C# – way to build a new type during Runtime

.netc++reflectionvb.net

I am going to ask a question that might sound weird.

Is there a way to build a new class during Runtime? Or at least, add a new property to an existing class.

I mean creating a class that doesn't exist and not an instance of an existing class. I could later on use reflections to load and use this class.

Best Solution

Adding a property to an existing type is not possible, but you can create a new type at runtime using Reflection.Emit. It's pretty complicated stuff, and it goes something like this:

AssemblyBuilder assemblyBuilder = Thread.GetDomain().DefineDynamicAssembly(
      assemblyName , AssemblyBuilderAccess.Run, assemblyAttributes);
ModuleBuilder moduleBuilder = assemblyBuilder.DefineDynamicModule("ModuleName");
TypeBuilder typeBuilder = moduleBuilder.DefineType(
      "MyNamespace.TypeName" , TypeAttributes.Public);

typeBuilder.DefineDefaultConstructor(MethodAttributes.Public);

// Add a method
newMethod = typeBuilder.DefineMethod("MethodName" , MethodAttributes.Public);

ILGenerator ilGen = newMethod.GetILGenerator();

// Create IL code for the method
ilGen.Emit(...);

// ...

// Create the type itself
Type newType = typeBuilder.CreateType();

This code is just a sample. It could contain errors.

You can also generate classes by compiling C# source code at runtime using System.CodeDom, but I don't know a lot about that.

Related Solutions

C# – How to create a new object instance from a Type

The Activator class within the root System namespace is pretty powerful.

There are a lot of overloads for passing parameters to the constructor and such. Check out the documentation at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.activator.createinstance.aspx

or (new path)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.activator.createinstance

Here are some simple examples:

ObjectType instance = (ObjectType)Activator.CreateInstance(objectType);

ObjectType instance = (ObjectType)Activator.CreateInstance("MyAssembly","MyNamespace.ObjectType");

C# – Passing arguments to C# generic new() of templated type

In order to create an instance of a generic type in a function you must constrain it with the "new" flag.

public static string GetAllItems<T>(...) where T : new()

However that will only work when you want to call the constructor which has no parameters. Not the case here. Instead you'll have to provide another parameter which allows for the creation of object based on parameters. The easiest is a function.

public static string GetAllItems<T>(..., Func<ListItem,T> del) {
  ...
  List<T> tabListItems = new List<T>();
  foreach (ListItem listItem in listCollection) 
  {
    tabListItems.Add(del(listItem));
  }
  ...
}

You can then call it like so

GetAllItems<Foo>(..., l => new Foo(l));

Best Solution

Related Solutions

C# – How to create a new object instance from a Type

C# – Passing arguments to C# generic new() of templated type

Related Question