NP.ObjectComparison

The NP.ObjectComparison library provides object difference and patching functionality through .NET API.

Installation

To install the package to a project:

dotnet add {PROJECT} package NP.ObjectComparison

The package source for dev streams can be added through:

dotnet nuget add source --name github "https://nuget.pkg.github.com/NickPolyder/index.json"

Usage

The simplest way to start using the library is to initialize an ComparisonTracker object.

var sampleInstance = new SampleClass();
var comparisonTracker = new ComparisonTracker<SampleClass>(sampleInstance);

In order to properly use the ComparisonTracker<T> the T needs to be a class that inherits from System.ICloneable or make use of the CloneFactory delegate through the constructor.

var sampleInstance = new SampleClass();
var comparisonTracker = new ComparisonTracker<SampleClass>(sampleInstance, instance => new SampleClass
   {
	 FirstName = (string)instance.FistName.Clone(),
	 LastName = (string)instance.LastName.Clone(),
	 Age = instance.Age, 
		 RegistrationDate = instance.RegistrationDate,		
   });

When the default Comparison capabilities do not cover the use case there is the possibility to create your own IObjectAnalyzer<in T>. You can find examples on how to create Object Analyzers in the Samples.

var sampleInstance = new SampleClass();
var sampleObjectAnalyzer = new SampleObjectAnalyzer();
var comparisonTracker = new ComparisonTracker<SampleClass>(sampleInstance, sampleObjectAnalyzer);

Ignoring properties

To ignore a property or a class there are two ways available:

1. By using the attribute [Ignore] from the namespace: NP.ObjectComparison.Attributes on a property or a class.

For a property:

using NP.ObjectComparison.Attributes;

public class ToBeAnalyzed
{
	[Ignore]
	public string Value { get; set; }
}

For a class:

using NP.ObjectComparison.Attributes;

[Ignore]
public class ToBeAnalyzed
{	
	public string Value { get; set; }
}

2. By providing an initialized instance of AnalyzerSettings

var analyzerSettings = new AnalyzerSettings();
var typeToIgnore = typeof(ToBeAnalyzed);

// Ignoring properties
var propertyInfo = typeToIgnore.GetProperty(nameof(ToBeAnalyzed.Value));
analyzerSettings.IgnoreSettings.Ignore(propertyInfo);

// OR
analyzerSettings
	.IgnoreSettings
	.Ignore<ToBeAnalyzed, string>(model => model.Value)


// Ignoring classes
analyzerSettings.IgnoreSettings.Ignore(typeToIgnore);

// OR
analyzerSettings.IgnoreSettings.Ignore<ToBeAnalyzed>();

// Set the new instance
AnalyzerSettings.DefaultSettings = () => analyzerSettings;