Generate dynamic method to set a field of a struct instead of using reflection

Question

Let\'s say I have the following code which update a field of a struct using reflection. Since the struct instance is copied into the DynamicUpdate

Answer 1

EDIT again: This works structs now.

There's a gorgeous way to do it in C# 4, but you'll have to write your own ILGenerator emit code for anything before that. They added an ExpressionType.Assign to the .NET Framework 4.

This works in C# 4 (tested):

public delegate void ByRefStructAction(ref SomeType instance, object value);

private static ByRefStructAction BuildSetter(FieldInfo field)
{
    ParameterExpression instance = Expression.Parameter(typeof(SomeType).MakeByRefType(), "instance");
    ParameterExpression value = Expression.Parameter(typeof(object), "value");

    Expression expr =
        Expression.Lambda(
            Expression.Assign(
                Expression.Field(instance, field),
                Expression.Convert(value, field.FieldType)),
            instance,
            value);

    return expr.Compile();
}

Edit: Here was my test code.

public struct SomeType
{
    public int member;
}

[TestMethod]
public void TestIL()
{
    FieldInfo field = typeof(SomeType).GetField("member");
    var setter = BuildSetter(field);
    SomeType instance = new SomeType();
    int value = 12;
    setter(ref instance, value);
    Assert.AreEqual(value, instance.member);
}