How to add property-level Attribute to map ColumnAttribute at runtime?

Question

From this question we have implemented the ColumnAttribute association with the corresponding property, but when Linq to SQL tries to map this property to a Column it doesn\'t w

Answer 1

Reflection does not utilize type descriptors. Your test probably passed because another attribute is added to a class in code.

There is a way to change LINQ to SQL classes mapping on the fly. The trick is to add a XML mapping file to resources and use it when you create a data context. When you load XML data into memory, you can modify mappings as your needs dictate. This solution was described in detail here: Linq to sql using dynamic tables

The code snippet:

foreach (XElement col in xe.Descendants().Where(e => e.Name.LocalName == "Column")) {
    XAttribute name = col.Attributes().FirstOrDefault(a => a.Name.LocalName == "Name" && a.Value == "CategoryName");
    if (name != null)
        name.Value = "Name";
}