How do I create dynamic properties in C#?
If you need this for data-binding purposes, you can do this with a custom descriptor model... by implementing ICustomTypeDescriptor
, TypeDescriptionProvider
and/or TypeCoverter
, you can create your own PropertyDescriptor
instances at runtime. This is what controls like DataGridView
, PropertyGrid
etc use to display properties.
To bind to lists, you'd need ITypedList
and IList
; for basic sorting: IBindingList
; for filtering and advanced sorting: IBindingListView
; for full "new row" support (DataGridView
): ICancelAddNew
(phew!).
It is a lot of work though. DataTable
(although I hate it) is cheap way of doing the same thing. If you don't need data-binding, just use a hashtable ;-p
Here's a simple example - but you can do a lot more...
You might use a dictionary, say
Dictionary<string,object> properties;
I think in most cases where something similar is done, it's done like this.
In any case, you would not gain anything from creating a "real" property with set and get accessors, since it would be created only at run-time and you would not be using it in your code...
Here is an example, showing a possible implementation of filtering and sorting (no error checking):
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
namespace ConsoleApplication1 {
class ObjectWithProperties {
Dictionary<string, object> properties = new Dictionary<string,object>();
public object this[string name] {
get {
if (properties.ContainsKey(name)){
return properties[name];
}
return null;
}
set {
properties[name] = value;
}
}
}
class Comparer<T> : IComparer<ObjectWithProperties> where T : IComparable {
string m_attributeName;
public Comparer(string attributeName){
m_attributeName = attributeName;
}
public int Compare(ObjectWithProperties x, ObjectWithProperties y) {
return ((T)x[m_attributeName]).CompareTo((T)y[m_attributeName]);
}
}
class Program {
static void Main(string[] args) {
// create some objects and fill a list
var obj1 = new ObjectWithProperties();
obj1["test"] = 100;
var obj2 = new ObjectWithProperties();
obj2["test"] = 200;
var obj3 = new ObjectWithProperties();
obj3["test"] = 150;
var objects = new List<ObjectWithProperties>(new ObjectWithProperties[]{ obj1, obj2, obj3 });
// filtering:
Console.WriteLine("Filtering:");
var filtered = from obj in objects
where (int)obj["test"] >= 150
select obj;
foreach (var obj in filtered){
Console.WriteLine(obj["test"]);
}
// sorting:
Console.WriteLine("Sorting:");
Comparer<int> c = new Comparer<int>("test");
objects.Sort(c);
foreach (var obj in objects) {
Console.WriteLine(obj["test"]);
}
}
}
}