Convert Dictionary To Anonymous Object?

Question

First, and to make things clearer I\'ll explain my scenario from the top:

I have a method which has the following signature:

public virtual void Send         


        

Answer 1

Slightly more modular version of svick's answer, using a couple extension methods:

public static class Extensions
{
    public static void AddRange<T>(this ICollection<T> collection, IEnumerable<T> items)
    {
        foreach (var item in items)
        {
            collection.Add(item);
        }
    }

    public static dynamic ToDynamicObject(this IDictionary<string, object> source)
    {
        ICollection<KeyValuePair<string, object>> someObject = new ExpandoObject();
        someObject.AddRange(source);
        return someObject;
    }
}

Answer 2

The credit here goes to the accepted answer. Adding this because I wanted to turn a List< Dictionary< string,object >> into a List< dynamic>. The purpose is for pulling records from a database table. Here is what I did.

    public static List<dynamic> ListDictionaryToListDynamic(List<Dictionary<string,object>> dbRecords)
    {
        var eRecords = new List<dynamic>();
        foreach (var record in dbRecords)
        {
            var eRecord = new ExpandoObject() as IDictionary<string, object>;
            foreach (var kvp in record)
            {
                eRecord.Add(kvp);
            }
            eRecords.Add(eRecord);
        }
        return eRecords;
    }

Answer 3

If you want to convert Dictionary<string, object> To Anonymous System.Object. You can use this method:

public static object FromDictToAnonymousObj<TValue>(IDictionary<string, TValue> dict)
{
    var types = new Type[dict.Count];

    for (int i = 0; i < types.Length; i++)
    {
        types[i] = typeof(TValue);
    }

    // dictionaries don't have an order, so we force an order based
    // on the Key
    var ordered = dict.OrderBy(x => x.Key).ToArray();

    string[] names = Array.ConvertAll(ordered, x => x.Key);

    Type type = AnonymousType.CreateType(types, names);

    object[] values = Array.ConvertAll(ordered, x => (object)x.Value);

    object obj = type.GetConstructor(types).Invoke(values);

    return obj;
}

like this:

var dict = new Dictionary<string, string>
{
    {"Id", "1"},
    {"Title", "My title"},
    {"Description", "Blah blah blah"},
};

object obj1 = FromDictToAnonymousObj(dict);

to obtain your object. Where AnonymousType class code is:

using System;
using System.Collections.Concurrent;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Reflection.Emit;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;

/// <summary>
/// The code generated should be nearly equal to the one generated by
/// csc 12.0.31101.0 when compiling with /optimize+ /debug-. The main
/// difference is in the GetHashCode() (the base init_hash used is 
/// compiler-dependant) and in the maxstack of the generated methods.
/// Note that Roslyn (at least the one present at 
/// tryroslyn.azurewebsites.net) generates different code for anonymous
/// types.
/// </summary>
public static class AnonymousType
{
    private static readonly ConcurrentDictionary<string, Type> GeneratedTypes = new ConcurrentDictionary<string, Type>();

    private static readonly AssemblyBuilder AssemblyBuilder;
    private static readonly ModuleBuilder ModuleBuilder;
    private static readonly string FileName;

    // Some objects we cache
    private static readonly CustomAttributeBuilder CompilerGeneratedAttributeBuilder = new CustomAttributeBuilder(typeof(CompilerGeneratedAttribute).GetConstructor(Type.EmptyTypes), new object[0]);
    private static readonly CustomAttributeBuilder DebuggerBrowsableAttributeBuilder = new CustomAttributeBuilder(typeof(DebuggerBrowsableAttribute).GetConstructor(new[] { typeof(DebuggerBrowsableState) }), new object[] { DebuggerBrowsableState.Never });
    private static readonly CustomAttributeBuilder DebuggerHiddenAttributeBuilder = new CustomAttributeBuilder(typeof(DebuggerHiddenAttribute).GetConstructor(Type.EmptyTypes), new object[0]);

    private static readonly ConstructorInfo ObjectCtor = typeof(object).GetConstructor(Type.EmptyTypes);
    private static readonly MethodInfo ObjectToString = typeof(object).GetMethod("ToString", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public, null, Type.EmptyTypes, null);

    private static readonly ConstructorInfo StringBuilderCtor = typeof(StringBuilder).GetConstructor(Type.EmptyTypes);
    private static readonly MethodInfo StringBuilderAppendString = typeof(StringBuilder).GetMethod("Append", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public, null, new[] { typeof(string) }, null);
    private static readonly MethodInfo StringBuilderAppendObject = typeof(StringBuilder).GetMethod("Append", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public, null, new[] { typeof(object) }, null);

    private static readonly Type EqualityComparer = typeof(EqualityComparer<>);
    private static readonly Type EqualityComparerGenericArgument = EqualityComparer.GetGenericArguments()[0];
    private static readonly MethodInfo EqualityComparerDefault = EqualityComparer.GetMethod("get_Default", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public, null, Type.EmptyTypes, null);
    private static readonly MethodInfo EqualityComparerEquals = EqualityComparer.GetMethod("Equals", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public, null, new[] { EqualityComparerGenericArgument, EqualityComparerGenericArgument }, null);
    private static readonly MethodInfo EqualityComparerGetHashCode = EqualityComparer.GetMethod("GetHashCode", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public, null, new[] { EqualityComparerGenericArgument }, null);

    private static int Index = -1;

    static AnonymousType()
    {
        var assemblyName = new AssemblyName("AnonymousTypes");

        FileName = assemblyName.Name + ".dll";

        AssemblyBuilder = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.DefineDynamicAssembly(assemblyName, AssemblyBuilderAccess.RunAndSave);
        ModuleBuilder = AssemblyBuilder.DefineDynamicModule("AnonymousTypes", FileName);
    }

    public static void Dump()
    {
        AssemblyBuilder.Save(FileName);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// 
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="types"></param>
    /// <param name="names"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static Type CreateType(Type[] types, string[] names)
    {
        if (types == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("types");
        }

        if (names == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("names");
        }

        if (types.Length != names.Length)
        {
            throw new ArgumentException("names");
        }

        // Anonymous classes are generics based. The generic classes
        // are distinguished by number of parameters and name of 
        // parameters. The specific types of the parameters are the 
        // generic arguments. We recreate this by creating a fullName
        // composed of all the property names, separated by a "|"
        string fullName = string.Join("|", names.Select(x => Escape(x)));

        Type type;

        if (!GeneratedTypes.TryGetValue(fullName, out type))
        {
            // We create only a single class at a time, through this lock
            // Note that this is a variant of the double-checked locking.
            // It is safe because we are using a thread safe class.
            lock (GeneratedTypes)
            {
                if (!GeneratedTypes.TryGetValue(fullName, out type))
                {
                    int index = Interlocked.Increment(ref Index);

                    string name = names.Length != 0 ? string.Format("<>f__AnonymousType{0}`{1}", index, names.Length) : string.Format("<>f__AnonymousType{0}", index);
                    TypeBuilder tb = ModuleBuilder.DefineType(name, TypeAttributes.AnsiClass | TypeAttributes.Class | TypeAttributes.AutoLayout | TypeAttributes.NotPublic | TypeAttributes.Sealed | TypeAttributes.BeforeFieldInit);
                    tb.SetCustomAttribute(CompilerGeneratedAttributeBuilder);

                    GenericTypeParameterBuilder[] generics = null;

                    if (names.Length != 0)
                    {
                        string[] genericNames = Array.ConvertAll(names, x => string.Format("<{0}>j__TPar", x));
                        generics = tb.DefineGenericParameters(genericNames);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        generics = new GenericTypeParameterBuilder[0];
                    }

                    // .ctor
                    ConstructorBuilder constructor = tb.DefineConstructor(MethodAttributes.Public | MethodAttributes.HideBySig, CallingConventions.HasThis, generics);
                    constructor.SetCustomAttribute(DebuggerHiddenAttributeBuilder);
                    ILGenerator ilgeneratorConstructor = constructor.GetILGenerator();
                    ilgeneratorConstructor.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0);
                    ilgeneratorConstructor.Emit(OpCodes.Call, ObjectCtor);

                    var fields = new FieldBuilder[names.Length];

                    // There are two for cycles because we want to have
                    // all the getter methods before all the other 
                    // methods
                    for (int i = 0; i < names.Length; i++)
                    {
                        // field
                        fields[i] = tb.DefineField(string.Format("<{0}>i__Field", names[i]), generics[i], FieldAttributes.Private | FieldAttributes.InitOnly);
                        fields[i].SetCustomAttribute(DebuggerBrowsableAttributeBuilder);

                        // .ctor
                        constructor.DefineParameter(i + 1, ParameterAttributes.None, names[i]);
                        ilgeneratorConstructor.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0);

                        if (i == 0)
                        {
                            ilgeneratorConstructor.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_1);
                        }
                        else if (i == 1)
                        {
                            ilgeneratorConstructor.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_2);
                        }
                        else if (i == 2)
                        {
                            ilgeneratorConstructor.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_3);
                        }
                        else if (i < 255)
                        {
                            ilgeneratorConstructor.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, (byte)(i + 1));
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            // Ldarg uses a ushort, but the Emit only
                            // accepts short, so we use a unchecked(...),
                            // cast to short and let the CLR interpret it
                            // as ushort
                            ilgeneratorConstructor.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg, unchecked((short)(i + 1)));
                        }

                        ilgeneratorConstructor.Emit(OpCodes.Stfld, fields[i]);

                        // getter
                        MethodBuilder getter = tb.DefineMethod(string.Format("get_{0}", names[i]), MethodAttributes.Public | MethodAttributes.HideBySig | MethodAttributes.SpecialName, CallingConventions.HasThis, generics[i], Type.EmptyTypes);
                        ILGenerator ilgeneratorGetter = getter.GetILGenerator();
                        ilgeneratorGetter.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0);
                        ilgeneratorGetter.Emit(OpCodes.Ldfld, fields[i]);
                        ilgeneratorGetter.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);

                        PropertyBuilder property = tb.DefineProperty(names[i], PropertyAttributes.None, CallingConventions.HasThis, generics[i], Type.EmptyTypes);
                        property.SetGetMethod(getter);
                    }

                    // ToString()
                    MethodBuilder toString = tb.DefineMethod("ToString", MethodAttributes.Public | MethodAttributes.Virtual | MethodAttributes.HideBySig, CallingConventions.HasThis, typeof(string), Type.EmptyTypes);
                    toString.SetCustomAttribute(DebuggerHiddenAttributeBuilder);
                    ILGenerator ilgeneratorToString = toString.GetILGenerator();

                    ilgeneratorToString.DeclareLocal(typeof(StringBuilder));

                    ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Newobj, StringBuilderCtor);
                    ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Stloc_0);

                    // Equals
                    MethodBuilder equals = tb.DefineMethod("Equals", MethodAttributes.Public | MethodAttributes.Virtual | MethodAttributes.HideBySig, CallingConventions.HasThis, typeof(bool), new[] { typeof(object) });
                    equals.SetCustomAttribute(DebuggerHiddenAttributeBuilder);
                    equals.DefineParameter(1, ParameterAttributes.None, "value");
                    ILGenerator ilgeneratorEquals = equals.GetILGenerator();
                    ilgeneratorEquals.DeclareLocal(tb);

                    ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_1);
                    ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Isinst, tb);
                    ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Stloc_0);
                    ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Ldloc_0);

                    Label equalsLabel = ilgeneratorEquals.DefineLabel();

                    // GetHashCode()
                    MethodBuilder getHashCode = tb.DefineMethod("GetHashCode", MethodAttributes.Public | MethodAttributes.Virtual | MethodAttributes.HideBySig, CallingConventions.HasThis, typeof(int), Type.EmptyTypes);
                    getHashCode.SetCustomAttribute(DebuggerHiddenAttributeBuilder);
                    ILGenerator ilgeneratorGetHashCode = getHashCode.GetILGenerator();
                    ilgeneratorGetHashCode.DeclareLocal(typeof(int));

                    if (names.Length == 0)
                    {
                        ilgeneratorGetHashCode.Emit(OpCodes.Ldc_I4_0);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        // As done by Roslyn
                        // Note that initHash can vary, because
                        // string.GetHashCode() isn't "stable" for 
                        // different compilation of the code
                        int initHash = 0;

                        for (int i = 0; i < names.Length; i++)
                        {
                            initHash = unchecked(initHash * (-1521134295) + fields[i].Name.GetHashCode());
                        }

                        // Note that the CSC seems to generate a 
                        // different seed for every anonymous class
                        ilgeneratorGetHashCode.Emit(OpCodes.Ldc_I4, initHash);
                    }

                    for (int i = 0; i < names.Length; i++)
                    {
                        // Equals()
                        Type equalityComparerT = EqualityComparer.MakeGenericType(generics[i]);
                        MethodInfo equalityComparerTDefault = TypeBuilder.GetMethod(equalityComparerT, EqualityComparerDefault);
                        MethodInfo equalityComparerTEquals = TypeBuilder.GetMethod(equalityComparerT, EqualityComparerEquals);

                        ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Brfalse_S, equalsLabel);
                        ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Call, equalityComparerTDefault);
                        ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0);
                        ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Ldfld, fields[i]);
                        ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Ldloc_0);
                        ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Ldfld, fields[i]);
                        ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Callvirt, equalityComparerTEquals);

                        // GetHashCode();
                        MethodInfo EqualityComparerTGetHashCode = TypeBuilder.GetMethod(equalityComparerT, EqualityComparerGetHashCode);

                        ilgeneratorGetHashCode.Emit(OpCodes.Stloc_0);
                        ilgeneratorGetHashCode.Emit(OpCodes.Ldc_I4, -1521134295);
                        ilgeneratorGetHashCode.Emit(OpCodes.Ldloc_0);
                        ilgeneratorGetHashCode.Emit(OpCodes.Mul);
                        ilgeneratorGetHashCode.Emit(OpCodes.Call, EqualityComparerDefault);
                        ilgeneratorGetHashCode.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0);
                        ilgeneratorGetHashCode.Emit(OpCodes.Ldfld, fields[i]);
                        ilgeneratorGetHashCode.Emit(OpCodes.Callvirt, EqualityComparerGetHashCode);
                        ilgeneratorGetHashCode.Emit(OpCodes.Add);

                        // ToString()
                        ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Ldloc_0);
                        ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Ldstr, i == 0 ? string.Format("{{ {0} = ", names[i]) : string.Format(", {0} = ", names[i]));
                        ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Callvirt, StringBuilderAppendString);
                        ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Pop);
                        ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Ldloc_0);
                        ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0);
                        ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Ldfld, fields[i]);
                        ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Box, generics[i]);
                        ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Callvirt, StringBuilderAppendObject);
                        ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Pop);
                    }

                    // .ctor
                    ilgeneratorConstructor.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);

                    // Equals()
                    if (names.Length == 0)
                    {
                        ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Ldnull);
                        ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Ceq);
                        ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Ldc_I4_0);
                        ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Ceq);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);
                        ilgeneratorEquals.MarkLabel(equalsLabel);
                        ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Ldc_I4_0);
                    }

                    ilgeneratorEquals.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);

                    // GetHashCode()
                    ilgeneratorGetHashCode.Emit(OpCodes.Stloc_0);
                    ilgeneratorGetHashCode.Emit(OpCodes.Ldloc_0);
                    ilgeneratorGetHashCode.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);

                    // ToString()
                    ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Ldloc_0);
                    ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Ldstr, names.Length == 0 ? "{ }" : " }");
                    ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Callvirt, StringBuilderAppendString);
                    ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Pop);
                    ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Ldloc_0);
                    ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Callvirt, ObjectToString);
                    ilgeneratorToString.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);

                    type = tb.CreateType();

                    type = GeneratedTypes.GetOrAdd(fullName, type);
                }
            }
        }

        if (types.Length != 0)
        {
            type = type.MakeGenericType(types);
        }

        return type;
    }

    private static string Escape(string str)
    {
        // We escape the \ with \\, so that we can safely escape the
        // "|" (that we use as a separator) with "\|"
        str = str.Replace(@"\", @"\\");
        str = str.Replace(@"|", @"\|");
        return str;
    }
}

Reference: https://stackoverflow.com/a/29428640/2073920

Answer 4

If you really want to convert the dictionary to an object that has the items of the dictionary as properties, you can use ExpandoObject:

var dict = new Dictionary<string, object> { { "Property", "foo" } };
var eo = new ExpandoObject();
var eoColl = (ICollection<KeyValuePair<string, object>>)eo;

foreach (var kvp in dict)
{
    eoColl.Add(kvp);
}

dynamic eoDynamic = eo;

string value = eoDynamic.Property;

But I'm not sure how is doing that going to help you.

Answer 5

If you have a class you want to covert the dictionary too, you can use the following to convert a dictionary to an object of that class:

Example class:

public class Properties1
{
    public string Property { get; set; }
}

The solution:

JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
Dictionary<string, object> dict = new Dictionary<string, object> { { "Property", "foo" } };
Properties1 properties = serializer.ConvertToType<Properties1>(dict);
string value = properties.Property;

---

You could also use a method like this to build the object from the dictionary, obviously this also requires you to have a class.

private static T DictionaryToObject<T>(IDictionary<string, object> dict) where T : new()
{
    T t = new T();
    PropertyInfo[] properties = t.GetType().GetProperties();

    foreach (PropertyInfo property in properties)
    {
        if (!dict.Any(x => x.Key.Equals(property.Name, 
            StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase)))
            continue;
        KeyValuePair<string, object> item = dict.First(x => x.Key.Equals(property.Name,
            StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase));
        Type tPropertyType = t.GetType().GetProperty(property.Name).PropertyType;
        Type newT = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(tPropertyType) ?? tPropertyType;
        object newA = Convert.ChangeType(item.Value, newT);
        t.GetType().GetProperty(property.Name).SetValue(t, newA, null);
    }
    return t;
}

---

However if you do not have the class you can create a dynamic object from a dictionary like this:

private static dynamic DictionaryToObject(Dictionary<string, object> dict)
{
    IDictionary<string, object> eo = (IDictionary<string, object>)new ExpandoObject();
    foreach (KeyValuePair<string, object> kvp in dict)
    {
        eo.Add(kvp);
    }
    return eo;
}

You can use it like this:

Dictionary<string, object> dict = new Dictionary<string, object> {{ "Property", "foo" }};
dynamic properties = DictionaryToObject(dict);
string value = properties.Property;

Answer 6

Anonymous objects are one that generated for you by compiler. You cannot generate dynamically create one. On the other hand you can emit such object, but I really do not think this is good idea.

May be you can try dynamic objects? The result will be an object with all properties you need.