Delphi: how to set the length of a RTTI-accessed dynamic array using DynArraySetLength?

Question

I'd like to set the length of a dynamic array, as suggested in this post. I have two classes TMyClass and the related TChildClass defined as

TChildClass = class
private
  FField1:  string;
  FField2:  string;
end;

TMyClass = class
private
  FField1:  TChildClass;
  FField2:  Array of TChildClass;
end;

The array augmentation is implemented as

var
  RContext:     TRttiContext;
  RType:        TRttiType;
  Val:          TValue;      // Contains the TMyClass instance
  RField:       TRttiField;  // A field in the TMyClass instance
  RElementType: TRttiType;   // The kind of elements in the dyn array
  DynArr:       TRttiDynamicArrayType;
  Value:        TValue;  // Holding an instance as referenced by an array element
  ArrPointer:   Pointer;
  ArrValue:     TValue;
  ArrLength:    LongInt;
  i:            integer;
begin
  RContext := TRTTIContext.Create;
  try
    RType := RContext.GetType(TMyClass.ClassInfo);
    Val := RType.GetMethod('Create').Invoke(RType.AsInstance.MetaclassType, []);
    RField := RType.GetField('FField2');
    if (RField.FieldType is TRttiDynamicArrayType) then begin 
      DynArr := (RField.FieldType as TRttiDynamicArrayType);
      RElementType := DynArr.ElementType;
      // Set the new length of the array
      ArrValue := RField.GetValue(Val.AsObject);
      ArrLength := 3;   // Three seems like a nice number
      ArrPointer := ArrValue.GetReferenceToRawData;
      DynArraySetLength(ArrPointer, ArrValue.TypeInfo, 1, @ArrLength);
      { TODO : Fix 'Index out of bounds' }
      WriteLn(ArrValue.IsArray, ' ', ArrValue.GetArrayLength);
      if RElementType.IsInstance then begin
        for i := 0 to ArrLength - 1 do begin
          Value := RElementType.GetMethod('Create').Invoke(RElementType.AsInstance.MetaclassType, []);
          ArrValue.SetArrayElement(i, Value);
          // This is just a test, so let's clean up immediatly
          Value.Free;
        end;
      end;
    end;
    ReadLn;
    Val.AsObject.Free;
  finally
    RContext.Free;
  end;
end.

Being new to D2010 RTTI, I suspected the error could depend on getting ArrValue from the class instance, but the subsequent WriteLn prints "TRUE", so I've ruled that out. Disappointingly, however, the same WriteLn reports that the size of ArrValue is 0, which is confirmed by the "Index out of bounds"-exception I get when trying to set any of the elements in the array (through ArrValue.SetArrayElement(i, Value);). Do anyone know what I'm doing wrong here? (Or perhaps there is a better way to do this?) TIA!

Answer 1

I think you should define the array as a separate type:

TMyArray = array of TMyClass;

and use that.

From an old RTTI based XML serializer I know the general method that you use should work (D7..2009 tested):

procedure TXMLImpl.ReadArray(const Name: string; TypeInfo: TArrayInformation; Data: Pointer; IO: TParameterInputOutput);
var
  P: PChar;
  L, D: Integer;
  BT: TTypeInformation;
begin
  FArrayType := '';
  FArraySize := -1;
  ComplexTypePrefix(Name, '');
  try
    // Get the element type info.
    BT := TypeInfo.BaseType;
    if not Assigned(BT) then RaiseSerializationReadError; // Not a supported datatype!
    // Typecheck the array specifier.
    if (FArrayType <> '') and (FArrayType <> GetTypeName(BT)) then RaiseSerializationReadError;
    // Do we have a fixed size array or a dynamically sized array?
    L := FArraySize;
    if L >= 0 then begin
      // Set the array
      DynArraySetLength(PPointer(Data)^,TypeInfo.TypeInformation,1,@L);
      // And restore he elements
      D := TypeInfo.ElementSize;
      P := PPointer(Data)^;
      while L > 0 do begin
        ReadElement(''{ArrayItemName},BT,P,IO); // we allow any array item name.
        Inc(P,D);
        Dec(L);
      end;
    end else begin
      RaiseNotSupported;
    end;
  finally
    ComplexTypePostfix;
  end;
end;

Hope this helps..

Answer 2

Dynamic arrays are kind of tricky to work with. They're reference counted, and the following comment inside DynArraySetLength should shed some light on the problem:

// If the heap object isn't shared (ref count = 1), just resize it. Otherwise, we make a copy

Your object is holding one reference to it, and so is the TValue. Also, GetReferenceToRawData gives you a pointer to the array. You need to say PPointer(GetReferenceToRawData)^ to get the actual array to pass to DynArraySetLength.

Once you've got that, you can resize it, but you're left with a copy. Then you have to set it back onto the original array.

TValue.Make(@ArrPointer, dynArr.Handle, ArrValue);
RField.SetValue(val.AsObject, arrValue);

All in all, it's probably a lot simpler to just use a list instead of an array. With D2010 you've got Generics.Collections available, which means you can make a TList<TChildClass> or TObjectList<TChildClass> and have all the benefits of a list class without losing type safety.