Is there a C# equivalent of Java's Annotation Processing Tool (apt)?

Question

Java's apt tool allows you to execute code at compile time based upon the annotations you place in your code. C# has attributes, which work like Java's annotations, but try as I might I can't seem to find a ready-made tool (ideally an open source one) that provides the same functionality for C# as apt does for Java. Does such a tool exist?

Answer 1

There are some. Such as:

1. Sprint.Net (Open source?) http://www.springframework.net/doc-latest/reference/html/aop.html
2. Postsharp (Costs Money) http://www.sharpcrafters.com/aop.net/custom-attributes
3. A tutorial (Open source) http://www.codeproject.com/KB/architecture/aopsimplestscenario.aspx

The google search I used was:

https://www.google.com/search?q=.net+aop+attributes&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

I have had a look at PostSharp quickly before and it looks very tidy. Sprint.Net is a port from the java Sprint library I believe. There are also numerous code generation libraries out there that you could leverage by reflecting over your assembiles and performing your logic.

Answer 2

The short answer is No.

But if you are willing to do your own tool, take a look at Mono.Cecil for instance. It allows to inspect and modify an assembly. If are using Visual Studio (or similar) you can setup a project so that it executes commands after building (i.e. executes your Mono.Cecil based tool).

Answer 3

take a look af fody, a extensible tool for weaving .net assemblies: https://github.com/Fody/Fody