (along with bool ShouldSerialize{name}()) is recognised and used to control which elements to include.
Another alternative is to use the non-default ctor:
using System;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
public class MyData
{
[XmlAttribute]
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
static void Main()
{
var obj = new MyData { Id = 1, Name = "Fred" };
XmlAttributeOverrides config1 = new XmlAttributeOverrides();
config1.Add(typeof(MyData),"Name",
new XmlAttributes { XmlIgnore = true});
var ser1 = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyData),config1);
ser1.Serialize(Console.Out, obj);
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine();
XmlAttributeOverrides config2 = new XmlAttributeOverrides();
config2.Add(typeof(MyData), "Name",
new XmlAttributes { XmlIgnore = false });
var ser2 = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyData), config2);
ser2.Serialize(Console.Out, obj);
}
}
Note though that if you use this second approach you need to cache the serializer instance, as it emits an assembly every time you do this. I find the first approach simpler...
Attributes are baked into code at compilation time. The only way you can define new attributes at run time is to generate new code at runtime (using Reflection.Emit, for example). But you cannot change the attributes of existing code.
You can put Boolean variable in the class to disable/enable the property instead of disabling it at run time.
You might want to look at this http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/csharpgeneral/thread/5b0d356d-d006-43ff-bfcd-aa90dd8de6db
And Dave Morton's explanation on this blog http://blog.codinglight.com/2008/10/changing-attribute-parameters-at.html
Sounds like you want to consider implementing IXmlSerializable
You can implement IDataErrorInfo, then check range in Validate method.
public string this[string property] {
get { return Validate(property); }
}
public string Error { get; }
protected virtual string Validate(string property) {
var propertyInfo = this.GetType().GetProperty(property);
var results = new List<ValidationResult>();
var result = Validator.TryValidateProperty(
propertyInfo.GetValue(this, null),
new ValidationContext(this, null, null) {
MemberName = property
},
results);
if (!result) {
var validationResult = results.First();
return validationResult.ErrorMessage;
}
return string.Empty;
}
In sub class
protected override string Validate(string property) {
Debug.WriteLine(property);
if (property == nameof(YourProperty)) {
if (_property > 5) {
return "_property out of range";
}
}
return base.Validate(property);
}

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