C# – copy a class, C#

c++

Is there a way to copy a class in C#? Something like var dupe = MyClass(original).

Best Solution

You are probably talking about a deep copy (deep copy vs shallow copy)?

You either have to:

implement (hard code) a method of your own,
try to implement (or find) an implementation that uses Reflection or Emit to do it dynamically (explained here),
use serialization and deserialization to create a deep copy, if the object is marked with a [Serializable] attribute.

public static T DeepCopy<T>(T other)
{
    using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
    {
        BinaryFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
        formatter.Serialize(ms, other);
        ms.Position = 0;
        return (T)formatter.Deserialize(ms);
    }
}

To get a shallow copy, you can use the Object.MemberwiseClone() method, but it is a protected method, which means you can only use it from inside the class.

With all the deep copy methods, it is important to consider any references to other objects, or circular references which may result in creating a deeper copy than what you wanted.

Related Solutions

C# – Calling the base constructor in C#

Modify your constructor to the following so that it calls the base class constructor properly:

public class MyExceptionClass : Exception
{
    public MyExceptionClass(string message, string extrainfo) : base(message)
    {
        //other stuff here
    }
}

Note that a constructor is not something that you can call anytime within a method. That's the reason you're getting errors in your call in the constructor body.

C# – Copy the entire contents of a directory in C#

Much easier

private static void CopyFilesRecursively(string sourcePath, string targetPath)
{
    //Now Create all of the directories
    foreach (string dirPath in Directory.GetDirectories(sourcePath, "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories))
    {
        Directory.CreateDirectory(dirPath.Replace(sourcePath, targetPath));
    }

    //Copy all the files & Replaces any files with the same name
    foreach (string newPath in Directory.GetFiles(sourcePath, "*.*",SearchOption.AllDirectories))
    {
        File.Copy(newPath, newPath.Replace(sourcePath, targetPath), true);
    }
}

Best Solution

Related Solutions

C# – Calling the base constructor in C#

C# – Copy the entire contents of a directory in C#

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