Assigning values from a object with known properties

Question

Im writing a class with witch creates a overview over the employees phones. I am getting the info form Activesync object containing phones as children.

This is my current code. It works if the child dont contain any nulls.

foreach (DirectoryEntry child in directoryObject.Children)
            {
                var activeSyncPhone = new ActiveSync.Phone();

                activeSyncPhone.Cn = child.Properties["cn"].Value.ToString(); //string
                activeSyncPhone.DistinguishedName = child.Properties["distinguishedName"].Value.ToString(); //sting
                activeSyncPhone.InstanceType = (int)child.Properties["instanceType"].Value; //int
                activeSyncPhone.WhenCreated = (DateTime)child.Properties["whenCreated"].Value; //datetime
                activeSyncPhone.WhenChanged = (DateTime)child.Properties["whenChanged"].Value; //datetime
                activeSyncPhone.Name = child.Properties["name"].Value.ToString(); //string
                activeSyncPhone.ObjectCategory = child.Properties["objectCategory"].Value.ToString(); //string
                activeSyncPhone.MsExchFirstSyncTime = (DateTime)child.Properties["msExchFirstSyncTime"].Value;//datetime
                activeSyncPhone.MsExchDeviceEASVersion = child.Properties["msExchDeviceEASVersion"].Value.ToString();//string
                activeSyncPhone.MsExchDeviceFriendlyName = child.Properties["msExchDeviceFriendlyName"].Value.ToString(); //string
                activeSyncPhone.MsExchDeviceAccessState = (ActiveSync.Phone.DeviceAccessState)child.Properties["msExchDeviceAccessState"].Value; //int
                activeSyncPhone.MsExchDeviceID = child.Properties["msExchDeviceID"].Value.ToString(); //string
                activeSyncPhone.MsExchDeviceType = child.Properties["msExchDeviceType"].Value.ToString(); //string
                try
                {
                    activeSyncPhone.MsExchDeviceIMEI = child.Properties["msExchDeviceIMEI"]?.Value.ToString(); //string
                }
                catch
                {
                    activeSyncPhone.MsExchDeviceIMEI = "Could not find IMEI";
                }

                activeSyncPhone.MsExchDeviceUserAgent = child.Properties["msExchDeviceUserAgent"].Value.ToString(); //string
                activeSyncPhone.MsExchVersion = child.Properties["msExchVersion"].Value.ToString(); //string
                activeSyncPhone.MsExchDeviceAccessStateReason = (ActiveSync.Phone.DeviceAccessStateReason)child.Properties["msExchDeviceAccessStateReason"].Value; //string
                activeSyncPhone.MsExchUserDisplayName = child.Properties["msExchUserDisplayName"].Value.ToString(); //string
                activeSyncPhone.MsExchDeviceModel = child.Properties["msExchDeviceModel"].Value.ToString(); //string
                activeSyncPhone.MsExchDeviceOS = child.Properties["msExchDeviceOS"].Value.ToString(); //string
                activeSyncPhone.ObjectGUID = child.Properties["objectGUID"].Value.ToString(); //string
                activeSyncUnits.PhoneList.Add(activeSyncPhone);


                child.Close();
            }
            directoryObject.Close();

I was wondering if there was any way to make this a bit more robust. I was looking into setting the ActiveSyncPhone's propertys dynamically and then with a list set all the properties. But C# is a strongly-typed language and I figured id take advantage of the type safety and performance advantages that accompany that aspect.

I think there might be a better way then checking every child.property for null with if statements? and aslo is there a better way for getting the child properties?

Answer 1

You could create a generic function for that:

// you'll have to figure out the type of the `child.Properties`
public static T GetValue<T>(TypeOfChildProperties properties, string name, T defaultValue = default(T))
{
    var value = properties[name];

    if (value == null)
        return defaultValue;

    return (T)value;

    // if you have some cast problems, you could use this:
    return (T)Convert.ChangeType(value, typeof(T));
}

---

activeSyncPhone.Cn = GetValue<string>(child.Properties, "cn");
activeSyncPhone.DistinguishedName = GetValue<string>(child.Properties, "distinguishedName");
activeSyncPhone.InstanceType =  GetValue<int>(child.Properties, "instanceType");
activeSyncPhone.MsExchDeviceIMEI = GetValue<string>(child.Properties, "msExchDeviceIMEI", "Could not find IMEI");