Dynamically Invoke Property in AS3 - string

I would like to dynamically invoke a Class's Property via a String. In the following code, I can dynamically invoke a Class's Function via a String.
var myClass:Class = getDefinitionByName("myPackage.MyClass") as Class;
myClass["myStaticMethod"]();
where MyClass is defined as:
package myPackage {
public class MyClass {
public function MyClass() {}
public function myMethod():void {};
public static function myStaticMethod():void {};
public static function get myProperty():Object { return null; }
}
}
However, a Property, such as MyClass.myProperty is not a Function. So,
var myClass:Class = getDefinitionByName("myPackage.MyClass") as Class;
myClass["myProperty"]();
throws an error: TypeError: Error #1006: value is not a function because myProperty is not a Function.
Is there any way to do this dynamically via Strings?
Thanks for the help.

To solve this issue, I simply needed to remove the () from the code. That is, the new code looks like:
var myClass:Class = getDefinitionByName("myPackage.MyClass") as Class;
myClass["myProperty"]; // This works.

The Answer of Alex will indeed works properly, but only if you have the String written properly. Else you get this error thrown at you: TypeError: Error #1006: value is not a function. To avoid this you could try test if the property or method is defined before using it. Like so:
if(myClass["myProperty"] != undefined)
{
...
}
Anyhow, in your specific example you are requesting a getter, and that's why you had to remove the () from your source. If you would be needing a method, I would also recommend you to save the method as a function:
var myFunction: Function = myClass["theFunction"];
And then to use either the call or the apply methods.
myFunction.call(null, myParam);
IF you are interested in studying all the methods that an Object has and comparing them to a String. Consider also:
var child:Sprite = new Sprite();
var description:XML = describeType(child);
var methodList: XMLList = description.descendants('method');
The attributes of a <method/> node are:
name: The name of the method.
declaredBy: The class that contains the method definition.
returnType: The data type of the method's return value.
I hope this helps out, let me know if you found it useful.

Related

callbacks passed from another class

How do you get callbacks running in haxe 3 that are passed by another class?
I'm trying to pass a callback function to a class, but I'm getting an error
public static var onFocusCallback:Dynamic;
public static function triggerFocus():Void
{
onFocusCallback.bind();
}
the error I get is
[Fault] exception, information=ReferenceError: Error #1069: Property bind not found on builtin.as$0.MethodClosure and there is no default value.
Try not to use Dynamic if possible. It can trigger weird errors like that one.
The way to use a callback is like this http://try.haxe.org/#60f45
class Test {
static function main() {
onFocusCallback = function() {
trace("focus");
}
triggerFocus();
}
// Try not to use Dynamic
//public static var onFocusCallback:Dynamic;
// If you don't know the type of the function, you can use this:
//public static var onFocusCallback:haxe.Constraints.Function;
// But it's always better to give a concrete type like:
public static var onFocusCallback:Void->Void;
public static function triggerFocus():Void
{
if(onFocusCallback != null) onFocusCallback();
}
}
the other solution I got to work, within minutes of posting question, was to use Reflect
Reflect.callMethod(null, onFocusCallback, []);

How to restore metaclass on object to original class definition

I've been trying to create a TEMPORARY override on new objects, and then to remove the override on the objects themselves. I'm not sure if this can be done, but here is what I've tried so far.
// Say I have a class like:
class Validator {
boolean validate() { println "code here to return actual true/false"; false }
}
// I have two integration points one of them is Here before construction:
// First integration point:
// Save actual validate function
def realValidate = Validator.&validate
// Make new instances of Validator have the validate function hardwired to true
Validator.metaClass.validate { -> println "hardwired true"; true }
// Code I'd rather not modify
// Now some code executes which news up an instance and calls validate
def validator = new Validator()
validator.validate() // This correctly calls our override
// Second integration point.
// Without newing up a new Validator object, I'd like to remove the override.
Validator.metaClass = null
validator.metaClass.validate = Validator.&validate
// This throws "java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: object is not an instance of declaring class"
//validator.validate()
// So maybe I have to explicitly say:
realValidate.resolveStrategy = Closure.DELEGATE_FIRST
// But this still throws the same exception
//validator.validate()
// Perhaps if I tell my objects metaclass to forget about validate, it will bubble up and look for the method on its declaring class?
validator.metaClass.validate = { -> throw new MissingMethodException("validate", Validator.class, (Object[])[], false) }
// This throws MissingMethodException: No signature of method: Validator.validate() is applicable for argument types: () values: []
// Possible solutions: validate(), wait()
//validator.validate()
Apologies for not having a super specific question, since I don't know what all is possible in this particular area. I'd love both the reason why my code doesn't work, as well as alternatives to make it work.
This could be a per instance meta class problem... Validator.metaClass = null will set the global meta class for the Validator class to default. but your validator instance here is a Groovy class and thus stores a separate reference to the meta class in the instance itself. Calls with that instance will not go through a lookup of the global meta class and instead use the per instance meta class (the reference stored in the instance itself). Thus validator.metaClass = null is the only way to reset this
A small modification to your strategy would be fruitful. Use metaClass on the object instead of the Class.
// Say I have a class like:
class Validator {
boolean validate() { println "code here to return actual true/false"; false }
}
def validator = new Validator()
// mark that the pointer is on object instead of class
def realValidate = validator.&validate
validator.metaClass.validate { -> println "hardwired true"; true }
validator.validate() // This correctly calls our override
// Second integration point.
// DO NOT NEED THIS
// validator.metaClass = null
// Assign the method pointer to validate to call original validate
validator.metaClass.validate = realValidate
validator.validate()
Your approach did not work because you had validate() overridden on the metaClass of Class reference instead of the object itself.

How to get `this' from a passed method

If one pass a method as a funarg, how one can tell if passed function is a method, and get `this' object of a method is?
class A {
public function f():Void{
trace("f");
}
}
class B {
static function withFunarg(f:Void->Void):Void{
//HERE
}
public static function main(){
var a = new A();
withFunarg(a.f);
}
}
You cannot and there is no way to retrieve this. But it seems to me like an anti-pattern trying to do that. If you want the method and the container you can define a typedef:
typedef F = {
f : Void -> Void
}
Now you have the method and the container.
Haxe doesn't offer a cross-platform way to do that and it is generally not recomended.
But if you ultimately need this feature, you can use some platform-specific ways.
For example on js the following will work(at least on current haxe dev version):
static function getThis(f:Dynamic):Dynamic{
return (f.scope && f.method) ? f.scope : null;
}
It will return the object if the function is a method and a null otherwise. Result on calling on non-function is unspecified.
If you want to get the implicit `this' argument of a method, you have to make it explicit, like this
static function withMethodFunarg(o:{}, f:{}->Void):Void{
//HERE you have both object and function on this object
trace(o);
f(o);
}
public static function main(){
var a = new A();
withMethodFunarg(a,function(a){a.f()});
}
Which is, actually, pretty straight-forward: function is a function, no implicits, method caller is a method caller.

Calling Method of class within it

// What is the technical reason behind this scenarios..?
You're trying to use a statement other than a declaration directly inside the class - rather than within a method. When did you expect the method to get called?
Basically all you can have directly within a type is a bunch of declarations - methods, variables, constructors, events, nested types etc. Method calls (or any other statements) which aren't part of a declaration have to be written within methods, constructors etc.
Method call statement can not be part of a class declaration, but only within Function members declarations scope, such as Methods, Properties, Constructors etc.
For example:
public class ExampleClass
{
private void SayHelloWorld()
{
Console.Writeline("Hello World!");
}
public void CallSayHelloWorldMethod()
{
this.SayHelloWorld();
}
}
At the above example you can see that I call the SayHelloWorld method within the CallSayHelloWorldMethod metod.
Update:
The closest thing I can think of in your case is to use the class's constructor where your method call will be executed as soon as you'll instantiate your class:
public class ExampleClass
{
//The class constructor
public ExampleClass()
{
this.SayHelloWorld();
}
private void SayHelloWorld()
{
Console.Writeline("Hello World!");
}
}
And when you instantiating it, it will be immediately called:
//Your method call will be executed here
ExampleClass exampleClass = new ExampleClass();
You have a few problems... This won't even compile as you are trying to call the method obj.m1() in the class definition.
A obj = new A();
obj.m1(); // Why this code wont work??? --> This must be inside a method
When you create an instance of a class it will create a new member variable called obj which is an instance of A --> A obj = newA() above;
You will now be able to call obj's methods as in your second example.
Also, in order to get this to compile you will need to fix the m2 method:
public void m2() { //--> should have a curly brace
obj.m1(); // But This will work.
}

Using FieldInfo.SetValue with a DynamicObject as argument 2

I ran into a problem today when trying to set a field using FieldInfo.SetValue() passing a DynamicObject as the second argument. In my case, the field is a Guid and the DynamicObject should be able to convert itself to a one (using TryConvert) but it fails with an ArgumentException.
Some code that shows the problem:
// Simple impl of a DynamicObject to prove point
public class MyDynamicObj : DynamicObject
{
public override bool TryConvert(ConvertBinder binder, out object result)
{
result = null;
// Support converting this to a Guid
if (binder.Type == typeof(Guid))
{
result = Guid.NewGuid();
return true;
}
return false;
}
}
public class Test
{
public Guid MyField;
}
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
dynamic myObj = new MyDynamicObj();
// This conversion works just fine
Guid guid = myObj;
var test = new Test();
var testField = typeof(Test).GetField("MyField");
// This, however, fails with:
// System.ArgumentException
// Object of type 'ConsoleApplication1.MyDynamicObj' cannot be converted to type 'System.Guid'.
testField.SetValue(test, myObj);
}
}
I'm not very familiar with the whole dynamicness of C# 4, but this felt to me like something that should work.. What am I doing wrong? Is there another way of doing this?
No, this shouldn't work - because the dynamic portion ends where your code ends. The compiler is calling a method with a signature of
void SetValue(Object obj, Object value)
That method call is dynamic, but it's just going to end up passing in a reference to the instance of MyDynamicObj. The call is resolved at execution time, but nothing in SetValue knows anything about the dynamic nature of the object whose reference you're passing in.
Basically you need to perform the dynamic part (the conversion in this case) in your code - the bit that involves the C# 4 compiler doing all its tricks. You've got to perform that conversion, and then you can call SetField.
To put it another way - it's a bit like calling SetField with a field of type XName, but passing in a string. Yes, there's a conversion from string to XName, but it's not SetField's job to work that out. That's the compiler's job.
Now, you can get this to work by making the compiler do some of the work, but you still need to do some with reflection:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
dynamic myObj = new MyDynamicObj();
var test = new Test();
var testField = typeof(Test).GetField("MyField");
var method = typeof(Program)
.GetMethod("Convert", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.NonPublic);
method = method.MakeGenericMethod(testField.FieldType);
object converted = method.Invoke(null, new object[] {myObj});
testField.SetValue(test, converted);
}
static T Convert<T>(dynamic input)
{
return input;
}
You need an explicit cast to invoke the TryConvert:
testField.SetValue(test, (Guid)myObj);
Not sure if this is what you need though. Maybe there's some way to reflectively say ((DynamicObject)myObj).TryConvert(/*reflected destination type here*/, result)
Other attempts that failed, some of them require things like a certain interface be implemented, so they basically don't make use of TryConvert but maybe an alternative way to accomplish what you want:
Type secondType = testField.FieldType;
TypeConverter tc = TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(typeof(MyDynamicObj));
object secondObject = tc.ConvertTo(myObj,typeof( Guid));
//var secondObject = Convert.ChangeType(myObj, secondType);//Activator.CreateInstance(secondType);
//secondObject = myObj;
testField.SetValue(test, secondObject);

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