MakeDataTable.From

This is simply a couple static functions for building/stubbing a DataTable object from objects built in code.

Examples

Basic

DataTable test = MakeDataTable.From(new { x = 1, y = (int?)null, z = "test" });

Default row values (one method)

This isn't the only way to do this, but it does the job. Create a factory method that has all the defaults defined in default parameter values. In any row created, override any defaults in the method call with named parameters.

DataTable someTable = MakeDataTable.From(
    new[] {
        CreateSomeRow(1),
        CreateSomeRow(2, parentId: 1, name: "Custom name"),
        CreateSomeRow(3, parentId: 1, isVisible: false),
        CreateSomeRow(4, parentId: 2),
        CreateSomeRow(5, parentId: 3, name: "A different name", isVisible: false),
    });
private static dynamic CreateSomeRow(int id,
                                        int? parentId = null,
                                        string name = "Default name",
                                        bool isVisible = true) {
    return new {
        Id = id,
        ParentId = parentId,
        Name = name,
        IsVisible = isVisible
    };
}

Background

I have worked with quite a bit of legacy code that is so tightly coupled with data access that it made testing without a full-fledged SQL database very difficult. Having such a DB, made unit tests slow (building DB) and fragile (clearing out data from prior tests). I put together this system for stubbing out a data layer that returns DataTable objects (this legacy code did) without having to manually build all the DataTable objects by hand.

This system has some of its own fragility, but I think it outweighs the disadvantages of using SQL database or building a DataTable by hand. In this case, MakeDataTable.From is fairly trusting of the objects you send it to turn into a DataTable and will likely explode spectacularly when you feed it something unusual.

License

MIT license. If you do something cool with it, though, I'd love to hear about it.