Create Lambda Expression Selector For New Class Using Expression Tree

Question

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I want to Create Selector expression using Expression Tree for new class. Please Consider this code:

s => new Allocation
     {
         Id = s.Id,
         UnitName = s.UnitName,
         Address = s.NewAddress,
         Tel = s.NewTel
      }

I have big class (MyClass) that I want to select some of it's Properties. But I want to create it dynamically. How I can do this?

Thanks

Answer 1

The way to approach this is to write the equivalent code, then decompile it. For example:

using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        ShowMeTheLambda<Foo, Allocation>(s => new Allocation
        {
            Id = s.Id,
            UnitName = s.UnitName,
            Address = s.NewAddress,
            Tel = s.NewTel
        });
    }
    static void ShowMeTheLambda<TFrom, TTo>(Expression<Func<TFrom, TTo>> lambda)
    { }
}
class Foo
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string UnitName { get; set; }
    public string NewTel { get; set; }
    public string NewAddress { get; set; }
}
class Allocation
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string UnitName { get; set; }
    public string Tel { get; set; }
    public string Address { get; set; }
}

Now, if I compile this and decompile it with "reflector", I get:

private static void Main()
{
    ParameterExpression expression;
    MemberBinding[] bindings = new MemberBinding[] { Expression.Bind((MethodInfo) methodof(Allocation.set_Id), Expression.Property(expression = Expression.Parameter(typeof(Foo), "s"), (MethodInfo) methodof(Foo.get_Id))), Expression.Bind((MethodInfo) methodof(Allocation.set_UnitName), Expression.Property(expression, (MethodInfo) methodof(Foo.get_UnitName))), Expression.Bind((MethodInfo) methodof(Allocation.set_Address), Expression.Property(expression, (MethodInfo) methodof(Foo.get_NewAddress))), Expression.Bind((MethodInfo) methodof(Allocation.set_Tel), Expression.Property(expression, (MethodInfo) methodof(Foo.get_NewTel))) };
    ParameterExpression[] parameters = new ParameterExpression[] { expression };
    ShowMeTheLambda<Foo, Allocation>(Expression.Lambda<Func<Foo, Allocation>>(Expression.MemberInit(Expression.New(typeof(Allocation)), bindings), parameters));

}

Note: memberof and methodof don't actually exist in C# - you can either manually get the method infos via reflection, or use Expression.PropertyOrField. We can thus rewrite it as:

ParameterExpression expression = Expression.Parameter(typeof(Foo), "s");
MemberBinding[] bindings = new MemberBinding[]
{
    Expression.Bind(typeof(Allocation).GetProperty(nameof(Allocation.Id)), Expression.PropertyOrField(expression, nameof(Foo.Id))),
    Expression.Bind(typeof(Allocation).GetProperty(nameof(Allocation.UnitName)), Expression.PropertyOrField(expression, nameof(Foo.UnitName))),
    Expression.Bind(typeof(Allocation).GetProperty(nameof(Allocation.Address)), Expression.PropertyOrField(expression, nameof(Foo.NewAddress))),
    Expression.Bind(typeof(Allocation).GetProperty(nameof(Allocation.Tel)), Expression.PropertyOrField(expression, nameof(Foo.NewTel))),
};
ParameterExpression[] parameters = new ParameterExpression[] { expression };
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<Foo, Allocation>>(Expression.MemberInit(Expression.New(typeof(Allocation)), bindings), parameters);