Metadata

CodeJunkie.Metadata is a metaprogramming tool for generating metadata and enabling reflection-like capabilities in ahead-of-time (AOT).

Installation

Add the latest versions of [Metadata] and [Metadata Generator] from NuGet to your C# project.

Requirements

• .NET 8 SDK: Ensure your project targets the latest .NET 8 SDK to avoid compiler mismatches (CS9057 warning). Treat this warning as an error to prevent downstream issues.

Example Configuration

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>

    <WarningsAsErrors>CS9057</WarningsAsErrors>

  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="CodeJunkie.Metadata" Version="x.x.x" />
    <PackageReference Include="CodeJunkie.Metadata.Generator" Version="x.x.x" PrivateAssets="all" OutputItemType="analyzer" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

Overview

Metadata is a metaprogramming tool that enables C# developers to:

• Generate metadata about types at build time.
• Avoid runtime reflection issues in AOT environments like iOS.
• Power other Code Junkie tools such as [States] and [Seralization].

Key Features

• Registry of all globally visible types.
• Metadata generation for types, attributes, and properties.
• Support for mixins and type hierarchies.
• Optimized for AOT environments.

The Metadata package provides the following features:

• Create a registry of all types visible from the global scope.
• Generate metadata about visible types.
• Track types by id and version.
• Allow types to implement and look up mixins.
• Compute and cache type hierarchies, attributes, and properties.
• Track generic types of properties in a way that enables convenient serialization in AOT environments.

Usage

Introspective Types

Add the [Meta] attribute to a partial class or record to enable metadata generation.

using CodeJunkie.Metadata;

[Meta]
public partial class MyType;

public partial class Container {
  [Meta] // Nested types are supported.
  public partial class MyNestedType;
}