DynamicUtils

An object model and helpers for creating hybrid dynamic objects.

Why do I need this?

ExpandoObject in .NET is sealed and not designed for derivers. You can inherit from DynamicObject but that requires a bunch of heavy lifting:

Dynamic Utils provides the following:

• A simple utility class you can derive from and which will make any object Dynamic.
• Allows you to mix dynamic and static members
• Provides helpers for programatically accessing members without having to cast to Dynamic.
• Provides helpers for making the objects serialization friendly.

Nuget

Install-Package DynamicUtils

Using extensions

Classes deriving from ExtensibleObject are all extensible to allow for using extensions as e.g. Collection+JSON has. There are three different methods for working with extensions.

Setting Extensions by using the Extensions() method.

Extensions can be set by using the Extensions method which returns a dynamic object. Below is an example setting the Model extension*.

var item = new Item { Href = new Uri(_requestUri, "/friends/" + friend.Id) };
item.Extensions().Model = "friend";

*Note: Extensions is a method rather than a property to avoid from being serialized, and to make it compatible with multiple serializers.

Casting to Dynamic

Each of the aforementioned classes can be cast directly to dynamic.

var item = new Item { Href = new Uri(_requestUri, "/friends/" + friend.Id) };
dynamic dItem = item;
dItem.Model="friend";

Using SetValue

Extensions can be set by calling the SetValue method.

var item = new Item { Href = new Uri(_requestUri, "/friends/" + friend.Id) };
item.SetValue("Model", "friend");

Using GetValue

Extensions can be retrieved by calling the GetValue method

var model = item.GetValue<string>("Model");