How set property name/value dynamically?

Question

Hi I'm not sure if I'm describing it properly, but based on a list of strings, I want to set the values of properties that belong to an object (all properties, which are objects, that match the string names):

var _parentObject = _parentObjectService.GetParentObject(viewModel.Id);
var _listOfPropertyNames = GetPropertyNames();

foreach (var item in _listOfPropertyNames)
{
// Pseudo code, I know it's gibberish:
_parentObject.Tests.[item] = viewModel.Tests.[item];

}

Hopefully that makes sense, please let me know if not.

Thank you.

SLaks · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-05T17:07:10.883

3

It sounds like you're looking for AutoMapper, which will do all this for you:

//Once:
Mapper.CreateMap<FromType, ToType>();

//Then:
Mapper.Map(viewModel.Tests, _parentObject.Tests);

If you want to do it yourself, you'll need reflection (slow) or compiled expression trees (fast).

edited Oct 05 '11 at 17:07

answered Oct 04 '11 at 23:05

SLaks

868,454
176
1,908
1,964

Thank you...which method would you recommend? I assume not reflection since it's slow, but between doing it myself with compiled expression trees or using AutoMapper? – Mikalee Oct 05 '11 at 15:26
Why reinvent the wheel? Use AutoMapper. – SLaks Oct 05 '11 at 16:12
Thanks again. I'm marking the question as answered - but if you do have a moment to give an example of using AutoMapper to do the above I'd really appreciate it as I'm unfamiliar with it at the moment. Thank you. – Mikalee Oct 05 '11 at 16:24
thanks again. I just realized I didn't specify one important thing; I need to set only non-null properties. I was already using ValueInjector for the mapping. That said, your comments made me realize there must be an easier way, and I looked into ValueInjector (and AutoMapper) and realized I can just create an extension that only maps non-null properties, which is what I did. Thanks for your help. – Mikalee Oct 05 '11 at 17:37

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:12

Use reflection to set the property value, as per: Set object property using reflection

Really simple example:

void SetParamByName(object obj, string paramName, object value)
{
    obj.GetType()
        .InvokeMember(
            paramName,
            BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.SetProperty,
            Type.DefaultBinder,
            obj,
            value
        );
}

How set property name/value dynamically?

2 Answers2