Strange parameter sequence using Reflection.Emit

Question

I have been looking at Reflection.Emit recently. I wrote a simple program that generates a DynamicMethod which simple calls another method with the same parameters

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Program p = new Program();
        p.Test();
    }

    public delegate void TestHandler(int a, int b, int c, int d, int e, int f);

    public void Test()
    {
        DynamicMethod method = new DynamicMethod(string.Empty, typeof(void), new[] { typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32) }, typeof(Program));


        MethodInfo method1 = typeof(Program).GetMethod("Question",BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic,null,new Type[]{typeof(Int32),typeof(Int32),typeof(Int32),typeof(Int32),typeof(Int32),typeof(Int32)},null);
        MethodInfo method2 = typeof(MethodBase).GetMethod("GetCurrentMethod", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic, null, new Type[] { }, null);
        MethodInfo method3 = typeof(Console).GetMethod("WriteLine", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic, null, new Type[] { typeof(Object) }, null);

        ILGenerator gen = method.GetILGenerator();

        gen.Emit(OpCodes.Nop);
        gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, 0);
        gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, 1);
        gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, 2);
        gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, 3);
        gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, 4);
        gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, 5);
        gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, 6);
        gen.Emit(OpCodes.Call, method1);
        gen.Emit(OpCodes.Nop);
        gen.Emit(OpCodes.Call, method2);
        gen.Emit(OpCodes.Call, method3);
        gen.Emit(OpCodes.Nop);
        gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);

        TestHandler handler = method.CreateDelegate(typeof(TestHandler)) as TestHandler;
        handler(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6);
    }

    public void Question(int a, int b, int c, int d, int e, int f)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("{0},{1},{2},{3},{4},{5}", a, b, c, d, e, f);
    }
}

When i run this example it i would expect it to output 1,2,3,4,5,6 however, it outputs 2,3,4,5,6,1

I'm not too sure why... If you guys know of any good resources for using Reflection.Emit could you point me in that direction. I have been using Reflector with the Emit AddIn.

Cheers

Rohan

Answer 1

The problem you are having is that you are invoking a dynamic method, not a static one. Your generated method does not have a reference to the the instance of the Program class.

Also note you are pushing 7 parameters onto the stack for a 6 parameter method. The first parameter should be a reference to the object you are invoking the method on.

The weird behavior you are seeing might be due to there not being a parameter of index 6, and it wrapping around back to the start of the parameter array.

See "How to: Define and Execute Dynamic Methods" in the VS help.

You can get it working by accepting a object parameter on in your method call, or making it static:

public delegate void TestHandler(object instance, int a, int b, int c, int d, int e, int f);

public void Test()
{
    DynamicMethod method = new DynamicMethod(string.Empty, typeof(void), new[] { typeof(object), typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32) }, typeof(Program));


    MethodInfo method1 = typeof(Program).GetMethod("Question", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic, null, new Type[] { typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32), typeof(Int32) }, null);
    MethodInfo method2 = typeof(MethodBase).GetMethod("GetCurrentMethod", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic, null, new Type[] { }, null);
    MethodInfo method3 = typeof(Console).GetMethod("WriteLine", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic, null, new Type[] { typeof(Object) }, null);

    ILGenerator gen = method.GetILGenerator();

    gen.Emit(OpCodes.Nop);
    gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, 0);
    gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, 1);
    gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, 2);
    gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, 3);
    gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, 4);
    gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, 5);
    gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, 6);
    gen.Emit(OpCodes.Call, method1);
    gen.Emit(OpCodes.Nop);
    gen.Emit(OpCodes.Call, method2);
    gen.Emit(OpCodes.Call, method3);
    gen.Emit(OpCodes.Nop);
    gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);

    TestHandler handler = method.CreateDelegate(typeof(TestHandler)) as TestHandler;
    handler(this, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6);
}

public void Question(int a, int b, int c, int d, int e, int f)
{
    Console.WriteLine("{0},{1},{2},{3},{4},{5}", a, b, c, d, e, f);
}

Answer 2

To make it work you should

1. make Question a static method
2. comment gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S,6);
3. modify MethodInfo method1 = ... accordingly

One "smell" is that stopping in debug on the Question method you can't evaluate the this reference. And this should not be for an instance method... ;-)

Edit: Ops. I have just seen the answer from Robert Wagner which is much better explained than mine. Ready to cancel my post if needed... :-)