I'm trying to do do the following:
GetString(
inputString,
ref Client.WorkPhone)
private void GetString(string inValue, ref string outValue)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(inValue))
{
outValue = inValue;
}
}
This is giving me a compile error. I think its pretty clear what I'm trying to achieve. Basically I want GetString
to copy the contents of an input string to the WorkPhone
property of Client
.
Is it possible to pass a property by reference?
This question is related to
c#
properties
pass-by-reference
The accepted answer is good if that function is in your code and you can modify it. But sometimes you have to use an object and a function from some external library and you can't change the property and function definition. Then you can just use a temporary variable.
var phone = Client.WorkPhone;
GetString(input, ref phone);
Client.WorkPhone = phone;
You can't ref
a property, but if your functions need both get
and set
access you can pass around an instance of a class with a property defined:
public class Property<T>
{
public delegate T Get();
public delegate void Set(T value);
private Get get;
private Set set;
public T Value {
get {
return get();
}
set {
set(value);
}
}
public Property(Get get, Set set) {
this.get = get;
this.set = set;
}
}
Example:
class Client
{
private string workPhone; // this could still be a public property if desired
public readonly Property<string> WorkPhone; // this could be created outside Client if using a regular public property
public int AreaCode { get; set; }
public Client() {
WorkPhone = new Property<string>(
delegate () { return workPhone; },
delegate (string value) { workPhone = value; });
}
}
class Usage
{
public void PrependAreaCode(Property<string> phone, int areaCode) {
phone.Value = areaCode.ToString() + "-" + phone.Value;
}
public void PrepareClientInfo(Client client) {
PrependAreaCode(client.WorkPhone, client.AreaCode);
}
}
Another trick not yet mentioned is to have the class which implements a property (e.g. Foo
of type Bar
) also define a delegate delegate void ActByRef<T1,T2>(ref T1 p1, ref T2 p2);
and implement a method ActOnFoo<TX1>(ref Bar it, ActByRef<Bar,TX1> proc, ref TX1 extraParam1)
(and possibly versions for two and three "extra parameters" as well) which will pass its internal representation of Foo
to the supplied procedure as a ref
parameter. This has a couple of big advantages over other methods of working with the property:
Passing things be ref
is an excellent pattern; too bad it's not used more.
This is covered in section 7.4.1 of the C# language spec. Only a variable-reference can be passed as a ref or out parameter in an argument list. A property does not qualify as a variable reference and hence cannot be used.
Properties cannot be passed by reference ? Make it a field then, and use the property to reference it publicly:
public class MyClass
{
public class MyStuff
{
string foo { get; set; }
}
private ObservableCollection<MyStuff> _collection;
public ObservableCollection<MyStuff> Items { get { return _collection; } }
public MyClass()
{
_collection = new ObservableCollection<MyStuff>();
this.LoadMyCollectionByRef<MyStuff>(ref _collection);
}
public void LoadMyCollectionByRef<T>(ref ObservableCollection<T> objects_collection)
{
// Load refered collection
}
}
Just a little expansion to Nathan's Linq Expression solution. Use multi generic param so that the property doesn't limited to string.
void GetString<TClass, TProperty>(string input, TClass outObj, Expression<Func<TClass, TProperty>> outExpr)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(input))
{
var expr = (MemberExpression) outExpr.Body;
var prop = (PropertyInfo) expr.Member;
if (!prop.GetValue(outObj).Equals(input))
{
prop.SetValue(outObj, input, null);
}
}
}
I wrote a wrapper using the ExpressionTree variant and c#7 (if somebody is interested):
public class Accessor<T>
{
private Action<T> Setter;
private Func<T> Getter;
public Accessor(Expression<Func<T>> expr)
{
var memberExpression = (MemberExpression)expr.Body;
var instanceExpression = memberExpression.Expression;
var parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T));
if (memberExpression.Member is PropertyInfo propertyInfo)
{
Setter = Expression.Lambda<Action<T>>(Expression.Call(instanceExpression, propertyInfo.GetSetMethod(), parameter), parameter).Compile();
Getter = Expression.Lambda<Func<T>>(Expression.Call(instanceExpression, propertyInfo.GetGetMethod())).Compile();
}
else if (memberExpression.Member is FieldInfo fieldInfo)
{
Setter = Expression.Lambda<Action<T>>(Expression.Assign(memberExpression, parameter), parameter).Compile();
Getter = Expression.Lambda<Func<T>>(Expression.Field(instanceExpression,fieldInfo)).Compile();
}
}
public void Set(T value) => Setter(value);
public T Get() => Getter();
}
And use it like:
var accessor = new Accessor<string>(() => myClient.WorkPhone);
accessor.Set("12345");
Assert.Equal(accessor.Get(), "12345");
What you could try to do is create an object to hold the property value. That way you could pass the object and still have access to the property inside.
If you want to get and set the property both, you can use this in C#7:
GetString(
inputString,
(() => client.WorkPhone, x => client.WorkPhone = x))
void GetString(string inValue, (Func<string> get, Action<string> set) outValue)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(outValue))
{
outValue.set(inValue);
}
}
without duplicating the property
void Main()
{
var client = new Client();
NullSafeSet("test", s => client.Name = s);
Debug.Assert(person.Name == "test");
NullSafeSet("", s => client.Name = s);
Debug.Assert(person.Name == "test");
NullSafeSet(null, s => client.Name = s);
Debug.Assert(person.Name == "test");
}
void NullSafeSet(string value, Action<string> setter)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(value))
{
setter(value);
}
}
This is not possible. You could say
Client.WorkPhone = GetString(inputString, Client.WorkPhone);
where WorkPhone
is a writeable string
property and the definition of GetString
is changed to
private string GetString(string input, string current) {
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(input)) {
return input;
}
return current;
}
This will have the same semantics that you seem to be trying for.
This isn't possible because a property is really a pair of methods in disguise. Each property makes available getters and setters that are accessible via field-like syntax. When you attempt to call GetString
as you've proposed, what you're passing in is a value and not a variable. The value that you are passing in is that returned from the getter get_WorkPhone
.
To vote on this issue, here is one active suggestion of how this could be added to the language. I'm not saying this is the best way to do this (at all), feel free to put out your own suggestion. But allowing properties to be passed by ref like Visual Basic already can do would hugely help simplify some code, and quite often!
Source: Stackoverflow.com