How can I get a reference to a property's setter?

Question

I have some asp.net code that populates the fields in a LINQ to SQL object (all string fields) with values from a posted form:

            userSelections.A = Request.Form["A"];
            userSelections.B = Request.Form["B"];
            userSelections.C = Request.Form["C"];
            userSelections.D = Request.Form["D"];

I want to store the name of the form field and the associated setter object in a table, so I can iterate through the whole set without having to write a bunch of repeating code.

Is there a way to get a delegate to a property setter? i.e., say I have class myClass, with string property myProperty. Can I get a delegate, something like void myPropertySetterDelegate(string val, MyClass this), that can be used with any instance of the class?

I know this can be done with reflection, but other developers on my project have performance concerns, so I would prefer a non-reflection solution if possible.

Thanks!

Answer 1

You can use a lambda:

Action<MyClass, string> myPropertySetter = (mc, s) => mc.MyProperty = s;

And you have an instance of MyClass:

MyClass something = repo.GetMyClass();
myPropertySetter(something, valueFromSomewhere);

Now, following your example:

Dictionary<string, Action<MyClass, string>> setters = new Dictionary<string, Action<MyClass, string>>();
setters.Add("A", Action<MyClass, string> myPropertySetter = (mc, s) => mc.A = s);
[...]

Later:

MyClass something = getFromSomewhere();
foreach (string key in Request.Form.Keys)
{
  setters[key](something, Request.Form[key]);
}