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Exposing F# Dynamic Lookup to C#, WPF & Silverlight

Like C#, F# is primarily a statically typed programming language. That said both languages provide support for dynamic typing.

Sometimes dynamic typing can be a pragmatic way of solving a specific problem. For example say you’re a solutions provider with a core product and have a number of clients with bespoke requirements. One client asks for a product rating feature. This can be relatively easily achieved using dynamic properties:

  • a bunch of client specific properties are read from the database, including the rating value, which is then set as a dynamic property on the product object
  • zero changes are required to the core code
  • at the UI, on WPF, the dynamic property can simply be bound through XAML like any other object property
  • on Silverlight 4,0 direct binding is not currently possible, however there is a simple workaround - specifying the dynamic property as a parameter for a value converter (example later)

C# and F# use slightly different approaches for dynamic properties:

  • C# 4.0 provides a dynamic type, which tells the compiler that member lookup on the object should be deferred to run time
  • F# employs a dynamic lookup operator, which when overloaded defines the behaviour at runtime. This means that in F# dynamic lookup is explicit (the ? operator), and can be mixed with static lookup on the same object (the . operator)

Is it is still possible to implement dynamic properties in F# that can be consumed by other .Net languages like C#, VB.Net, IronRuby or IronPython; plus WPF and Silverlight. The trick is to inherit from .Net 4.0’s System.Dynamic.DynamicObject type and implement the System.ComponentModel.INotifyPropertyChanged interface:

open System.Dynamic

/// Dynamic Lookup type
type DynamicLookup () =
    inherit DynamicObject ()
    /// Synchronization object
    let sync = obj()
    /// Property Changed event
    let propertyChanged = Event<_,_>()    
    /// Properties
    let mutable properties = Map.empty
    /// Gets property value
    member private this.GetValue name = 
        Map.tryFind name properties
    /// Sets property value, creating a new property if none exists
    member private this.SetValue (name,value) =
        /// Atomically writes new properties reference
        let Write () = 
            properties <-
                properties 
                |> Map.remove name 
                |> Map.add name value
        // Synchronize property writes
        lock sync Write
        // Trigger property changed event
        (this,System.ComponentModel.PropertyChangedEventArgs(name))
        |> propertyChanged.Trigger    
    override this.TryGetMember(binder:GetMemberBinder,result:obj byref ) =     
        match this.GetValue binder.Name with
        | Some value -> result <- value; true
        | None -> false
    override this.TrySetMember(binder:SetMemberBinder, value:obj) =        
        this.SetValue(binder.Name,value)
        true
    override this.GetDynamicMemberNames() =
        properties |> Seq.map (fun pair -> pair.Key)
    [<CLIEvent>]
    member this.PropertyChanged = propertyChanged.Publish
    interface System.ComponentModel.INotifyPropertyChanged with
        [<CLIEvent>]
        member this.PropertyChanged = propertyChanged.Publish     
    static member (?) (lookup:#DynamicLookup,name:string) =
        match lookup.GetValue name with
        | Some(value) -> value
        | None -> raise (new System.MemberAccessException())        
    static member (?<-) (lookup:#DynamicLookup,name:string,value:'v) =
        lookup.SetValue (name,value)
    static member GetValue (lookup:DynamicLookup,name) =
        lookup.GetValue(name).Value

F# usage:

/// Product type inherits dynamic lookup
type Product (name,price) =
    inherit DynamicLookup ()
    member this.Name = name
    member this.Price = price
 
// Initiate product object with dynamic rating value
let p = Product("F# for Scientists",49.95M)
do p?Stars <- 5
// Access product's properties
let stars = System.Convert.ToInt32(p?Stars)
do printf "%s...%M %s" p.Name p.Price (System.String('*',stars))

C# usage:

// Create Product type with dynamic stars value
Product product = new Product("Expert F#",54.99M);
((dynamic)product).Stars = 5;       
// Read product properties
dynamic p = product;
string s = 
    string.Format("{0}...{1} {2}",
        p.Name, p.Price, new String('*', (int) p.Stars));

Use from Silverlight 4.0

<t:PropertyLookup x:Key="DynamicConverter"/>

 

<TextBox Text="{Binding Converter={StaticResource DynamicConverter},
                ConverterParameter=Stars}"/>

 

dynamic product = new Product("Real World FP", 35.99);
product.Stars = 5;
DataContext = product;

 

public class PropertyLookup : IValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(
        object value, 
        Type targetType, 
        object parameter, 
        CultureInfo culture)
    {        
        return DynamicLookup.GetValue(
            (DynamicLookup) value,
            (string) parameter);            
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value, 
        Type targetType, 
        object parameter, 
        CultureInfo culture)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
}

Note: Silverlight 4.0 requires Microsoft.CSharp.dll to use dynamic types.

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