[c#] How to dynamically create a class?

I have a class which looks like this:

public class Field
{
    public string FieldName;
    public string FieldType;
}

And an object List<Field> with values:

{"EmployeeID","int"},
{"EmployeeName","String"},
{"Designation","String"}

I want to create a class that looks like this:

Class DynamicClass
{
    int EmployeeID,
    String EmployeeName,
    String Designation
}

Is there any way to do this?

I want this to be generated at runtime. I don't want a physical CS file residing in my filesystem.

For those wanting to create a dynamic class just properties (i.e. POCO), and create a list of this class. Using the code provided later, this will create a dynamic class and create a list of this.

var properties = new List<DynamicTypeProperty>()
{
    new DynamicTypeProperty("doubleProperty", typeof(double)),
    new DynamicTypeProperty("stringProperty", typeof(string))
};

// create the new type
var dynamicType = DynamicType.CreateDynamicType(properties);
// create a list of the new type
var dynamicList = DynamicType.CreateDynamicList(dynamicType);

// get an action that will add to the list
var addAction = DynamicType.GetAddAction(dynamicList);

// call the action, with an object[] containing parameters in exact order added
addAction.Invoke(new object[] {1.1, "item1"});
addAction.Invoke(new object[] {2.1, "item2"});
addAction.Invoke(new object[] {3.1, "item3"});

Here are the classes that the previous code uses.

Note: You'll also need to reference the Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp library.

       /// <summary>
    /// A property name, and type used to generate a property in the dynamic class.
    /// </summary>
    public class DynamicTypeProperty
    {
        public DynamicTypeProperty(string name, Type type)
        {
            Name = name;
            Type = type;
        }
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public Type Type { get; set; }
    }

   public static class DynamicType
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Creates a list of the specified type
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="type"></param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public static IEnumerable<object> CreateDynamicList(Type type)
        {
            var listType = typeof(List<>);
            var dynamicListType = listType.MakeGenericType(type);
            return (IEnumerable<object>) Activator.CreateInstance(dynamicListType);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// creates an action which can be used to add items to the list
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="listType"></param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public static Action<object[]> GetAddAction(IEnumerable<object> list)
        {
            var listType = list.GetType();
            var addMethod = listType.GetMethod("Add");
            var itemType = listType.GenericTypeArguments[0];
            var itemProperties = itemType.GetProperties();

            var action = new Action<object[]>((values) =>
            {
                var item = Activator.CreateInstance(itemType);

                for(var i = 0; i < values.Length; i++)
                {
                    itemProperties[i].SetValue(item, values[i]);
                }

                addMethod.Invoke(list, new []{item});
            });

            return action;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Creates a type based on the property/type values specified in the properties
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="properties"></param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        /// <exception cref="Exception"></exception>
        public static Type CreateDynamicType(IEnumerable<DynamicTypeProperty> properties)
        {
            StringBuilder classCode = new StringBuilder();

            // Generate the class code
            classCode.AppendLine("using System;");
            classCode.AppendLine("namespace Dexih {");
            classCode.AppendLine("public class DynamicClass {");

            foreach (var property in properties)
            {
                classCode.AppendLine($"public {property.Type.Name} {property.Name} {{get; set; }}");
            }
            classCode.AppendLine("}");
            classCode.AppendLine("}");

            var syntaxTree = CSharpSyntaxTree.ParseText(classCode.ToString());

            var references = new MetadataReference[]
            {
                MetadataReference.CreateFromFile(typeof(object).GetTypeInfo().Assembly.Location),
                MetadataReference.CreateFromFile(typeof(DictionaryBase).GetTypeInfo().Assembly.Location)
            };

            var compilation = CSharpCompilation.Create("DynamicClass" + Guid.NewGuid() + ".dll",
                syntaxTrees: new[] {syntaxTree},
                references: references,
                options: new CSharpCompilationOptions(OutputKind.DynamicallyLinkedLibrary));

            using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
            {
                var result = compilation.Emit(ms);

                if (!result.Success)
                {
                    var failures = result.Diagnostics.Where(diagnostic =>
                        diagnostic.IsWarningAsError ||
                        diagnostic.Severity == DiagnosticSeverity.Error);

                    var message = new StringBuilder();

                    foreach (var diagnostic in failures)
                    {
                        message.AppendFormat("{0}: {1}", diagnostic.Id, diagnostic.GetMessage());
                    }

                    throw new Exception($"Invalid property definition: {message}.");
                }
                else
                {

                    ms.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
                    var assembly = System.Runtime.Loader.AssemblyLoadContext.Default.LoadFromStream(ms);
                    var dynamicType = assembly.GetType("Dexih.DynamicClass");
                    return dynamicType;
                }
            }
        }
    }

You want to look at CodeDOM. It allows defining code elements and compiling them. Quoting MSDN:

...This object graph can be rendered as source code using a CodeDOM code generator for a supported programming language. The CodeDOM can also be used to compile source code into a binary assembly.

I know i reopen this old task but with c# 4.0 this task is absolutely painless.

dynamic expando = new ExpandoObject();
expando.EmployeeID=42;
expando.Designation="unknown";
expando.EmployeeName="curt"

//or more dynamic
AddProperty(expando, "Language", "English");

for more see https://www.oreilly.com/learning/building-c-objects-dynamically

you can use CSharpProvider:

var code = @"
    public class Abc {
       public string Get() { return ""abc""; }
    }
";

var options = new CompilerParameters();
options.GenerateExecutable = false;
options.GenerateInMemory = false;

var provider = new CSharpCodeProvider();
var compile = provider.CompileAssemblyFromSource(options, code);

var type = compile.CompiledAssembly.GetType("Abc");
var abc = Activator.CreateInstance(type);

var method = type.GetMethod("Get");
var result = method.Invoke(abc, null);

Console.WriteLine(result); //output: abc

You can also dynamically create a class by using DynamicExpressions.

Since 'Dictionary's have compact initializers and handle key collisions, you will want to do something like this.

  var list = new Dictionary<string, string> {
    {
      "EmployeeID",
      "int"
    }, {
      "EmployeeName",
      "String"
    }, {
      "Birthday",
      "DateTime"
    }
  };

Or you might want to use a JSON converter to construct your serialized string object into something manageable.

Then using System.Linq.Dynamic;

  IEnumerable<DynamicProperty> props = list.Select(property => new DynamicProperty(property.Key, Type.GetType(property.Value))).ToList();

  Type t = DynamicExpression.CreateClass(props);

The rest is just using System.Reflection.

  object obj = Activator.CreateInstance(t);
  t.GetProperty("EmployeeID").SetValue(obj, 34, null);
  t.GetProperty("EmployeeName").SetValue(obj, "Albert", null);
  t.GetProperty("Birthday").SetValue(obj, new DateTime(1976, 3, 14), null);
}  

Based on @danijels's answer, dynamically create a class in VB.NET:

Imports System.Reflection
Imports System.Reflection.Emit

Public Class ObjectBuilder

Public Property myType As Object
Public Property myObject As Object

Public Sub New(fields As List(Of Field))
    myType = CompileResultType(fields)
    myObject = Activator.CreateInstance(myType)
End Sub

Public Shared Function CompileResultType(fields As List(Of Field)) As Type
    Dim tb As TypeBuilder = GetTypeBuilder()
    Dim constructor As ConstructorBuilder = tb.DefineDefaultConstructor(MethodAttributes.[Public] Or MethodAttributes.SpecialName Or MethodAttributes.RTSpecialName)

    For Each field In fields
        CreateProperty(tb, field.Name, field.Type)
    Next

    Dim objectType As Type = tb.CreateType()
    Return objectType
End Function

Private Shared Function GetTypeBuilder() As TypeBuilder
    Dim typeSignature = "MyDynamicType"
    Dim an = New AssemblyName(typeSignature)
    Dim assemblyBuilder As AssemblyBuilder = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.DefineDynamicAssembly(an, AssemblyBuilderAccess.Run)
    Dim moduleBuilder As ModuleBuilder = assemblyBuilder.DefineDynamicModule("MainModule")
    Dim tb As TypeBuilder = moduleBuilder.DefineType(typeSignature, TypeAttributes.[Public] Or TypeAttributes.[Class] Or TypeAttributes.AutoClass Or TypeAttributes.AnsiClass Or TypeAttributes.BeforeFieldInit Or TypeAttributes.AutoLayout, Nothing)
    Return tb
End Function

Private Shared Sub CreateProperty(tb As TypeBuilder, propertyName As String, propertyType As Type)
    Dim fieldBuilder As FieldBuilder = tb.DefineField("_" & propertyName, propertyType, FieldAttributes.[Private])

    Dim propertyBuilder As PropertyBuilder = tb.DefineProperty(propertyName, PropertyAttributes.HasDefault, propertyType, Nothing)
    Dim getPropMthdBldr As MethodBuilder = tb.DefineMethod("get_" & propertyName, MethodAttributes.[Public] Or MethodAttributes.SpecialName Or MethodAttributes.HideBySig, propertyType, Type.EmptyTypes)
    Dim getIl As ILGenerator = getPropMthdBldr.GetILGenerator()

    getIl.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0)
    getIl.Emit(OpCodes.Ldfld, fieldBuilder)
    getIl.Emit(OpCodes.Ret)

    Dim setPropMthdBldr As MethodBuilder = tb.DefineMethod("set_" & propertyName, MethodAttributes.[Public] Or MethodAttributes.SpecialName Or MethodAttributes.HideBySig, Nothing, {propertyType})

    Dim setIl As ILGenerator = setPropMthdBldr.GetILGenerator()
    Dim modifyProperty As Label = setIl.DefineLabel()
    Dim exitSet As Label = setIl.DefineLabel()

    setIl.MarkLabel(modifyProperty)
    setIl.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0)
    setIl.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_1)
    setIl.Emit(OpCodes.Stfld, fieldBuilder)

    setIl.Emit(OpCodes.Nop)
    setIl.MarkLabel(exitSet)
    setIl.Emit(OpCodes.Ret)

    propertyBuilder.SetGetMethod(getPropMthdBldr)
    propertyBuilder.SetSetMethod(setPropMthdBldr)
End Sub

End Class

Ask Hans suggested, you can use Roslyn to dynamically create classes.

Full source:

using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis;
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;

namespace RoslynDemo1
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var fields = new List<Field>()
            {
                new Field("EmployeeID","int"),
                new Field("EmployeeName","String"),
                new Field("Designation","String")
            };

            var employeeClass = CreateClass(fields, "Employee");

            dynamic employee1 = Activator.CreateInstance(employeeClass);
            employee1.EmployeeID = 4213;
            employee1.EmployeeName = "Wendy Tailor";
            employee1.Designation = "Engineering Manager";

            dynamic employee2 = Activator.CreateInstance(employeeClass);
            employee2.EmployeeID = 3510;
            employee2.EmployeeName = "John Gibson";
            employee2.Designation = "Software Engineer";

            Console.WriteLine($"{employee1.EmployeeName}");
            Console.WriteLine($"{employee2.EmployeeName}");

            Console.WriteLine("Press any key to continue...");
            Console.ReadKey();
        }

        public static Type CreateClass(List<Field> fields, string newClassName, string newNamespace = "Magic")
        {
            var fieldsCode = fields
                                .Select(field => $"public {field.FieldType} {field.FieldName};")
                                .ToString(Environment.NewLine);

            var classCode = $@"
                using System;

                namespace {newNamespace}
                {{
                    public class {newClassName}
                    {{
                        public {newClassName}()
                        {{
                        }}

                        {fieldsCode}
                    }}
                }}
            ".Trim();

            classCode = FormatUsingRoslyn(classCode);


            var assemblies = new[]
            {
                MetadataReference.CreateFromFile(typeof(object).Assembly.Location),
            };

            /*
            var assemblies = AppDomain
                        .CurrentDomain
                        .GetAssemblies()
                        .Where(a => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(a.Location))
                        .Select(a => MetadataReference.CreateFromFile(a.Location))
                        .ToArray();
            */

            var syntaxTree = CSharpSyntaxTree.ParseText(classCode);

            var compilation = CSharpCompilation
                                .Create(newNamespace)
                                .AddSyntaxTrees(syntaxTree)
                                .AddReferences(assemblies)
                                .WithOptions(new CSharpCompilationOptions(OutputKind.DynamicallyLinkedLibrary));

            using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
            {
                var result = compilation.Emit(ms);
                //compilation.Emit($"C:\\Temp\\{newNamespace}.dll");

                if (result.Success)
                {
                    ms.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
                    Assembly assembly = Assembly.Load(ms.ToArray());

                    var newTypeFullName = $"{newNamespace}.{newClassName}";

                    var type = assembly.GetType(newTypeFullName);
                    return type;
                }
                else
                {
                    IEnumerable<Diagnostic> failures = result.Diagnostics.Where(diagnostic =>
                        diagnostic.IsWarningAsError ||
                        diagnostic.Severity == DiagnosticSeverity.Error);

                    foreach (Diagnostic diagnostic in failures)
                    {
                        Console.Error.WriteLine("{0}: {1}", diagnostic.Id, diagnostic.GetMessage());
                    }

                    return null;
                }
            }
        }

        public static string FormatUsingRoslyn(string csCode)
        {
            var tree = CSharpSyntaxTree.ParseText(csCode);
            var root = tree.GetRoot().NormalizeWhitespace();
            var result = root.ToFullString();
            return result;
        }
    }

    public class Field
    {
        public string FieldName;
        public string FieldType;

        public Field(string fieldName, string fieldType)
        {
            FieldName = fieldName;
            FieldType = fieldType;
        }
    }

    public static class Extensions
    {
        public static string ToString(this IEnumerable<string> list, string separator)
        {
            string result = string.Join(separator, list);
            return result;
        }
    }
}

Wow! Thank you for that answer! I added some features to it to create a "datatable to json" converter that I share with you.

    Public Shared Sub dt2json(ByVal _dt As DataTable, ByVal _sb As StringBuilder)
    Dim t As System.Type

    Dim oList(_dt.Rows.Count - 1) As Object
    Dim jss As New JavaScriptSerializer()
    Dim i As Integer = 0

    t = CompileResultType(_dt)

    For Each dr As DataRow In _dt.Rows
        Dim o As Object = Activator.CreateInstance(t)

        For Each col As DataColumn In _dt.Columns
            setvalue(o, col.ColumnName, dr.Item(col.ColumnName))
        Next

        oList(i) = o
        i += 1
    Next

    jss = New JavaScriptSerializer()
    jss.Serialize(oList, _sb)


End Sub

And in "compileresulttype" sub, I changed that:

    For Each column As DataColumn In _dt.Columns
        CreateProperty(tb, column.ColumnName, column.DataType)
    Next


Private Shared Sub setvalue(ByVal _obj As Object, ByVal _propName As String, ByVal _propValue As Object)
    Dim pi As PropertyInfo
    pi = _obj.GetType.GetProperty(_propName)
    If pi IsNot Nothing AndAlso pi.CanWrite Then
        If _propValue IsNot DBNull.Value Then
            pi.SetValue(_obj, _propValue, Nothing)

        Else
            Select Case pi.PropertyType.ToString
                Case "System.String"
                    pi.SetValue(_obj, String.Empty, Nothing)
                Case Else
                    'let the serialiser use javascript "null" value.
            End Select

        End If
    End If

End Sub

You can look at using dynamic modules and classes that can do the job. The only disadvantage is that it remains loaded in the app domain. But with the version of .NET framework being used, that could change. .NET 4.0 supports collectible dynamic assemblies and hence you can recreate the classes/types dynamically.

You can use System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy. It will allow you to use "normal" code rather than low level assembly type stuff.

See the RealProxy answer to this question for a good example:

How do I intercept a method call in C#?

I don't know the intended usage of such dynamic classes, and code generation and run time compilation can be done, but takes some effort. Maybe Anonymous Types would help you, something like:

var v = new { EmployeeID = 108, EmployeeName = "John Doe" };

You can also dynamically create a class by using DynamicObject.

public class DynamicClass : DynamicObject
{
    private Dictionary<string, KeyValuePair<Type, object>> _fields;

    public DynamicClass(List<Field> fields)
    {
        _fields = new Dictionary<string, KeyValuePair<Type, object>>();
        fields.ForEach(x => _fields.Add(x.FieldName,
            new KeyValuePair<Type, object>(x.FieldType, null)));
    }

    public override bool TrySetMember(SetMemberBinder binder, object value)
    {
        if (_fields.ContainsKey(binder.Name))
        {
            var type = _fields[binder.Name].Key;
            if (value.GetType() == type)
            {
                _fields[binder.Name] = new KeyValuePair<Type, object>(type, value);
                return true;
            }
            else throw new Exception("Value " + value + " is not of type " + type.Name);
        }
        return false;
    }

    public override bool TryGetMember(GetMemberBinder binder, out object result)
    {
        result = _fields[binder.Name].Value;
        return true;
    }
}

I store all class fields in a dictionary _fields together with their types and values. The both methods are to can get or set value to some of the properties. You must use the dynamic keyword to create an instance of this class.

The usage with your example:

var fields = new List<Field>() { 
    new Field("EmployeeID", typeof(int)),
    new Field("EmployeeName", typeof(string)),
    new Field("Designation", typeof(string)) 
};

dynamic obj = new DynamicClass(fields);

//set
obj.EmployeeID = 123456;
obj.EmployeeName = "John";
obj.Designation = "Tech Lead";

obj.Age = 25;             //Exception: DynamicClass does not contain a definition for 'Age'
obj.EmployeeName = 666;   //Exception: Value 666 is not of type String

//get
Console.WriteLine(obj.EmployeeID);     //123456
Console.WriteLine(obj.EmployeeName);   //John
Console.WriteLine(obj.Designation);    //Tech Lead

Edit: And here is how looks my class Field:

public class Field
{
    public Field(string name, Type type)
    {
        this.FieldName = name;
        this.FieldType = type;
    }

    public string FieldName;

    public Type FieldType;
}

It will take some work, but is certainly not impossible.

What I have done is:

• Create a C# source in a string (no need to write out to a file),
• Run it through the Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider (CompileAssemblyFromSource)
• Find the generated Type
• And create an instance of that Type (Activator.CreateInstance)

This way you can deal with the C# code you already know, instead of having to emit MSIL.

But this works best if your class implements some interface (or is derived from some baseclass), else how is the calling code (read: compiler) to know about that class that will be generated at runtime?

Runtime Code Generation with JVM and CLR - Peter Sestoft

Work for persons that are really interested in this type of programming.

My tip for You is that if You declare something try to avoid string, so if You have class Field it is better to use class System.Type to store the field type than a string. And for the sake of best solutions instead of creation new classes try to use those that has been created FiledInfo instead of creation new.