Question

I’m wanting to have a simple duck typing example in C# using dynamic objects. It would seem to me, that a dynamic object should have HasValue/HasProperty/HasMethod methods with a single string parameter for the name of the value, property, or method you are looking for before trying to run against it. I’m trying to avoid try/catch blocks, and deeper reflection if possible. It just seems to be a common practice for duck typing in dynamic languages (JS, Ruby, Python etc.) that is to test for a property/method before trying to use it, then falling back to a default, or throwing a controlled exception. The example below is basically what I want to accomplish.

If the methods described above don’t exist, does anyone have premade extension methods for dynamic that will do this?

Example: In JavaScript I can test for a method on an object fairly easily.

//JavaScript
function quack(duck) {
  if (duck && typeof duck.quack === "function") {
    return duck.quack();
  }
  return null; //nothing to return, not a duck
}

How would I do the same in C#?

//C# 4
dynamic Quack(dynamic duck)
{
  //how do I test that the duck is not null, 
  //and has a quack method?

  //if it doesn't quack, return null
}

Answer 1

Try this:

    using System.Linq;
    using System.Reflection;
    //...
    public dynamic Quack(dynamic duck, int i)
    {
        Object obj = duck as Object;

        if (duck != null)
        {
            //check if object has method Quack()
            MethodInfo method = obj.GetType().GetMethods().
                            FirstOrDefault(x => x.Name == "Quack");

            //if yes
            if (method != null)
            {

                //invoke and return value
                return method.Invoke((object)duck, null);
            }
        }

        return null;
    }

Or this (uses only dynamic):

    public static dynamic Quack(dynamic duck)
    {
        try
        {
            //invoke and return value
            return duck.Quack();
        }
        //thrown if method call failed
        catch (RuntimeBinderException)
        {
            return null;
        }        
    }