Question

How to pass by ref different types of objects that have the same properties inside and populate them without interface.

In my app there are totally different types which have some properties in common.
Let’s say this properties are double arrays.

double[] samples;

Now I have to populate these samples for 20 objects.
I don’t have any access to the class definition of this object, so I can’t make interface, or make them inherit from a base class.

How can use one method which I call and this method to populate all my properties.

I want to have one method like this:

private static void FillSamples(ref WhoKnowsWhat dataType, MyObject theSamples)
{

for (int i = 0; i < sampleCount; i++)
                        {
                            dataType.SampleLength[i] = MyObject.X[i];
                            dataType.SampleValue[i]  = MyObject.y[i];
                        }
}

And call this with totally different types.

FillSamples(ref BigStruct.OneTypeMine, theSamples);
FillSamples(ref BigStruct.AnotherTypeMine, theSamples);
FillSamples(ref BigStruct.HisType12345, theSamples);

Then the big struct should have these samples filled in the end.

Is there a way in C#?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You can use the dynamic keyword:

private static void FillSamples(dynamic dataType, MyObject theSamples)
{
    for (int i = 0; i < sampleCount; i++)
    {
        dataType.SampleLength[i] = MyObject.X[i];
        dataType.SampleValue[i]  = MyObject.y[i];
    }
}

---

Edit:

Using reflection (if you don’t use .Net 4.0 or higher):

private static void FillSamples(object dataType, MyObject theSamples)
{
    Type t = dataType.GetType();
    var px = t.GetProperty("SampleLength");
    var py = t.GetProperty("SampleValue");

    for (int i = 0; i < sampleCount; i++)
    {
        px.SetValue(dataType, MyObject.X[i], null);
        py.SetValue(dataType, MyObject.Y[i], null);
    }
}