C# feature request: implement interfaces on anonymous types

Question

I am wondering what it would take to make something like this work:

using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var f = new IFoo { 
              


        

Answer 1

I'm going to dump this here. I wrote it a while ago but IIRC it works OK.

First a helper function to take a MethodInfo and return a Type of a matching Func or Action. You need a branch for each number of parameters, unfortunately, and I apparently stopped at three.

static Type GenerateFuncOrAction(MethodInfo method)
{
    var typeParams = method.GetParameters().Select(p => p.ParameterType).ToArray();
    if (method.ReturnType == typeof(void))
    {
        if (typeParams.Length == 0)
        {
            return typeof(Action);
        }
        else if (typeParams.Length == 1)
        {
            return typeof(Action<>).MakeGenericType(typeParams);
        }
        else if (typeParams.Length == 2)
        {
            return typeof(Action<,>).MakeGenericType(typeParams);
        }
        else if (typeParams.Length == 3)
        {
            return typeof(Action<,,>).MakeGenericType(typeParams);
        }
        throw new ArgumentException("Only written up to 3 type parameters");
    }
    else
    {
        if (typeParams.Length == 0)
        {
            return typeof(Func<>).MakeGenericType(typeParams.Concat(new[] { method.ReturnType }).ToArray());
        }
        else if (typeParams.Length == 1)
        {
            return typeof(Func<,>).MakeGenericType(typeParams.Concat(new[] { method.ReturnType }).ToArray());
        }
        else if (typeParams.Length == 2)
        {
            return typeof(Func<,,>).MakeGenericType(typeParams.Concat(new[] { method.ReturnType }).ToArray());
        }
        else if (typeParams.Length == 3)
        {
            return typeof(Func<,,,>).MakeGenericType(typeParams.Concat(new[] { method.ReturnType }).ToArray());
        }
        throw new ArgumentException("Only written up to 3 type parameters");
    }
}

And now the method that takes an interface as a generic parameter and returns a Type that implements the interface and has a constructor (needs to be called via Activator.CreateInstance) taking a Func or Action for each method/ getter/setter. You need to know the right order to put them in the constructor, though. Alternatively (commented-out code) it can generate a DLL which you can then reference and use the type directly.

static Type GenerateInterfaceImplementation()
{
    var interfaceType = typeof(TInterface);
    var funcTypes = interfaceType.GetMethods().Select(GenerateFuncOrAction).ToArray();

    AssemblyName aName =
        new AssemblyName("Dynamic" + interfaceType.Name + "WrapperAssembly");
    var assBuilder = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.DefineDynamicAssembly(
            aName,
            AssemblyBuilderAccess.Run/*AndSave*/); // to get a DLL

    var modBuilder = assBuilder.DefineDynamicModule(aName.Name/*, aName.Name + ".dll"*/); // to get a DLL

    TypeBuilder typeBuilder = modBuilder.DefineType(
        "Dynamic" + interfaceType.Name + "Wrapper",
            TypeAttributes.Public);

    // Define a constructor taking the same parameters as this method.
    var ctrBuilder = typeBuilder.DefineConstructor(
        MethodAttributes.Public | MethodAttributes.HideBySig |
            MethodAttributes.SpecialName | MethodAttributes.RTSpecialName,
        CallingConventions.Standard,
        funcTypes);


    // Start building the constructor.
    var ctrGenerator = ctrBuilder.GetILGenerator();
    ctrGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0);
    ctrGenerator.Emit(
        OpCodes.Call,
        typeof(object).GetConstructor(Type.EmptyTypes));

    // For each interface method, we add a field to hold the supplied
    // delegate, code to store it in the constructor, and an
    // implementation that calls the delegate.
    byte methodIndex = 0;
    foreach (var interfaceMethod in interfaceType.GetMethods())
    {
        ctrBuilder.DefineParameter(
            methodIndex + 1,
            ParameterAttributes.None,
            "del_" + interfaceMethod.Name);

        var delegateField = typeBuilder.DefineField(
            "del_" + interfaceMethod.Name,
            funcTypes[methodIndex],
            FieldAttributes.Private);

        ctrGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0);
        ctrGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, methodIndex + 1);
        ctrGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Stfld, delegateField);

        var metBuilder = typeBuilder.DefineMethod(
            interfaceMethod.Name,
            MethodAttributes.Public | MethodAttributes.Virtual |
                MethodAttributes.Final | MethodAttributes.HideBySig |
                MethodAttributes.NewSlot,
            interfaceMethod.ReturnType,
            interfaceMethod.GetParameters()
                .Select(p => p.ParameterType).ToArray());

        var metGenerator = metBuilder.GetILGenerator();
        metGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0);
        metGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Ldfld, delegateField);

        // Generate code to load each parameter.
        byte paramIndex = 1;
        foreach (var param in interfaceMethod.GetParameters())
        {
            metGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_S, paramIndex);
            paramIndex++;
        }
        metGenerator.EmitCall(
            OpCodes.Callvirt,
            funcTypes[methodIndex].GetMethod("Invoke"),
            null);

        metGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);
        methodIndex++;
    }

    ctrGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);

    // Add interface implementation and finish creating.
    typeBuilder.AddInterfaceImplementation(interfaceType);
    var wrapperType = typeBuilder.CreateType();
    //assBuilder.Save(aName.Name + ".dll"); // to get a DLL

    return wrapperType;
}

You can use this as e.g.

public interface ITest
{
    void M1();
    string M2(int m2, string n2);
    string prop { get; set; }

    event test BoopBooped;
}

Type it = GenerateInterfaceImplementation();
ITest instance = (ITest)Activator.CreateInstance(it,
    new Action(() => {Console.WriteLine("M1 called"); return;}),
    new Func((i, s) => "M2 gives " + s + i.ToString()),
    new Func(() => "prop value"),
    new Action(s => {Console.WriteLine("prop set to " + s);}),
    new Action(eh => {Console.WriteLine(eh("handler added"));}),
    new Action(eh => {Console.WriteLine(eh("handler removed"));}));

// or with the generated DLL
ITest instance = new DynamicITestWrapper(
    // parameters as before but you can see the signature
    );