Quickest way to set properties on an object?

Question

Assume you have a business object with a lot of properties. What is the easiest and best way to set the properties without the use of an ORM tool?

This implies setting properties from a data reader object, such as

client.Name = (string)reader["Name"];

What about the case where the object contains other complex objects?

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Serialization and/or Reflection is an option.

Answer 2

Well, you could use reflection to generate the assignation code.

Answer 3

You ask for three different things:

• quickest
• easiest
• best

they are not the same! The quickest (at execution) would be compiled code; i.e. you write regular C# to set the properties correctly. Easier than this is using reflection - but that is slow. You'd also need some mechanism for mapping child properties... (and also mapping regular properties if there isn't a 1:1 correspondance between the reader). This is perhaps best solved with custom attributes on members (properties/fields).

As a compromise on speed (over reflection), you can use Delegate.CreateDelegate to get at the property setters - but that is a lot of work. Perhaps another option is HyperDescriptor; this allows reflection-like access, but is vastly faster.

Best? Probably to use existing code - i.e. an ORM tool; less to write and debug.