I am trying to produce a simple scripting system that will be used to print labels. I have done this in the past with reflection with no problem, but I am now trying to do it with Lambda functions so that I can cache the functions for reuse.
The code I have so far is as follows...
public static string GetValue<T>(T source, string propertyPath) {
try {
Func<T, Object> func;
Type type = typeof(T);
ParameterExpression parameterExpression = Expression.Parameter(type, @"source");
Expression expression = parameterExpression;
foreach (string property in propertyPath.Split('.')) {
PropertyInfo propertyInfo = type.GetProperty(property);
expression = Expression.Property(expression, propertyInfo);
type = propertyInfo.PropertyType;
}
func = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, Object>>(expression, parameterExpression).Compile();
object value = func.Invoke(source);
if (value == null)
return string.Empty;
return value.ToString();
}
catch {
return propertyPath;
}
}
This seems to work in some cases, but in others it fails. The problem seems to be in my trying to return the values as objects - irrespective of the actual data types. I am trying to do this because I do not know at compile time what the data type will be but in the long run, I only need a string.
I am getting the exception shown in the title of this message whenever I try to access a property of type Int32 - but I am also getting it for Nullable types and others. The exception is thrown when I try to compile the expression into the function.
Can anybody suggest how I might go about this differently whilst maintaining the Lambda functionality so that I can cache the accessors?
Have you tried using Expression.Convert? That will add the boxing/lifting/etc conversion.
Expression conversion = Expression.Convert(expression, typeof(object));
func = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, Object>>(conversion, parameterExpression).Compile();