Question

Let’s assume that we have a Model with several properties on it and we want to create a decorator class of this model to enhance it with some extra properties. Now we want to create a new instance of the DecoratedModel populated with all the property values of Model, perhaps using a constructor with Model as a parameter:

public class DecoratedModel : Model {     public DecoratedModel(Model baseModel)     {         // Populate decorated model generically from baseModel     } } 

What would be the most generic, concise way to populate the DecoratedModel from the Model?

Answer 1

Well, you should be able to use reflection to reflect over the base classes properties, and then use that to set the child classes properties. I haven’t tested this extensively, but something like this might work:

        public DecoratedModel(Model m)         {             foreach (var prop in typeof(Model).GetProperties())             {                 this.GetType().GetProperty(prop.Name).SetValue(this, prop.GetValue(m, null),null);             }         }