programaticaly code generation in c# using codedom

Question

I want to generate code for creating a hash table object and assigning it with a key and a value programmatic . it should be similar to

Hashtable ht = new Hashtable();

ht.Add( "key1", "value1" );
ht.Add( "key2", "value2" );
ht.Add( "key3", "value3" );

for eg

CodeMemberMethod testMethod = new CodeMemberMethod();

        testMethod.Name = "Test" + mi.Name + "_" + intTestCaseCnt;
        testMethod.Attributes = MemberAttributes.Public;.....

here it creates a method programacticaly now i want to create a hashtable so i am asking how?

Answer 1

For code generation consider the Text Template Transformation Toolkit (T4)

This template...

Hashtable ht = new Hashtable();
<#
    foreach (var obj in DataSource)
    {
#>
ht.Add( "<#= obj.Key #>", "<#= obj.Value #>" );
<#
    }
#>

...would generate this output...

Hashtable ht = new Hashtable();
ht.Add( "key1", "value1" );
ht.Add( "key2", "value2" );
ht.Add( "key3", "value3" );
...
ht.Add( "keyN", "valueN" );

Where N is the number of records in your DataSource.

The best thing is, this is built right into Visual Studio 2008

I have had good experiences with it

Answer 2

The two code generators I'm aware of are ...

Codesmith at ... main site, with a free version

T4 which is in Scott Hanselman has a blog post about it here

Answer 3

Where are you stuck? You know how to create a CodeMemberMethod, so you should be able to add statement objects to the CodeMemberMethod.Statements collection. You'll need one statement for the variable declaration, one for the assignment/initialization and one for each "Add"-Call.

BTW: I've used Code DOM in the past, but found that generating code directly with a templating engine is less works and makes the code far more readable. I usually use StringTemplate, and I'm very happy with it.

Answer 4

CodeParameterDeclarationExpression hashTableParam =new CodeParameterDeclarationExpression();
hashTableParam.Name = "hastable";

hashTableParam.Type = new CodeTypeReference(typeof(System.Collections.Hashtable));

this what i was looking for thanks for ur efforts