Mapping object to dictionary and vice versa

Question

Are there any elegant quick way to map object to a dictionary and vice versa  Example  IDictionary lt string object gt  a   new Dictionary lt string object gt     a  quot Id quot   1  a  quot Name quot    quot Ahmad quot             becomes SomeClass b   new SomeClass    b Id 1  b Name  quot Ahmad quot

User · Answer

I d highly recommend the Castle DictionaryAdapter  easily one of that project s best-kept secrets  You only need to define an interface with the properties you want  and in one line of code the adapter will generate an implementation  instantiate it  and synchronize its values with a dictionary you pass in  I use it to strongly-type my AppSettings in a web project   var appSettings     new DictionaryAdapterFactory   GetAdapter lt IAppSettings gt  ConfigurationManager AppSettings     Note that I did not need to create a class that implements IAppSettings - the adapter does that on the fly  Also  although in this case I m only reading  in theory if I were setting property values on appSettings  the adapter would keep the underlying dictionary in sync with those changes

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Convert the Dictionary to JSON string first with Newtonsoft   var json   JsonConvert SerializeObject advancedSettingsDictionary  Newtonsoft Json Formatting Indented     Then deserialize the JSON string to your object  var myobject   JsonConvert DeserializeObject lt AOCAdvancedSettings gt  json

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public Dictionary lt string  object gt  ToDictionary lt T gt  string key  T value                try                       var payload   new Dictionary lt string  object gt                                  key  value                             catch  Exception e                        return null                       public T FromDictionary lt T gt  Dictionary lt string  object gt  payload  string key                try                       JObject jObject    JObject  payload key               T t   jObject ToObject lt T gt                 return  t                     catch Exception e                return default T

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I think you should use reflection  Something like this   private T ConvertDictionaryTo lt T gt  IDictionary lt string  object gt  dictionary  where T   new         Type type   typeof  T       T ret   new T         foreach  var keyValue in dictionary                type GetProperty keyValue Key  SetValue ret  keyValue Value  null              return ret      It takes your dictionary and loops through it and sets the values  You should make it better but it s a start  You should call it like this   SomeClass someClass   ConvertDictionaryTo lt SomeClass gt  a

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public class SimpleObjectDictionaryMapper lt TObject gt        public static TObject GetObject IDictionary lt string  object gt  d                PropertyInfo   props   typeof TObject  GetProperties            TObject res   Activator CreateInstance lt TObject gt             for  int i   0  i  lt  props Length  i                          if  props i  CanWrite  amp  amp  d ContainsKey props i  Name                                 props i  SetValue res  d props i  Name   null                                   return res             public static IDictionary lt string  object gt  GetDictionary TObject o                IDictionary lt string  object gt  res   new Dictionary lt string  object gt             PropertyInfo   props   typeof TObject  GetProperties            for  int i   0  i  lt  props Length  i                          if  props i  CanRead                                res Add props i  Name  props i  GetValue o  null                                    return res

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Building on Mat  as Fidemraizer s answer  here is a version that supports binding to object properties other than strings   using System Collections Generic  using System Linq  using System Reflection   namespace WebOpsApi Shared Helpers       public static class MappingExtension               public static T ToObject lt T gt  this IDictionary lt string  object gt  source              where T   class  new                         var someObject   new T                var someObjectType   someObject GetType                 foreach  var item in source                                var key   char ToUpper item Key 0     item Key Substring 1                   var targetProperty   someObjectType GetProperty key                     if  targetProperty PropertyType    typeof  string                                         targetProperty SetValue someObject  item Value                                     else                                        var parseMethod   targetProperty PropertyType GetMethod  TryParse                           BindingFlags Public   BindingFlags Static  null                          new    typeof  string   targetProperty PropertyType MakeByRefType     null                        if  parseMethod    null                                                var parameters   new     item Value  null                            var success    bool parseMethod Invoke null  parameters                           if  success                                                        targetProperty SetValue someObject  parameters 1                                                                                                  return someObject                     public static IDictionary lt string  object gt  AsDictionary this object source  BindingFlags bindingAttr   BindingFlags DeclaredOnly   BindingFlags Public   BindingFlags Instance                        return source GetType   GetProperties bindingAttr  ToDictionary                               propInfo   gt  propInfo Name                  propInfo   gt  propInfo GetValue source  null

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If you are using Asp Net MVC  then take a look at   public static RouteValueDictionary AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes object htmlAttributes     which is a static public method on the System Web Mvc HtmlHelper class

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Using some reflection and generics in two extension methods you can achieve that   Right  others did mostly the same solution  but this uses less reflection which is more performance-wise and way more readable   public static class ObjectExtensions       public static T ToObject lt T gt  this IDictionary lt string  object gt  source          where T   class  new                     var someObject   new T                var someObjectType   someObject GetType                 foreach  var item in source                                someObjectType                           GetProperty item Key                            SetValue someObject  item Value  null                              return someObject             public static IDictionary lt string  object gt  AsDictionary this object source  BindingFlags bindingAttr   BindingFlags DeclaredOnly   BindingFlags Public   BindingFlags Instance                return source GetType   GetProperties bindingAttr  ToDictionary                       propInfo   gt  propInfo Name              propInfo   gt  propInfo GetValue source  null                       class A       public string Prop1               get          set             public int Prop2               get          set           class Program       static void Main string   args                Dictionary lt string  object gt  dictionary   new Dictionary lt string  object gt             dictionary Add  Prop1    hello world             dictionary Add  Prop2   3893           A someObject   dictionary ToObject lt A gt              IDictionary lt string  object gt  objectBackToDictionary   someObject AsDictionary

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Seems reflection only help here   I ve done small example of converting object to dictionary and vise versa    TestMethod  public void DictionaryTest         var item   new SomeCLass   Id    1   Name    name1         IDictionary lt string  object gt  dict   ObjectToDictionary lt SomeCLass gt  item       var obj   ObjectFromDictionary lt SomeCLass gt  dict      private T ObjectFromDictionary lt T gt  IDictionary lt string  object gt  dict      where T   class        Type type   typeof T       T result    T Activator CreateInstance type       foreach  var item in dict                type GetProperty item Key  SetValue result  item Value  null             return result     private IDictionary lt string  object gt  ObjectToDictionary lt T gt  T item      where T  class       Type myObjectType   item GetType        IDictionary lt string  object gt  dict   new Dictionary lt string  object gt         var indexer   new object 0       PropertyInfo   properties   myObjectType GetProperties        foreach  var info in properties                var value   info GetValue item  indexer           dict Add info Name  value             return dict

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Reflection can take you from an object to a dictionary by iterating over the properties   To go the other way  you ll have to use a dynamic ExpandoObject  which  in fact  already inherits from IDictionary  and so has done this for you  in C   unless you can infer the type from the collection of entries in the dictionary somehow   So  if you re in  NET 4 0 land  use an ExpandoObject  otherwise you ve got a lot of work to do

[c#] Mapping object to dictionary and vice versa

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