How do you give a C# Auto-Property a default value, using a custom attribute?
This is the code I want to see:
class Person
{
[MyDefault("William")]
public string Name { get; set; }
}
I am aware that there is no built in method to initialize the default using an attribute - can I write my own custom class that uses my custom attributes to initialize the default?
If you want to do it with PostSharp (as your tags suggest) then use a Lazy Loading aspect. You can see the one I built here http://programmersunlimited.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/postsharp-weaving-community-vs-professional-reasons-to-get-a-professional-license/
With an aspect you can apply default value to a single property or apply it to multiple properties with a single declaration at the class level.
Lazy loading aspect will use LocationInterceptionAspect base class.
[Serializable]
[LazyLoadingAspect(AttributeExclude=true)]
[MulticastAttributeUsage(MulticastTargets.Property)]
public class LazyLoadingAspectAttribute : LocationInterceptionAspect
{
public object DefaultValue {get; set;}
public override void OnGetValue(LocationInterceptionArgs args)
{
args.ProceedGetValue();
if (args.Value != null)
{
return;
}
args.Value = DefaultValue;
args.ProceedSetValue();
}
}
then apply the aspect like so
[LazyLoadingAspect(DefaultValue="SomeValue")]
public string MyProp { get; set; }
You could use a helper class like that:
public class DefaultValueHelper
{
public static void InitializeDefaultValues<T>(T obj)
{
var properties =
(from prop in obj.GetType().GetProperties()
let attr = GetDefaultValueAttribute(prop)
where attr != null
select new
{
Property = prop,
DefaultValue = attr.Value
}).ToArray();
foreach (var p in properties)
{
p.Property.SetValue(obj, p.DefaultValue, null);
}
}
private static DefaultValueAttribute GetDefaultValueAttribute(PropertyInfo prop)
{
return prop.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DefaultValueAttribute), true)
.Cast<DefaultValueAttribute>()
.FirstOrDefault();
}
}
And call InitializeDefaultValues in the constructor of your class.
class Foo
{
public Foo()
{
DefaultValueHelper.InitializeDefaultValues(this);
}
[DefaultValue("(no name)")]
public string Name { get; set; }
}
EDIT: updated version, which generates and caches a delegate to do the initialization. This is to avoid using reflection every time the method is called for a given type.
public static class DefaultValueHelper
{
private static readonly Dictionary<Type, Action<object>> _initializerCache;
static DefaultValueHelper()
{
_initializerCache = new Dictionary<Type, Action<object>>();
}
public static void InitializeDefaultValues(object obj)
{
if (obj == null)
return;
var type = obj.GetType();
Action<object> initializer;
if (!_initializerCache.TryGetValue(type, out initializer))
{
initializer = MakeInitializer(type);
_initializerCache[type] = initializer;
}
initializer(obj);
}
private static Action<object> MakeInitializer(Type type)
{
var arg = Expression.Parameter(typeof(object), "arg");
var variable = Expression.Variable(type, "x");
var cast = Expression.Assign(variable, Expression.Convert(arg, type));
var assignments =
from prop in type.GetProperties()
let attr = GetDefaultValueAttribute(prop)
where attr != null
select Expression.Assign(Expression.Property(variable, prop), Expression.Constant(attr.Value));
var body = Expression.Block(
new ParameterExpression[] { variable },
new Expression[] { cast }.Concat(assignments));
var expr = Expression.Lambda<Action<object>>(body, arg);
return expr.Compile();
}
private static DefaultValueAttribute GetDefaultValueAttribute(PropertyInfo prop)
{
return prop.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DefaultValueAttribute), true)
.Cast<DefaultValueAttribute>()
.FirstOrDefault();
}
}
If to speculate with Expressions you could make initializing delegates and cache them. It will make code much faster comparing with just pure reflection.
internal static class Initializer
{
private class InitCacheEntry
{
private Action<object, object>[] _setters;
private object[] _values;
public InitCacheEntry(IEnumerable<Action<object, object>> setters, IEnumerable<object> values)
{
_setters = setters.ToArray();
_values = values.ToArray();
if (_setters.Length != _values.Length)
throw new ArgumentException();
}
public void Init(object obj)
{
for (int i = 0; i < _setters.Length; i++)
{
_setters[i](obj, _values[i]);
}
}
}
private static Dictionary<Type, InitCacheEntry> _cache = new Dictionary<Type, InitCacheEntry>();
private static InitCacheEntry MakeCacheEntry(Type targetType)
{
var setters = new List<Action<object, object>>();
var values = new List<object>();
foreach (var propertyInfo in targetType.GetProperties())
{
var attr = (DefaultAttribute) propertyInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof (DefaultAttribute), true).FirstOrDefault();
if (attr == null) continue;
var setter = propertyInfo.GetSetMethod();
if (setter == null) continue;
// we have to create expression like (target, value) => ((TObj)target).setter((T)value)
// where T is the type of property and obj is instance being initialized
var targetParam = Expression.Parameter(typeof (object), "target");
var valueParam = Expression.Parameter(typeof (object), "value");
var expr = Expression.Lambda<Action<object, object>>(
Expression.Call(Expression.Convert(targetParam, targetType),
setter,
Expression.Convert(valueParam, propertyInfo.PropertyType)),
targetParam, valueParam);
var set = expr.Compile();
setters.Add(set);
values.Add(attr.DefaultValue);
}
return new InitCacheEntry(setters, values);
}
public static void Init(object obj)
{
Type targetType = obj.GetType();
InitCacheEntry init;
if (!_cache.TryGetValue(targetType, out init))
{
init = MakeCacheEntry(targetType);
_cache[targetType] = init;
}
init.Init(obj);
}
}
You could create a method like this:
public static void FillProperties<T>(T obj)
{
foreach (var property in typeof(T).GetProperties())
{
var attribute = property
.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DefaultValueAttribute), true)
.Cast<DefaultValueAttribute>()
.SingleOrDefault();
if (attribute != null)
property.SetValue(obj, attribute.Value, null);
}
}
You can then either use a factory method that calls this method or call it directly from the constructor. Note that this usage of reflection is probably not a good idea if you create a lot of objects this way and performance is important.
