Get generic type of call to method in dynamic object

Question

I'm starting to work with dynamic objects in .Net and I can't figure out how to do something.

I have a class that inherits from DynamicObject, and I override the TryInvokeMember method.

e.g.

class MyCustomDynamicClass : DynamicObject
{
    public override bool TryInvokeMember(InvokeMemberBinder binder, object[] args, out object result)
    {
        // I want to know here the type of the generic argument
    }
}

And inside that method I want to know the type (if any) of the generic arguments in the invocation.

e.g. If I invoke the following code, I want to get the value of System.Boolean and System.Int32 inside the overrided method of my dynamic object

dynamic myObject = new MyCustomDynamicClass();
myObject.SomeMethod<bool>("arg");
myObject.SomeOtherMethod<int>("arg");

Currently if I place a breakpoint inside the overrided method I can get the name of the method being invoked ("SomeMethod" and "SomeOtherMethod", and also the values of the arguments, but not the generic types).

How can I get these values?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Actually I looked through the hierarchy of the binder and found a property with the needed values in the internal fields of the object.

The problem is that the property isn't exposed because it uses C#-specific code/classes, therefore the properties must be accessed using Reflection.

I found the code in this japanese blog: http://neue.cc/category/programming (I don't read any japanese, therefore I'm not sure if the author actually describes this same issue

Here's the snippet:

var csharpBinder = binder.GetType().GetInterface("Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.ICSharpInvokeOrInvokeMemberBinder");
var typeArgs = (csharpBinder.GetProperty("TypeArguments").GetValue(binder, null) as IList<Type>);

typeArgs is a list containing the types of the generic arguments used when invoking the method.

Hope this helps someone else.

Answer 2

A bit of googling and I have quite generic solution for .NET and Mono:

/// <summary>Framework detection and specific implementations.</summary>
public static class FrameworkTools
{
    private static bool _isMono = Type.GetType("Mono.Runtime") != null;

    private static Func<InvokeMemberBinder, IList<Type>> _frameworkTypeArgumentsGetter = null;

    /// <summary>Gets a value indicating whether application is running under mono runtime.</summary>
    public static bool IsMono { get { return _isMono; } }

    static FrameworkTools()
    {
        _frameworkTypeArgumentsGetter = CreateTypeArgumentsGetter();
    }

    private static Func<InvokeMemberBinder, IList<Type>> CreateTypeArgumentsGetter()
    {
        if (IsMono)
        {
            var binderType = typeof(Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.RuntimeBinderException).Assembly.GetType("Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.CSharpInvokeMemberBinder");

            if (binderType != null)
            {
                ParameterExpression param = Expression.Parameter(typeof(InvokeMemberBinder), "o");

                return Expression.Lambda<Func<InvokeMemberBinder, IList<Type>>>(
                    Expression.TypeAs(
                        Expression.Field(
                            Expression.TypeAs(param, binderType), "typeArguments"),
                        typeof(IList<Type>)), param).Compile();
            }
        }
        else
        {
            var inter = typeof(Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.RuntimeBinderException).Assembly.GetType("Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.ICSharpInvokeOrInvokeMemberBinder");

            if (inter != null)
            {
                var prop = inter.GetProperty("TypeArguments");

                if (!prop.CanRead)
                    return null;

                var objParm = Expression.Parameter(typeof(InvokeMemberBinder), "o");

                return Expression.Lambda<Func<InvokeMemberBinder, IList<Type>>>(
                    Expression.TypeAs(
                        Expression.Property(
                            Expression.TypeAs(objParm, inter),
                            prop.Name),
                        typeof(IList<Type>)), objParm).Compile();
            }
        }

        return null;
    }

    /// <summary>Extension method allowing to easyly extract generic type arguments from <see cref="InvokeMemberBinder"/>.</summary>
    /// <param name="binder">Binder from which get type arguments.</param>
    /// <returns>List of types passed as generic parameters.</returns>
    public static IList<Type> GetGenericTypeArguments(this InvokeMemberBinder binder)
    {
        // First try to use delegate if exist
        if (_frameworkTypeArgumentsGetter != null)
            return _frameworkTypeArgumentsGetter(binder);

        if (_isMono)
        {
            // In mono this is trivial.

            // First we get field info.
            var field = binder.GetType().GetField("typeArguments", BindingFlags.Instance |
                BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Static);

            // If this was a success get and return it's value
            if (field != null)
                return field.GetValue(binder) as IList<Type>;
        }
        else
        {
            // In this case, we need more aerobic :D

            // First, get the interface
            var inter = binder.GetType().GetInterface("Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.ICSharpInvokeOrInvokeMemberBinder");

            if (inter != null)
            {
                // Now get property.
                var prop = inter.GetProperty("TypeArguments");

                // If we have a property, return it's value
                if (prop != null)
                    return prop.GetValue(binder, null) as IList<Type>;
            }
        }

        // Sadly return null if failed.
        return null;
    }
}

Have fun. By the way Impromptu is cool, but I can't use it.

Answer 3

The open source framework Dynamitey can call properties that internal/protected/private using the DLR and thus works with Silverlight. But it get's a little tricky with interface explicit members as you have to use the actual full name of the member on the the type, rather than the interface member name. So you can do:

var typeArgs = Dynamic.InvokeGet(binder, "Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.ICSharpInvokeOrInvokeMemberBinder.TypeArguments")
     as IList<Type>;