Extension Methods | theburningmonk.com

F# – Make extension methods visible to C#

In F# you can write an extension method like this:

Whilst this will work perfectly fine in your F# code, the extension method will not be visible to any C# code using the FileInfo type because F# and C# compiles extension methods differently.

To make C#-compatible extension methods in F#, here’s what you need to do instead:

That’s it, just follow these 3 simple steps and you’re done:

wrap the extension methods inside a class decorated with the [<Extension>] attribute
write the extension methods as static members where the first argument is of the type which should be extended (like how you would write an extension method in C#)
mark the extension methods with the [<Extension>] attribute

Extension Methods – Serialize/Deserialize as Json/XML

Cranked these out last night, hope you find it useful too Smile

   1: public static class SerializationExtensions

   2: {

   3:     private static readonly ConcurrentDictionary<Type, XmlSerializer> XmlSerializers =

   4:         new ConcurrentDictionary<Type, XmlSerializer>();

5:

   6:     private static readonly ConcurrentDictionary<Type, DataContractJsonSerializer> JsonSerializers =

   7:         new ConcurrentDictionary<Type, DataContractJsonSerializer>();

8:

   9:     private static readonly JavaScriptSerializer JavaScriptSerializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();

10:

  11:     public enum JsonSerializerType

  12:     {

  13:         Undefined = 0,

14:

  15:         DataContractJsonSerializer = 1,

16:

  17:         JavaScriptSerializer = 2

  18:     }

19:

  20:     /// <summary>

  21:     /// Serializes the object using XML format.

  22:     /// </summary>

  23:     public static string SerializeAsXml(this object obj)

  24:     {

  25:         var type = obj.GetType();

  26:         var xmlSerializer = GetXmlSerializer(type);

27:

  28:         using (var memStream = new MemoryStream())

  29:         {

  30:             xmlSerializer.Serialize(memStream, obj);

  31:             return Encoding.Default.GetString(memStream.ToArray());

  32:         }

  33:     }

34:

  35:     /// <summary>

  36:     /// Serializes the object using JSON format, either using the default

  37:     /// DataContractJsonSerializer or the JavaScriptSerializer, the results

  38:     /// differ slightly.

  39:     /// </summary>

  40:     public static string SerializeAsJson(

  41:         this object obj,

  42:         JsonSerializerType serializerType = JsonSerializerType.DataContractJsonSerializer)

  43:     {

  44:         switch (serializerType)

  45:         {

  46:             case JsonSerializerType.JavaScriptSerializer:

  47:                 return JavaScriptSerializer.Serialize(obj);

  48:             case JsonSerializerType.DataContractJsonSerializer:

  49:             default:

  50:                 var type = obj.GetType();

  51:                 var serializer = GetJsonSerializer(type);

52:

  53:                 using (var memStream = new MemoryStream())

  54:                 {

  55:                     serializer.WriteObject(memStream, obj);

  56:                     return Encoding.Default.GetString(memStream.ToArray());

  57:                 }

  58:         }

  59:     }

60:

  61:     /// <summary>

  62:     /// Deserializes the specified XML string to an object of the specified type T.

  63:     /// </summary>

  64:     public static T DeserializeAsXml<T>(this string xmlString)

  65:     {

  66:         var xmlSerializer = GetXmlSerializer(typeof(T));

  67:         using (var memStream = new MemoryStream(Encoding.Default.GetBytes(xmlString)))

  68:         {

  69:             return (T)xmlSerializer.Deserialize(memStream);

  70:         }

  71:     }

72:

  73:     /// <summary>

  74:     /// Deserializes the specified JSON string to an object of the specified type T.

  75:     /// </summary>

  76:     public static T DeserializeAsJson<T>(

  77:         this string jsonString,

  78:         JsonSerializerType serializerType = JsonSerializerType.DataContractJsonSerializer)

  79:     {

  80:         switch (serializerType)

  81:         {

  82:             case JsonSerializerType.JavaScriptSerializer:

  83:                 return JavaScriptSerializer.Deserialize<T>(jsonString);

  84:             case JsonSerializerType.DataContractJsonSerializer:

  85:             default:

  86:                 var serializer = GetJsonSerializer(typeof(T));

87:

  88:                 using (var memStream = new MemoryStream(Encoding.Default.GetBytes(jsonString)))

  89:                 {

  90:                     return (T)serializer.ReadObject(memStream);

  91:                 }

  92:         }

  93:     }

94:

  95:     private static XmlSerializer GetXmlSerializer(Type type)

  96:     {

  97:         // gets the xml serializer from the concurrent dictionary, if it doesn't exist

  98:         // then add one for the specified type

  99:         return XmlSerializers.GetOrAdd(type, t => new XmlSerializer(t));

 100:     }

 101:

 102:     private static DataContractJsonSerializer GetJsonSerializer(Type type)

 103:     {

 104:         // gets the json serializer from the concurrent dictionary, if it doesn't exist

 105:         // then add one for the specified type

 106:         return JsonSerializers.GetOrAdd(type, t => new DataContractJsonSerializer(t));

 107:     }

 108: }

Extension Methods – Helpful parse methods for string

   1: /// <summary>

   2: /// Parses a string as a short

   3: /// </summary>

   4: public static short ParseShort(this string str, bool throwOnOverflow = true)

   5: {

   6:     return str.ParseAsStruct(Convert.ToInt16, throwOnOverflow);

   7: }

8:

   9: /// <summary>

  10: /// Parses a string as an ushort

  11: /// </summary>

  12: public static ushort ParseUshort(this string str, bool throwOnOverflow = true)

  13: {

  14:     return str.ParseAsStruct(Convert.ToUInt16, throwOnOverflow);

  15: }

16:

  17: /// <summary>

  18: /// Parses a string as an int

  19: /// </summary>

  20: public static int ParseInt(this string str, bool throwOnOverflow = true)

  21: {

  22:     return str.ParseAsStruct(Convert.ToInt32, throwOnOverflow);

  23: }

24:

  25: /// <summary>

  26: /// Parses a string as an uint

  27: /// </summary>

  28: public static uint ParseUint(this string str, bool throwOnOverflow = true)

  29: {

  30:     return str.ParseAsStruct(Convert.ToUInt32, throwOnOverflow);

  31: }

32:

  33: /// <summary>

  34: /// Parses a string as a long

  35: /// </summary>

  36: public static long ParseLong(this string str, bool throwOnOverflow = true)

  37: {

  38:     return str.ParseAsStruct(Convert.ToInt64, throwOnOverflow);

  39: }

40:

  41: /// <summary>

  42: /// Parses a string as an ulong

  43: /// </summary>

  44: public static ulong ParseUlong(this string str, bool throwOnOverflow = true)

  45: {

  46:     return str.ParseAsStruct(Convert.ToUInt64, throwOnOverflow);

  47: }

48:

  49: /// <summary>

  50: /// Parses a string as a float

  51: /// </summary>

  52: public static float ParseFloat(this string str, bool throwOnOverflow = true)

  53: {

  54:     return str.ParseAsStruct(Convert.ToSingle, throwOnOverflow);

  55: }

56:

  57: /// <summary>

  58: /// Parses a string as a double

  59: /// </summary>

  60: public static double ParseDouble(this string str, bool throwOnOverflow = true)

  61: {

  62:     return str.ParseAsStruct(Convert.ToDouble, throwOnOverflow);

  63: }

64:

  65: /// <summary>

  66: /// Parses a string as a date time value

  67: /// </summary>

  68: public static DateTime ParseDateTime(this string str)

  69: {

  70:     return str.ParseAsStruct(DateTime.Parse);

  71: }

72:

  73: /// <summary>

  74: /// Parses a string as a date time value using the exact format string

  75: /// </summary>

  76: public static DateTime ParseDateTimeExact(this string str, string format)

  77: {

  78:     return str.ParseAsStruct(s => DateTime.ParseExact(s, format, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));

  79: }

80:

  81: /// <summary>

  82: /// Parses a string as a boolean value

  83: /// </summary>

  84: public static bool ParseBoolean(this string str)

  85: {

  86:     return str.ParseAsStruct(Convert.ToBoolean);

  87: }

88:

  89: /// <summary>

  90: /// Parses a string as an enum value

  91: /// </summary>

  92: public static TEnum ParseEnum<TEnum>(this string str, bool ignoreCase = true) where TEnum : struct

  93: {

  94:     TEnum result;

  95:     return Enum.TryParse(str, ignoreCase, out result) ? result : default(TEnum);

  96: }

97:

  98: private static T ParseAsStruct<T>(

  99:     this string str, Func<string, T> convert, bool throwOnOverflow = true)

 100:     where T : struct

 101: {

 102:     if (throwOnOverflow)

 103:     {

 104:         checked

 105:         {

 106:             return convert(str);

 107:         }

 108:     }

 109:

 110:     unchecked

 111:     {

 112:         return convert(str);

 113:     }

 114: }

IDictionary<string, object> to ExpandoObject extension method

As you know, the ExpandoObject class implements the IDictionary<string, object> interface, so if you have an ExpandoObject you can easily cast it to an IDictionary<string, object> but there’s no built-in way to easily do the reverse.

Luckily, I came across a very useful extension method today which converts an IDictionary<string, object> into an ExpandoObject, which you can then use dynamically in your code, sweet! :-)

With some small modifications, here’s the code I ended up with, with some comments thrown in for good measures:

   1: /// <summary>

   2: /// Extension method that turns a dictionary of string and object to an ExpandoObject

   3: /// </summary>

   4: public static ExpandoObject ToExpando(this IDictionary<string, object> dictionary)

   5: {

   6:     var expando = new ExpandoObject();

   7:     var expandoDic = (IDictionary<string, object>)expando;

8:

   9:     // go through the items in the dictionary and copy over the key value pairs)

  10:     foreach (var kvp in dictionary)

  11:     {

  12:         // if the value can also be turned into an ExpandoObject, then do it!

  13:         if (kvp.Value is IDictionary<string, object>)

  14:         {

  15:             var expandoValue = ((IDictionary<string, object>)kvp.Value).ToExpando();

  16:             expandoDic.Add(kvp.Key, expandoValue);

  17:         }

  18:         else if (kvp.Value is ICollection)

  19:         {

  20:             // iterate through the collection and convert any strin-object dictionaries

  21:             // along the way into expando objects

  22:             var itemList = new List<object>();

  23:             foreach (var item in (ICollection)kvp.Value)

  24:             {

  25:                 if (item is IDictionary<string, object>)

  26:                 {

  27:                     var expandoItem = ((IDictionary<string, object>) item).ToExpando();

  28:                     itemList.Add(expandoItem);

  29:                 }

  30:                 else

  31:                 {

  32:                     itemList.Add(item);

  33:                 }

  34:             }

35:

  36:             expandoDic.Add(kvp.Key, itemList);

  37:         }

  38:         else

  39:         {

  40:             expandoDic.Add(kvp);

  41:         }

  42:     }

43:

  44:     return expando;

  45: }

Enjoy!

Extension methods to sum IEnumerable(ulong) and IEnumerable(ulong?)

Ever tried to use IEnumerable<T>.Sum on an array of unsigned long integers? Well, you can’t, because the Sum method has not been implemented for ulong or ulong?, so to fill in the gap here’s the extension methods you need using more or less the same code as the existing Sum methods:

[CheckParameters]
public static ulong Sum([NotNull] this IEnumerable<ulong> source)
{
    var sum = 0UL;
    foreach (var number in source)
    {
        sum += number;
    }
    return sum;
}

[CheckParameters]
public static ulong? Sum([NotNull] this IEnumerable<ulong?> source)
{
    var sum = 0UL;
    foreach (var nullable in source)
    {
        if (nullable.HasValue)
        {
            sum += nullable.GetValueOrDefault();
        }
    }
    return sum;
}

[CheckParameters]
public static ulong Sum<T>([NotNull] this IEnumerable<T> source, Func<T, ulong> selector)
{
    return source.Select(selector).Sum();
}

[CheckParameters]
public static ulong? Sum<T>([NotNull] this IEnumerable<T> source, Func<T, ulong?> selector)
{
    return source.Select(selector).Sum();
}

I used some custom PostSharp attributes here to do the parameter validation, but you can just as easily substitute them with if null then throw exception code blocks.

UPDATE 10/11/2010:

Using the dynamic type in .Net 4 you can make these extension methods even more useful by making them usable with other value types too.

Traditionally for extension methods like Sum, you’d have to provide an overload for each numeric value type (int, uint, long, etc.) because these numeric value types don’t have a common super type which defines the numeric operators +, -, /, *, etc.

Fortunately, you can now negate this compile time limitation by making it a runtime decision using the new dynamic capabilities:

public static T Sum<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source) where T : struct
{
    return source.Aggregate(default(T), (current, number) => (dynamic) current + number);
}
public static T? Sum<T>(this IEnumerable<T?> source) where T : struct
{
    return source.Where(nullable => nullable.HasValue)
                 .Aggregate(
                     default(T),
                     (current, nullable) => (dynamic) current + nullable.GetValueOrDefault());
}
public static V Sum<T, V>(this IEnumerable<T> source, Func<T, V> selector) where V : struct
{
    return source.Select(selector).Sum();
}
public static V? Sum<T, V>(this IEnumerable<T> source, Func<T, V?> selector) where V : struct
{
    return source.Select(selector).Sum();
}

The obvious fallacy with this approach is that you can now pass custom structures with no defined + operator into these extension methods and no compile errors will be thrown, but a RuntimeBinderException will be thrown by the DLR at runtime with a message like this:

Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.RuntimeBinderException: Operator ‘+’ cannot be applied to operands of type ‘xxx’ and ‘xxx’

theburningmonk.com

a blog for Yan and Yinan

F# – Make extension methods visible to C#

Extension Methods – Serialize/Deserialize as Json/XML

Extension Methods – Helpful parse methods for string

IDictionary<string, object> to ExpandoObject extension method

Extension methods to sum IEnumerable(ulong) and IEnumerable(ulong?)

UPDATE 10/11/2010:

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