.NET 4.0 Evaluating Properties and Methods at Runtime

One of the enhancement that I really like about .NET 4.0 is the ability to work with DynamicExpression class. Pre .NET 4.0 if you want to pass a List to a function you would have to do something like:

Code Snippet

37. public static void DoSomethingWithThisList(List<SampleClass> tempList)
38. {
39.     //Do something:: With parameter
40.     foreach(var itemList in tempList)
41.     {
42.         var getProperty = itemList.SampleProperty;
43.     }
44. }

where SampleClass is an a class or struc (below) containing your properties.

Code Snippet

55. public class SampleClass
56. {
57.     public string SampleProperty { get; set; }
58. }

Fast forward in .NET 4.0 & 4.5 you could easily pass an anonymous object or list of objects and let the compiler evaluate the methods and properties associated with your custom objects on runtime.
To unleash DynamicExpression:

1- Add reference to "Microsoft.CSharp" or "Microsoft.VisualBasic" to your project
2- Start passing Dynamic objects

Example:

Code Snippet

45. public static void DoDynamics(List<dynamic> tempList)
46. {
47.     //Do something:: with anonymous parameter
48.     //Intellisense is happy -> Properties are evaluated at runtime
49.     foreach (var itemList in tempList)
50.     {
51.         var getProperty = itemList.SampleProperty;
52.     }
53. }

Caveat: I have not tested if there are any performance issues introduced as a result of using DynamicExpressions; however, I would assume that there will be some overhead involved as the compiler have to do some reflection before invoking any custom object methods or calling custom object properties.