Is there a generic way to call another method whenever a method is called in C#

Question

I have a method something like this:

public Something MyMethod()
{
    Setup();

    Do something useful...

    TearDown();

    return something;
}

The Setup and TearDown methods are in the base class.

The problem I'm having is that I have to write this type of method over and over again with the Setup() and TearDown() method calls.

EDIT: The tricky part of this method is that "Do something useful..." is specific to this method only. This part is different for every method I create.

Also, I can have MyMethod2, MyMethod3, in a single class. In all cases, I would like to run the setup and teardown

Is there an elegant way of doing this without having to write this every single time?

Perhaps I'm delusional, but is a way to add an attribute to the method and intercept the method call, so I can do stuff before and after the call?

This is a duplicate of plenty of questions. Did you try searching? You can use delegates, events, abstract methods, aspect-oriented programming and so on. For example [Run a method before all methods of a class](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9192709/run-a-method-before-all-methods-of-a-class), [Call base function then inherited function](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3747711/), [Execute code before the called function is executed](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10398530), [Execute Method Before and After Code Block](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26484206/)and so on. — CodeCaster, Dec 23 '15 at 13:46
You want to use Aspect Oriented Programming. There are a lot of tools for that. — Yacoub Massad, Dec 23 '15 at 13:46
Thanks CodeCaster, but none of the postings you mentioned help in my case because in my case I can have many of these "MyMethods" in a single class with different method names, different parameters, and different return values. — Steven, Dec 23 '15 at 15:30
Use "@username" to notify someone of your reply. I have reopened your question. — CodeCaster, Dec 23 '15 at 16:36
Anyway why don't the answers [here](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26484206/execute-method-before-and-after-code-block) help? — CodeCaster, Dec 23 '15 at 16:38
This requires refactoring, and not enough information is given to suggest the proper approach to use in the refactor. — Travis J, Dec 29 '15 at 21:36

Dzianis Yafimau · Answer 1 · 2015-12-23T17:25:10.523

8

Just implement this method in abstract base class like this:

public Something MyMethod()
{
    Setup();

    DoSomethingUsefull();

    TearDown();

    return something;
}

protected abstract DoSomethingUsefull();

Now you need to override only one method in inherited classes - DoSomethingUsefull()

This is Template Method pattern

edited Dec 23 '15 at 17:25

answered Dec 23 '15 at 13:45

Dzianis Yafimau

2,034
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2

Template pattern -- very nice. – dbugger Dec 23 '15 at 13:47
4

Usually I would make `DoSomethingUseful` protected in similar case. – pmbanka Dec 23 '15 at 13:48
Yes, protected should be here, my bad – Dzianis Yafimau Dec 23 '15 at 13:50
1

@DenisEfimov They why don't you [edit your answer](http://stackoverflow.com/posts/34437062/edit) and fix it? – Scott Chamberlain Dec 23 '15 at 16:38

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 03 '17 at 12:28

2

Use generics, lambdas and delegates like so:

public SomeThing MyMethod()
{
    return Execute(() =>
    {
        return new SomeThing();
    });
}


public T Execute<T>(Func<T> func)
{
    if (func == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("func");

    try
    {
        Setup();

        return func();
    }
    finally
    {
        TearDown();
    }
}

edited Jul 03 '17 at 12:28

Romano Zumbé

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answered Dec 23 '15 at 18:39

Aaron Carlson

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This is probably the closest to what I was thinking, but the main point was to remove having to write setup/teardown repeatedly. This code removes it but adds extra layer of code. – Steven Dec 29 '15 at 21:23
You should look at AOP frameworks if you want to use attributes to solve this problem. – Aaron Carlson Jan 03 '16 at 03:19

Is there a generic way to call another method whenever a method is called in C#

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