How do you do a deep copy of an object in .NET? [duplicate]

Answer 1

I have a simpler idea. Use LINQ with a new selection.

public class Fruit
{
  public string Name {get; set;}
  public int SeedCount {get; set;}
}

void SomeMethod()
{
  List<Fruit> originalFruits = new List<Fruit>();
  originalFruits.Add(new Fruit {Name="Apple", SeedCount=10});
  originalFruits.Add(new Fruit {Name="Banana", SeedCount=0});

  //Deep Copy
  List<Fruit> deepCopiedFruits = from f in originalFruits
              select new Fruit {Name=f.Name, SeedCount=f.SeedCount};
}

Answer 2

You can try this

    public static object DeepCopy(object obj)
    {
        if (obj == null)
            return null;
        Type type = obj.GetType();

        if (type.IsValueType || type == typeof(string))
        {
            return obj;
        }
        else if (type.IsArray)
        {
            Type elementType = Type.GetType(
                 type.FullName.Replace("[]", string.Empty));
            var array = obj as Array;
            Array copied = Array.CreateInstance(elementType, array.Length);
            for (int i = 0; i < array.Length; i++)
            {
                copied.SetValue(DeepCopy(array.GetValue(i)), i);
            }
            return Convert.ChangeType(copied, obj.GetType());
        }
        else if (type.IsClass)
        {

            object toret = Activator.CreateInstance(obj.GetType());
            FieldInfo[] fields = type.GetFields(BindingFlags.Public |
                        BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
            foreach (FieldInfo field in fields)
            {
                object fieldValue = field.GetValue(obj);
                if (fieldValue == null)
                    continue;
                field.SetValue(toret, DeepCopy(fieldValue));
            }
            return toret;
        }
        else
            throw new ArgumentException("Unknown type");
    }

Thanks to DetoX83 article on code project.

Answer 3

Maybe you only need a shallow copy, in that case use Object.MemberWiseClone().

There are good recommendations in the documentation for MemberWiseClone() for strategies to deep copy: -

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.object.memberwiseclone.aspx

Answer 4

I've seen a few different approaches to this, but I use a generic utility method as such:

public static T DeepClone<T>(this T obj)
{
 using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
 {
   var formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
   formatter.Serialize(ms, obj);
   ms.Position = 0;

   return (T) formatter.Deserialize(ms);
 }
}

Notes:

• Your class MUST be marked as [Serializable] for this to work.

• Your source file must include the following code:

  using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary;
  using System.IO;
  

Answer 5

The MSDN documentation seems to hint that Clone should perform a deep copy, but it is never explicitly stated:

The ICloneable interface contains one member, Clone, which is intended to support cloning beyond that supplied by MemberWiseClone… The MemberwiseClone method creates a shallow copy…

You can find my post helpful.

http://pragmaticcoding.com/index.php/cloning-objects-in-c/

Answer 6

    public static object CopyObject(object input)
    {
        if (input != null)
        {
            object result = Activator.CreateInstance(input.GetType());
            foreach (FieldInfo field in input.GetType().GetFields(Consts.AppConsts.FullBindingList))
            {
                if (field.FieldType.GetInterface("IList", false) == null)
                {
                    field.SetValue(result, field.GetValue(input));
                }
                else
                {
                    IList listObject = (IList)field.GetValue(result);
                    if (listObject != null)
                    {
                        foreach (object item in ((IList)field.GetValue(input)))
                        {
                            listObject.Add(CopyObject(item));
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            return result;
        }
        else
        {
            return null;
        }
    }

This way is a few times faster than BinarySerialization AND this does not require the [Serializable] attribute.