Casting on run time using implicit con version - c#-4.0

Question

I have the following code which copies property values from one object to another objects by matching their property names:
public static void CopyProperties(object source, object target,bool caseSenstive=true)
{
PropertyInfo[] targetProperties = target.GetType().GetProperties(BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance);
PropertyInfo[] sourceProperties = source.GetType().GetProperties(BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance);
foreach (PropertyInfo tp in targetProperties)
{
var sourceProperty = sourceProperties.FirstOrDefault(p => p.Name == tp.Name);
if (sourceProperty == null && !caseSenstive)
{
sourceProperty = sourceProperties.FirstOrDefault(p => p.Name.ToUpper() == tp.Name.ToUpper());
}
// If source doesn't have this property, go for next one.
if(sourceProperty ==null)
{
continue;
}
// If target property is not writable then we can not set it;
// If source property is not readable then cannot check it's value
if (!tp.CanWrite || !sourceProperty.CanRead)
{
continue;
}
MethodInfo mget = sourceProperty.GetGetMethod(false);
MethodInfo mset = tp.GetSetMethod(false);
// Get and set methods have to be public
if (mget == null)
{
continue;
}
if (mset == null)
{
continue;
}
var sourcevalue = sourceProperty.GetValue(source, null);
tp.SetValue(target, sourcevalue, null);
}
}
This is working well when the type of properties on target and source are the same. But when there is a need for casting, the code doesn't work.
For example, I have the following object:
class MyDateTime
{
public static implicit operator DateTime?(MyDateTime myDateTime)
{
return myDateTime.DateTime;
}
public static implicit operator DateTime(MyDateTime myDateTime)
{
if (myDateTime.DateTime.HasValue)
{
return myDateTime.DateTime.Value;
}
else
{
return System.DateTime.MinValue;
}
}
public static implicit operator MyDateTime(DateTime? dateTime)
{
return FromDateTime(dateTime);
}
public static implicit operator MyDateTime(DateTime dateTime)
{
return FromDateTime(dateTime);
}
}
If I do the following, the implicit cast is called and everything works well:
MyDateTime x= DateTime.Now;
But when I have a two objects that one of them has a DateTime and the other has MyDateTime, and I am using the above code to copy properties from one object to other, it doesn't and generate an error saying that DateTime can not converted to MyTimeDate.
How can I fix this problem?

Answer 1

One ghastly approach which should work is to mix dynamic and reflection:
private static T ConvertValue<T>(dynamic value)
{
return value; // This will perform conversion automatically
}
Then:
var sourceValue = sourceProperty.GetValue(source, null);
if (sourceProperty.PropertyType != tp.PropertyType)
{
var method = typeof(PropertyCopier).GetMethod("ConvertValue",
BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.NonPublic);
method = method.MakeGenericMethod(new[] { tp.PropertyType };
sourceValue = method.Invoke(null, new[] { sourceValue });
}
tp.SetValue(target, sourceValue, null);
We need to use reflection to invoke the generic method with the right type argument, but dynamic typing will use the right conversion operator for you.
Oh, and one final request: please don't include my name anywhere near this code, whether it's in comments, commit logs. Aargh.