How to get a property name of a given type strongly typed revisited? - system.reflection

Question

How can I simplify the code below to avoid to pass the object for type inference on the generic method?
using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
namespace lambda
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var area = new Area { Name = "New Area" };
var propertyName = area.GetPropertyName(area, a => a.Name); // propertyName is COMPILE time checked
Console.WriteLine(propertyName);
}
}
public class Area
{
public int Id;
public string Name { get; set; }
}
public static class Extension
{
public static string GetPropertyName<T>(this Area entity, T e, Expression<Func<T, object>> path) // T e for type inference
{
var member = path.Body as MemberExpression;
if (member == null) throw new ArgumentException();
return member.Member.Name;
}
}
}
I mean instead of calling the extension method with area.GetPropertyName(area, a => a.Name)
just do a call like this area.GetPropertyName(a => a.Name), avoid to pass there area object just for type inference
I guess that I can’t do unless I refactor the signature of the method to GetPropertyName(this IEntity entity, Expression> path)
But in that case will be less obvius want I want at code writing time since I will need to specify the type on every call
I mean area.GetPropertyName( a => a.Name) seems to bel for me less clear writing code than writing area.GetPropertyName(area, a => a.Name)

Answer 1

The example code below works fine with asked requirements, no need to pass the object itself for type inference when calling the extension method
I used a base class and an interface that for my case works fine for all my domain class.
See code below
namespace UnitTestProject
{
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
public interface IEntity<T>
{
}
public abstract class Entity<T> : IEntity<T> where T : class
{
}
public class Area : Entity<Area>
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public DateTime Created { get; set; }
public bool Closed { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
}
public static class EntityExtension
{
public static string GetPropertyName<T>(this IEntity<T> entity, Expression<Func<T, object>> expr) // T e for type inference
{
var unary = expr.Body as UnaryExpression;
var member = expr.Body as MemberExpression;
return member != null ? member.Member.Name : (unary != null ? ((MemberExpression)unary.Operand).Member.Name : String.Empty);
}
}
[TestClass]
public class UnitTest
{
[TestMethod]
public void GetPropertyName_Tests()
{
var area = new Area();
var x = area.GetPropertyName(a => a.Id);
var y = area.GetPropertyName(a => a.Name);
var v = area.GetPropertyName(a => a.Created);
var w = area.GetPropertyName(a => a.Closed);
var z = area.GetPropertyName(a => a.Description);
Assert.AreEqual(x, "Id");
Assert.AreEqual(y, "Name");
Assert.AreEqual(v, "Created");
Assert.AreEqual(w, "Closed");
Assert.AreEqual(z, "Description");
}
}
}