Some time ago I have written TinyCsvParser, which is a high-performing library to parse data.
One of the crucial aspects of such a library is the creation and population objects. So how can you do it in an efficient way? The initial benchmarks showed, that using Activator.CreateInstance to instantiate an object, using PropertyInfo.SetValue to set a value and using PropertyInfo.GetValue to get a value is way too slow for real world applications.
Instead of using slow Reflection, we can use Expression Trees in .NET4 to create delegates for a standard constructor, a property getter and a property setter... without using Reflection at all. So what is an Expression Tree?
Microsoft writes (Expression Trees (C# and Visual Basic)):
Expression trees represent code in a tree-like data structure, where each node is an expression, for example, a method call or a binary operation such as
x < y.You can compile and run code represented by expression trees. This enables dynamic modification of executable code, the execution of LINQ queries in various databases, and the creation of dynamic queries. For more information about expression trees in LINQ, see How to: Use Expression Trees to Build Dynamic Queries (C# and Visual Basic).
So what actually happens?
When the Compile method on an expression tree is called, the IL code is emitted to convert the expression tree into a delegate. This delegate can be used to run the code represented by the expression tree without using Reflection at all. Since Compile is a very expensive operation, it should be called only once and the resulting delegate should be cached.
I think sharing my code is useful, because a lot of people are looking for something similar I guess. The Unit Tests show you how to use the methods.
ExpressionUtils
// Copyright (c) Philipp Wagner. All rights reserved.
// Licensed under the MIT license. See LICENSE file in the project root for full license information.
using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Reflection;
namespace ExpressionExample
{
public static class ExpressionUtils
{
public static PropertyInfo GetProperty<TEntity, TProperty>(Expression<Func<TEntity, TProperty>> expression)
{
var member = GetMemberExpression(expression).Member;
var property = member as PropertyInfo;
if (property == null)
{
throw new InvalidOperationException(string.Format("Member with Name '{0}' is not a property.", member.Name));
}
return property;
}
private static MemberExpression GetMemberExpression<TEntity, TProperty>(Expression<Func<TEntity, TProperty>> expression)
{
MemberExpression memberExpression = null;
if (expression.Body.NodeType == ExpressionType.Convert)
{
var body = (UnaryExpression)expression.Body;
memberExpression = body.Operand as MemberExpression;
}
else if (expression.Body.NodeType == ExpressionType.MemberAccess)
{
memberExpression = expression.Body as MemberExpression;
}
if (memberExpression == null)
{
throw new ArgumentException("Not a member access", "expression");
}
return memberExpression;
}
public static Action<TEntity, TProperty> CreateSetter<TEntity, TProperty>(Expression<Func<TEntity, TProperty>> property)
{
PropertyInfo propertyInfo = ExpressionUtils.GetProperty(property);
ParameterExpression instance = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TEntity), "instance");
ParameterExpression parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TProperty), "param");
var body = Expression.Call(instance, propertyInfo.GetSetMethod(), parameter);
var parameters = new ParameterExpression[] { instance, parameter };
return Expression.Lambda<Action<TEntity, TProperty>>(body, parameters).Compile();
}
public static Func<TEntity, TProperty> CreateGetter<TEntity, TProperty>(Expression<Func<TEntity, TProperty>> property)
{
PropertyInfo propertyInfo = ExpressionUtils.GetProperty(property);
ParameterExpression instance = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TEntity), "instance");
var body = Expression.Call(instance, propertyInfo.GetGetMethod());
var parameters = new ParameterExpression[] { instance };
return Expression.Lambda<Func<TEntity, TProperty>>(body, parameters).Compile();
}
public static Func<TEntity> CreateDefaultConstructor<TEntity>()
{
var body = Expression.New(typeof(TEntity));
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<TEntity>>(body);
return lambda.Compile();
}
}
}
Unit Tests
// Copyright (c) Philipp Wagner. All rights reserved.
// Licensed under the MIT license. See LICENSE file in the project root for full license information.
using NUnit.Framework;
namespace ExpressionExample
{
[TestFixture]
public class ExpressionUtilsTest
{
public class SampleClass
{
public int IntegerProperty { get; set; }
public string StringProperty { get; set; }
}
[Test]
public void SetterTest()
{
var setterIntegerProperty = ExpressionUtils.CreateSetter<SampleClass, int>(x => x.IntegerProperty);
var setterStringProperty = ExpressionUtils.CreateSetter<SampleClass, string>(x => x.StringProperty);
SampleClass sampleClassInstance = new SampleClass();
setterIntegerProperty(sampleClassInstance, 1);
setterStringProperty(sampleClassInstance, "2");
Assert.AreEqual(1, sampleClassInstance.IntegerProperty);
Assert.AreEqual("2", sampleClassInstance.StringProperty);
}
[Test]
public void GetterTest()
{
var getterIntegerProperty = ExpressionUtils.CreateGetter<SampleClass, int>(x => x.IntegerProperty);
var getterStringProperty = ExpressionUtils.CreateGetter<SampleClass, string>(x => x.StringProperty);
SampleClass sampleClassInstance = new SampleClass()
{
IntegerProperty = 1,
StringProperty = "2"
};
Assert.AreEqual(1, getterIntegerProperty(sampleClassInstance));
Assert.AreEqual("2", getterStringProperty(sampleClassInstance));
}
[Test]
public void CreateDefaultConstructorTest()
{
var defaultConstructor = ExpressionUtils.CreateDefaultConstructor<SampleClass>();
var setterIntegerProperty = ExpressionUtils.CreateSetter<SampleClass, int>(x => x.IntegerProperty);
var sampleEntity = defaultConstructor();
setterIntegerProperty(sampleEntity, 1);
Assert.AreEqual(1, sampleEntity.IntegerProperty);
}
}
}