Delphi: RTTI for indexed properties in 2010?

Question

Please forgive the verbosity of the following code example. Using Delphi 2009, I created the two classes TOtherClass and TMyClass:

TOtherClass = class(TObject)
public
    FData: string;
end;

TMyClass = class(TObject)
private
    FIndxPropList: Array of TOtherClass;
    function GetIndxProp(Index: Integer): TOtherClass;
    procedure SetIndxProp(Index: Integer; Value: TOtherClass);
public
    property IndxProp[Index: Integer]: TOtherClass read GetIndxProp write SetIndxProp;
end;

with access specifiers implemented as

function TMyClass.GetIndxProp(Index: Integer): TOtherClass;
begin
    Result := self.FIndxPropList[Index];
end;

procedure TMyClass.SetIndxProp(Index: Integer; Value: TOtherClass);
begin
    SetLength(self.FIndxPropList, Length(self.FIndxPropList) + 1);
    self.FIndxPropList[Length(self.FIndxPropList) - 1] := Value;
end;

It's use can be illustrated as follows:

procedure Test();
var
    MyClass: TMyClass;
begin
    MyClass := TMyClass.Create;
    MyClass.IndxProp[0] := TOtherClass.Create;
    MyClass.IndxProp[0].FData := 'First instance.';
    MyClass.IndxProp[1] := TOtherClass.Create;
    MyClass.IndxProp[1].FData := 'Second instance.';
    MessageDlg(MyClass.IndxProp[0].FData, mtInformation, [mbOk], 0);
    MessageDlg(MyClass.IndxProp[1].FData, mtInformation, [mbOk], 0);
    MyClass.IndxProp[0].Free;
    MyClass.IndxProp[1].Free;
    MyClass.Free;
end;

Never mind the obvious flaws of this "design". I realized that I'd like to be able to access the property IndxProp via RTTI, and subsequently moved the IndxProp to the published section. Much to my disappointment, I found that indexed properties are not allowed in the published section. As far as I understand (see Barry Kellys comment at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1190548/how-do-i-access-delphi-array-properties-using-rtti), moving to D2010 won't enable me to do this.

On the other hand, the following is a quote from Robert Loves blog: "... properties and methods are now available via RTTI in both public and published sections, and Fields are available in all of the sections." (My italics.)

My question is this: if it's true that it is possible to get RTTI for public fields in D2010, shouldn't my original example (as shown above) work in D2010 (with RTTI)? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Yes, if all the property reader does is index into an array field or list-class field, then you can use RTTI to index into the field directly. This is kind of fragile, though, since it breaks your encapsulation, requiring you to write code to a specific implementation detail instead of a general principle, which is what RTTI is mainly good for. Your RTTI code has to match the exact structure of your class, and if it changes you have to change the code as well. That sort of defeats the purpose of using RTTI.

But, if there's no alternative available, since array properties have no RTTI for them, it may be the only way, for now at least.