How do I get around this lambda expression outer variable issue?

Question

I'm playing with PropertyDescriptor and ICustomTypeDescriptor (still) trying to bind a WPF DataGrid to an object, for which the data is stored in a Dictionary.

Since if you pass WPF DataGrid a list of Dictionary objects it will auto generate columns based on the public properties of a dictionary (Comparer, Count, Keys and Values) my Person subclasses Dictionary and implements ICustomTypeDescriptor.

ICustomTypeDescriptor defines a GetProperties method which returns a PropertyDescriptorCollection.

PropertyDescriptor is abstract so you have to subclass it, I figured I'd have a constructor that took Func and an Action parameters that delegate the getting and setting of the values in the dictionary.

I then create a PersonPropertyDescriptor for each Key in the dictionary like this:

            foreach (string s in this.Keys)
            {
                var descriptor = new PersonPropertyDescriptor(
                        s,
                        new Func<object>(() => { return this[s]; }),
                        new Action<object>(o => { this[s] = o; }));
                propList.Add(descriptor);
            }

The problem is that each property get's its own Func and Action but they all share the outer variable s so although the DataGrid autogenerates columns for "ID","FirstName","LastName", "Age", "Gender" they all get and set against "Gender" which is the final resting value of s in the foreach loop.

How can I ensure that each delegate uses the desired dictionary Key, i.e. the value of s at the time the Func/Action is instantiated?

Much obliged.

---

Here's the rest of my idea, I'm just experimenting here these are not 'real' classes...

// DataGrid binds to a People instance
public class People : List<Person>
{
    public People()
    {
        this.Add(new Person());
    }
}

public class Person : Dictionary<string, object>, ICustomTypeDescriptor
{
    private static PropertyDescriptorCollection descriptors;

    public Person()
    {
        this["ID"] = "201203";
        this["FirstName"] = "Bud";
        this["LastName"] = "Tree";
        this["Age"] = 99;
        this["Gender"] = "M";        
    }        

    //... other ICustomTypeDescriptor members...

    public PropertyDescriptorCollection GetProperties()
    {
        if (descriptors == null)
        {
            var propList = new List<PropertyDescriptor>();

            foreach (string s in this.Keys)
            {
                var descriptor = new PersonPropertyDescriptor(
                        s,
                        new Func<object>(() => { return this[s]; }),
                        new Action<object>(o => { this[s] = o; }));
                propList.Add(descriptor);
            }

            descriptors = new PropertyDescriptorCollection(propList.ToArray());
        }

        return descriptors;
    }

    //... other other ICustomTypeDescriptor members...

}

public class PersonPropertyDescriptor : PropertyDescriptor
{
    private Func<object> getFunc;
    private Action<object> setAction;

    public PersonPropertyDescriptor(string name, Func<object> getFunc, Action<object> setAction)
        : base(name, null)
    {
        this.getFunc = getFunc;
        this.setAction = setAction;
    }

    // other ... PropertyDescriptor members...

    public override object GetValue(object component)
    {
        return getFunc();
    }

    public override void SetValue(object component, object value)
    {
        setAction(value);
    }
}

Answer 1

Simply:

        foreach (string s in this.Keys)
        {
            string copy = s;
            var descriptor = new PersonPropertyDescriptor(
                    copy,
                    new Func<object>(() => { return this[copy]; }),
                    new Action<object>(o => { this[copy] = o; }));
            propList.Add(descriptor);
        }

With captured variables, it is where it is declared that is important. So by declaring the captured variable inside the loop, you get a different instance of the capture-class per iteration (the loop variable, s, is technically declared outside the loop).