Generate custom setter using attributes

Question

In classes whose instances I persist using an object database, I keep having to do this:

private string _name;
public string Name
    {
    get { return this._na         


        

Answer 1

This requires aspect oriented programming. While not directly supported in .NET, it can be done via third party tooling, such as PostSharp.

For intellisense to work, however, this must be done in a library, as the (final) compiled code will be unrolled into the full property getter/setter.

Answer 2

Not easy to implement using attributes IMO. Maybe you could use another approach, such as an extension method:

// Extension method that allows updating a property
// and calling .Save() in a single line of code.
public static class ISaveableExtensions
{
    public static void UpdateAndSave<T>(
        this ISaveable instance,
        Expression<Func<T>> propertyExpression, T newValue)
    {
        // Gets the property name
        string propertyName = ((MemberExpression)propertyExpression.Body).Member.Name;

        // Updates its value
        PropertyInfo prop = instance.GetType().GetProperty(propertyName);
        prop.SetValue(instance, newValue, null);

        // Now call Save
        instance.Save();
    }
}
...
// Some interface that implements the Save method
public interface ISaveable
{
    void Save();
}
...
// Test class
public class Foo : ISaveable
{
    public string Property { get; set; }

    public void Save()
    {
        // Some stuff here
        Console.WriteLine("Saving");
    }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        return this.Property;
    }
}
...
public class Program
{
    private static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Foo d = new Foo();

        // Updates the property with a new value, and automatically call Save
        d.UpdateAndSave(() => d.Property, "newValue");

        Console.WriteLine(d);
        Console.ReadKey();
    }
}

It's type-safe, autocompletion-friendly, but it requires more code than just .Save() in all setters, so not sure I would use it actually...