C# - copying property values from one instance to another, different classes

Question

I have two C# classes that have many of the same properties (by name and type). I want to be able to copy all non-null values from an instance of Defect into a

Answer 1

For one thing I would not place that code (somewhere) external but in the constructor of the ViewModel:

class DefectViewModel
{
    public DefectViewModel(Defect source)  { ... }
}

And if this is the only class (or one of a few) I would not automate it further but write out the property assignments. Automating it looks nice but there may be more exceptions and special cases than you expect.