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c#functionparametersanonymous-types

How to pass anonymous types as parameters?


How can I pass anonymous types as parameters to other functions? Consider this example:

var query = from employee in employees select new { Name = employee.Name, Id = employee.Id };
LogEmployees(query);

The variable query here doesn't have strong type. How should I define my LogEmployees function to accept it?

public void LogEmployees (? list)
{
    foreach (? item in list)
    {

    }
}

In other words, what should I use instead of ? marks.


Solution

  • I think you should make a class for this anonymous type. That'd be the most sensible thing to do in my opinion. But if you really don't want to, you could use dynamics:

    public void LogEmployees (IEnumerable<dynamic> list)
    {
        foreach (dynamic item in list)
        {
            string name = item.Name;
            int id = item.Id;
        }
    }
    

    Note that this is not strongly typed, so if, for example, Name changes to EmployeeName, you won't know there's a problem until runtime.