CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netgenericsreflectiondelegates
Giorgi
Giorgi

Reputation: 30883

CreateDelegate with unknown types

I am trying to create Delegate for reading/writing properties of unknown type of class at runtime.

I have a generic class Main<T> and a method which looks like this:

Delegate.CreateDelegate(typeof(Func<T, object>), get)

where get is a MethodInfo of the property that should be read. The problem is that when the property returns int (I guess this happens for value types) the above code throws ArgumentException because the method cannot be bound. In case of string it works well.

To solve the problem I changed the code so that corresponding Delegate type is generated by using MakeGenericType. So now the code is:

Type func = typeof(Func<,>);
Type generic = func.MakeGenericType(typeof(T), get.ReturnType);
var result = Delegate.CreateDelegate(generic, get)

The problem now is that the created delegate instance of generic so I have to use DynamicInvoke which would be as slow as using pure reflection to read the field.

So my question is why is that the first snippet of code fails with value types. According to MSDN it should work as it says that

The return type of a delegate is compatible with the return type of a method if the return type of the method is more restrictive than the return type of the delegate

and how to execute the delegate in the second snippet so that it is faster than reflection.

Thanks.

Upvotes: 14

Views: 10959

Answers (5)

dmitry1100
dmitry1100

Reputation: 1329

I came to similar to @kvb approach but with wrapper classes. They work a little faster because virtual methods are used instead of proxy actions. Also proxy action makes capturing context with invisible DisplayClass. This is my version.

using System;
using System.Reflection;

public abstract class DelegateWrapper
{
    public static DelegateWrapper Create ( object target, MethodInfo method, Type arg ) =>
        Create( target, method, typeof( DelegateWrapper<> ), arg );

    public static DelegateWrapper Create ( object target, MethodInfo method, Type arg1, Type arg2 ) =>
        Create( target, method, typeof( DelegateWrapper<,> ), arg1, arg2 );

    private static DelegateWrapper Create ( object target, MethodInfo method, Type generic, params Type[] argTypes )
    {
        var wrapperType = generic.MakeGenericType( argTypes );
        var ctor = wrapperType.GetConstructor( new Type[] { typeof( object ), typeof( MethodInfo ) } );
        var wrapper = ctor.Invoke( new object[] { target, method } ) as DelegateWrapper;
        return wrapper;
    }

    public virtual void Invoke ( object arg )
    {
        throw new NotSupportedException();
    }
    
    public virtual void Invoke ( object arg1, object arg2 )
    {
        throw new NotSupportedException();
    }
}

public class DelegateWrapper<T> : DelegateWrapper
{
    private Action<T> _delegate;

    public DelegateWrapper ( object target, MethodInfo method )
    {
        _delegate = ( Action<T> )Delegate.CreateDelegate( typeof( Action<T> ), target, method );
    }

    public override void Invoke ( object arg )
    {
        _delegate.Invoke( ( T )arg );
    }
}

public class DelegateWrapper<T1, T2> : DelegateWrapper
{
    private Action<T1, T2> _delegate;

    public DelegateWrapper ( object target, MethodInfo method )
    {
        _delegate = ( Action<T1, T2> )Delegate.CreateDelegate( typeof( Action<T1, T2> ), target, method );
    }

    public override void Invoke ( object arg1, object arg2 )
    {
        _delegate.Invoke( ( T1 )arg1, ( T2 )arg2 );
    }
}

I implemented DelegateWrapper< T > and DelegateWrapper<T1, T2> but it is simple to extend the idea to implement any human reasonable number of arguments. It is required to implement corresponding Create() and Invoke() methods in base class and override only one suitable Invoke().

It can be used as the following:

object target;
var targetType = target.GetType();
var methodInfo = targetType.GetMethod("MethodWith2Strings");

var delegateWrapper = DelegateWrapper.Create(target, methodInfo, typeof(string), typeof(string));

delegateWrapper.Invoke("String 1", "String 2");

Upvotes: 2

kvb
kvb

Reputation: 55185

Here's one way to solve your problem. Create a generic method:

public static Func<T, object> MakeDelegate<U>(MethodInfo @get)
{
    var f = (Func<T, U>)Delegate.CreateDelegate(typeof(Func<T, U>), @get);
    return t => f(t);
}

This way, C#'s compiler takes care of inserting the necessary boxing (if any) to convert f(t) (of type U) to object. Now you can use reflection to call this MakeDelegate method with U set to @get.ReturnType, and what you get back will be a Func<T, object> which can be called without needing to resort to using DynamicInvoke.

Upvotes: 13

luckyluke
luckyluke

Reputation: 1563

You invocation fails because You require object not a value type (like INT) -- obviously Func<T, int> is not a Func<T, Int> - it won't work with any vt like double or bool. Either return a boxed Int (or whatever vt You've got) . or (perhaps better) use reflection emit API.

By using reflection emit classes You can create dynamic methods and save them as delegates, or create Dynamic delegates and save them in some of Your structure. You could do this only once (perhaps once per runtime) store it in some Dict and invoke when needed.

hope it helps. luke

Upvotes: 2

Fiona - myaccessible.website
Fiona - myaccessible.website

Reputation: 14921

Is it possible for you to restrict the generic method to only work with reference types, and create another one to only work with value types, and decide which functionality to use accordingly?

Upvotes: 0

Hans Passant
Hans Passant

Reputation: 941675

Your original code can only work for reference types. That's why string wasn't a problem, it directly derives from System.Object. That a value type derives from ValueType and Object is a nice illusion on paper but actually requires code. The C# compiler automatically emits that code, it requires a boxing conversion. That's the part that is missing here, there is no runtime conversion from int to object without the BOX opcode.

You can get that opcode in your code, but you'll have to use System.Reflection.Emit.

Before you go there, first check if what you've got now is actually too slow. The expense of reflection is digging the metadata out of the assembly. That was done when you created the delegate, the type info is cached after that.

Upvotes: 3

Related Questions