Comparing object properties in c# [closed]

Answer 1

here is revised one to treat null = null as equal

 private bool PublicInstancePropertiesEqual<T>(T self, T to, params string[] ignore) where T : class
        {
            if (self != null && to != null)
            {
                Type type = typeof(T);
                List<string> ignoreList = new List<string>(ignore);
                foreach (PropertyInfo pi in type.GetProperties(BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance))
                {
                    if (!ignoreList.Contains(pi.Name))
                    {
                        object selfValue = type.GetProperty(pi.Name).GetValue(self, null);
                        object toValue = type.GetProperty(pi.Name).GetValue(to, null);
                        if (selfValue != null)
                        {
                            if (!selfValue.Equals(toValue))
                                return false;
                        }
                        else if (toValue != null)
                            return false;
                    }
                }
                return true;
            }
            return self == to;
        }

Answer 2

You can optimize your code by calling GetProperties only once per type:

public static string ToStringNullSafe(this object obj)
{
    return obj != null ? obj.ToString() : String.Empty;
}
public static bool Compare<T>(T a, T b, params string[] ignore)
{
    var aProps = a.GetType().GetProperties();
    var bProps = b.GetType().GetProperties();
    int count = aProps.Count();
    string aa, bb;
    for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
    {
        aa = aProps[i].GetValue(a, null).ToStringNullSafe();
        bb = bProps[i].GetValue(b, null).ToStringNullSafe();
        if (aa != bb && ignore.Where(x => x == aProps[i].Name).Count() == 0)
        {
            return false;
        }
    }
    return true;
}

Answer 3

This works even if the objects are different. you could customize the methods in the utilities class maybe you want to compare private properties as well...

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

class ObjectA
{
    public string PropertyA { get; set; }
    public string PropertyB { get; set; }
    public string PropertyC { get; set; }
    public DateTime PropertyD { get; set; }

    public string FieldA;
    public DateTime FieldB;
}

class ObjectB
{
    public string PropertyA { get; set; }
    public string PropertyB { get; set; }
    public string PropertyC { get; set; }
    public DateTime PropertyD { get; set; }


    public string FieldA;
    public DateTime FieldB;


}

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // create two objects with same properties
        ObjectA a = new ObjectA() { PropertyA = "test", PropertyB = "test2", PropertyC = "test3" };
        ObjectB b = new ObjectB() { PropertyA = "test", PropertyB = "test2", PropertyC = "test3" };

        // add fields to those objects
        a.FieldA = "hello";
        b.FieldA = "Something differnt";

        if (a.ComparePropertiesTo(b))
        {
            Console.WriteLine("objects have the same properties");
        }
        else
        {
            Console.WriteLine("objects have diferent properties!");
        }


        if (a.CompareFieldsTo(b))
        {
            Console.WriteLine("objects have the same Fields");
        }
        else
        {
            Console.WriteLine("objects have diferent Fields!");
        }

        Console.Read();
    }
}

public static class Utilities
{
    public static bool ComparePropertiesTo(this Object a, Object b)
    {
        System.Reflection.PropertyInfo[] properties = a.GetType().GetProperties(); // get all the properties of object a

        foreach (var property in properties)
        {
            var propertyName = property.Name;

            var aValue = a.GetType().GetProperty(propertyName).GetValue(a, null);
            object bValue;

            try // try to get the same property from object b. maybe that property does
                // not exist! 
            {
                bValue = b.GetType().GetProperty(propertyName).GetValue(b, null);
            }
            catch
            {
                return false;
            }

            if (aValue == null && bValue == null)
                continue;

            if (aValue == null && bValue != null)
                return false;

            if (aValue != null && bValue == null)
               return false;

            // if properties do not match return false
            if (aValue.GetHashCode() != bValue.GetHashCode())
            {
                return false;
            }
        }

        return true;
    }



    public static bool CompareFieldsTo(this Object a, Object b)
    {
        System.Reflection.FieldInfo[] fields = a.GetType().GetFields(); // get all the properties of object a

        foreach (var field in fields)
        {
            var fieldName = field.Name;

            var aValue = a.GetType().GetField(fieldName).GetValue(a);

            object bValue;

            try // try to get the same property from object b. maybe that property does
            // not exist! 
            {
                bValue = b.GetType().GetField(fieldName).GetValue(b);
            }
            catch
            {
                return false;
            }

            if (aValue == null && bValue == null)
               continue;

            if (aValue == null && bValue != null)
               return false;

            if (aValue != null && bValue == null)
               return false;


            // if properties do not match return false
            if (aValue.GetHashCode() != bValue.GetHashCode())
            {
                return false;
            }
        }

        return true;
    }


}

Answer 4

my solution inspired from Aras Alenin answer above where I added one level of object comparison and a custom object for comparison results. I am also interested to get property name with object name:

    public static IEnumerable<ObjectPropertyChanged> GetPublicSimplePropertiesChanged<T>(this T previous, T proposedChange,
     string[] namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored) where T : class
    {
        return GetPublicGenericPropertiesChanged(previous, proposedChange, namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored, true, null, null);
    }

    public static IReadOnlyList<ObjectPropertyChanged> GetPublicGenericPropertiesChanged<T>(this T previous, T proposedChange,
        string[] namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored) where T : class
    {
        return GetPublicGenericPropertiesChanged(previous, proposedChange, namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored, false, null, null);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the names of the public properties which values differs between first and second objects.
    /// Considers 'simple' properties AND for complex properties without index, get the simple properties of the children objects.
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
    /// <param name="previous">The previous object.</param>
    /// <param name="proposedChange">The second object which should be the new one.</param>
    /// <param name="namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored">The names of the properties to be ignored.</param>
    /// <param name="simpleTypeOnly">if set to <c>true</c> consider simple types only.</param>
    /// <param name="parentTypeString">The parent type string. Meant only for recursive call with simpleTypeOnly set to <c>true</c>.</param>
    /// <param name="secondType">when calling recursively, the current type of T must be clearly defined here, as T will be more generic (using base class).</param>
    /// <returns>
    /// the names of the properties
    /// </returns>
    private static IReadOnlyList<ObjectPropertyChanged> GetPublicGenericPropertiesChanged<T>(this T previous, T proposedChange,
        string[] namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored, bool simpleTypeOnly, string parentTypeString, Type secondType) where T : class
    {
        List<ObjectPropertyChanged> propertiesChanged = new List<ObjectPropertyChanged>();

        if (previous != null && proposedChange != null)
        {
            var type = secondType == null ? typeof(T) : secondType;
            string typeStr = parentTypeString + type.Name + ".";
            var ignoreList = namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored.CreateList();
            IEnumerable<IEnumerable<ObjectPropertyChanged>> genericPropertiesChanged =
                from pi in type.GetProperties(BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance)
                where !ignoreList.Contains(pi.Name) && pi.GetIndexParameters().Length == 0 
                    && (!simpleTypeOnly || simpleTypeOnly && pi.PropertyType.IsSimpleType())
                let firstValue = type.GetProperty(pi.Name).GetValue(previous, null)
                let secondValue = type.GetProperty(pi.Name).GetValue(proposedChange, null)
                where firstValue != secondValue && (firstValue == null || !firstValue.Equals(secondValue))
                let subPropertiesChanged = simpleTypeOnly || pi.PropertyType.IsSimpleType()
                    ? null
                    : GetPublicGenericPropertiesChanged(firstValue, secondValue, namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored, true, typeStr, pi.PropertyType)
                let objectPropertiesChanged = subPropertiesChanged != null && subPropertiesChanged.Count() > 0
                    ? subPropertiesChanged
                    : (new ObjectPropertyChanged(proposedChange.ToString(), typeStr + pi.Name, firstValue.ToStringOrNull(), secondValue.ToStringOrNull())).CreateList()
                select objectPropertiesChanged;

            if (genericPropertiesChanged != null)
            {   // get items from sub lists
                genericPropertiesChanged.ForEach(a => propertiesChanged.AddRange(a));
            }
        }
        return propertiesChanged;
    }

Using the following class to store comparison results

[System.Serializable]
public class ObjectPropertyChanged
{
    public ObjectPropertyChanged(string objectId, string propertyName, string previousValue, string changedValue)
    {
        ObjectId = objectId;
        PropertyName = propertyName;
        PreviousValue = previousValue;
        ProposedChangedValue = changedValue;
    }

    public string ObjectId { get; set; }

    public string PropertyName { get; set; }

    public string PreviousValue { get; set; }

    public string ProposedChangedValue { get; set; }
}

And a sample unit test:

    [TestMethod()]
    public void GetPublicGenericPropertiesChangedTest1()
    {
        // Define objects to test
        Function func1 = new Function { Id = 1, Description = "func1" };
        Function func2 = new Function { Id = 2, Description = "func2" };
        FunctionAssignment funcAss1 = new FunctionAssignment
        {
            Function = func1,
            Level = 1
        };
        FunctionAssignment funcAss2 = new FunctionAssignment
        {
            Function = func2,
            Level = 2
        };

        // Main test: read properties changed
        var propertiesChanged = Utils.GetPublicGenericPropertiesChanged(funcAss1, funcAss2, null);

        Assert.IsNotNull(propertiesChanged);
        Assert.IsTrue(propertiesChanged.Count == 3);
        Assert.IsTrue(propertiesChanged[0].PropertyName == "FunctionAssignment.Function.Description");
        Assert.IsTrue(propertiesChanged[1].PropertyName == "FunctionAssignment.Function.Id");
        Assert.IsTrue(propertiesChanged[2].PropertyName == "FunctionAssignment.Level");
    }

Answer 5

I would add the following line to the PublicInstancePropertiesEqual method to avoid copy & paste errors:

Assert.AreNotSame(self, to);

Answer 6

This method will get properties of the class and compare the values for each property. If any of the values are different, it will return false, else it will return true.

public static bool Compare<T>(T Object1, T object2)
{
    //Get the type of the object
    Type type = typeof(T);

    //return false if any of the object is false
    if (Object1 == null || object2 == null)
        return false;

    //Loop through each properties inside class and get values for the property from both the objects and compare
    foreach (System.Reflection.PropertyInfo property in type.GetProperties())
    {
        if (property.Name != "ExtensionData")
        {
            string Object1Value = string.Empty;
            string Object2Value = string.Empty;
            if (type.GetProperty(property.Name).GetValue(Object1, null) != null)
                Object1Value = type.GetProperty(property.Name).GetValue(Object1, null).ToString();
            if (type.GetProperty(property.Name).GetValue(object2, null) != null)
                Object2Value = type.GetProperty(property.Name).GetValue(object2, null).ToString();
            if (Object1Value.Trim() != Object2Value.Trim())
            {
                return false;
            }
        }
    }
    return true;
}

Usage:

bool isEqual = Compare<Employee>(Object1, Object2)