Comparing object properties in c# [closed]

Answer 1

my solution inspired from Aras Alenin answer above where I added one level of object comparison and a custom object for comparison results. I am also interested to get property name with object name:

    public static IEnumerable GetPublicSimplePropertiesChanged(this T previous, T proposedChange,
     string[] namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored) where T : class
    {
        return GetPublicGenericPropertiesChanged(previous, proposedChange, namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored, true, null, null);
    }

    public static IReadOnlyList GetPublicGenericPropertiesChanged(this T previous, T proposedChange,
        string[] namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored) where T : class
    {
        return GetPublicGenericPropertiesChanged(previous, proposedChange, namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored, false, null, null);
    }

    /// 

    /// Gets the names of the public properties which values differs between first and second objects.
    /// Considers 'simple' properties AND for complex properties without index, get the simple properties of the children objects.
    /// 
    /// 
    /// The previous object.
    /// The second object which should be the new one.
    /// The names of the properties to be ignored.
    /// if set to true consider simple types only.
    /// The parent type string. Meant only for recursive call with simpleTypeOnly set to true.
    /// when calling recursively, the current type of T must be clearly defined here, as T will be more generic (using base class).
    /// 
    /// the names of the properties
    /// 
    private static IReadOnlyList GetPublicGenericPropertiesChanged(this T previous, T proposedChange,
        string[] namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored, bool simpleTypeOnly, string parentTypeString, Type secondType) where T : class
    {
        List propertiesChanged = new List();

        if (previous != null && proposedChange != null)
        {
            var type = secondType == null ? typeof(T) : secondType;
            string typeStr = parentTypeString + type.Name + ".";
            var ignoreList = namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored.CreateList();
            IEnumerable> genericPropertiesChanged =
                from pi in type.GetProperties(BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance)
                where !ignoreList.Contains(pi.Name) && pi.GetIndexParameters().Length == 0 
                    && (!simpleTypeOnly || simpleTypeOnly && pi.PropertyType.IsSimpleType())
                let firstValue = type.GetProperty(pi.Name).GetValue(previous, null)
                let secondValue = type.GetProperty(pi.Name).GetValue(proposedChange, null)
                where firstValue != secondValue && (firstValue == null || !firstValue.Equals(secondValue))
                let subPropertiesChanged = simpleTypeOnly || pi.PropertyType.IsSimpleType()
                    ? null
                    : GetPublicGenericPropertiesChanged(firstValue, secondValue, namesOfPropertiesToBeIgnored, true, typeStr, pi.PropertyType)
                let objectPropertiesChanged = subPropertiesChanged != null && subPropertiesChanged.Count() > 0
                    ? subPropertiesChanged
                    : (new ObjectPropertyChanged(proposedChange.ToString(), typeStr + pi.Name, firstValue.ToStringOrNull(), secondValue.ToStringOrNull())).CreateList()
                select objectPropertiesChanged;

            if (genericPropertiesChanged != null)
            {   // get items from sub lists
                genericPropertiesChanged.ForEach(a => propertiesChanged.AddRange(a));
            }
        }
        return propertiesChanged;
    }

Using the following class to store comparison results

[System.Serializable]
public class ObjectPropertyChanged
{
    public ObjectPropertyChanged(string objectId, string propertyName, string previousValue, string changedValue)
    {
        ObjectId = objectId;
        PropertyName = propertyName;
        PreviousValue = previousValue;
        ProposedChangedValue = changedValue;
    }

    public string ObjectId { get; set; }

    public string PropertyName { get; set; }

    public string PreviousValue { get; set; }

    public string ProposedChangedValue { get; set; }
}

And a sample unit test:

    [TestMethod()]
    public void GetPublicGenericPropertiesChangedTest1()
    {
        // Define objects to test
        Function func1 = new Function { Id = 1, Description = "func1" };
        Function func2 = new Function { Id = 2, Description = "func2" };
        FunctionAssignment funcAss1 = new FunctionAssignment
        {
            Function = func1,
            Level = 1
        };
        FunctionAssignment funcAss2 = new FunctionAssignment
        {
            Function = func2,
            Level = 2
        };

        // Main test: read properties changed
        var propertiesChanged = Utils.GetPublicGenericPropertiesChanged(funcAss1, funcAss2, null);

        Assert.IsNotNull(propertiesChanged);
        Assert.IsTrue(propertiesChanged.Count == 3);
        Assert.IsTrue(propertiesChanged[0].PropertyName == "FunctionAssignment.Function.Description");
        Assert.IsTrue(propertiesChanged[1].PropertyName == "FunctionAssignment.Function.Id");
        Assert.IsTrue(propertiesChanged[2].PropertyName == "FunctionAssignment.Level");
    }