Assignment in .NET 3.5 expression trees - linq

Question

Is it possible to encode an assignment into an expression tree?

Answer 1

No, I don't believe so.
Certainly the C# compiler disallows it when converting a lambda expression:
int x;
Expression<Func<int,int>> foo = (x=y); // Assign to x and return value
This yields the error:
CS0832: An expression tree may not contain an assignment operator

Answer 2

You should able to do it with .NET 4.0 Library. by import Microsoft.Scripting.Core.dll to your .NET 3.5 project.
I am using DLR 0.9 - There might be some change on Expession.Block and Expression.Scope in version 1.0 (You can see reference from http://www.codeplex.com/dlr/Thread/View.aspx?ThreadId=43234)
Following sample is to show you.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Microsoft.Scripting.Ast;
using Microsoft.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Reflection;
namespace dlr_sample
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
List<Expression> statements = new List<Expression>();
ParameterExpression x = Expression.Variable(typeof(int), "r");
ParameterExpression y = Expression.Variable(typeof(int), "y");
statements.Add(
Expression.Assign(
x,
Expression.Constant(1)
)
);
statements.Add(
Expression.Assign(
y,
x
)
);
MethodInfo cw = typeof(Console).GetMethod("WriteLine", new Type[] { typeof(int) });
statements.Add(
Expression.Call(
cw,
y
)
);
LambdaExpression lambda = Expression.Lambda(Expression.Scope(Expression.Block(statements), x, y));
lambda.Compile().DynamicInvoke();
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}

Answer 3

My extension method for doing exactly this:
/// <summary>
/// Provides extensions for converting lambda functions into assignment actions
/// </summary>
public static class ExpressionExtenstions
{
/// <summary>
/// Converts a field/property retrieve expression into a field/property assign expression
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="TInstance">The type of the instance.</typeparam>
/// <typeparam name="TProp">The type of the prop.</typeparam>
/// <param name="fieldGetter">The field getter.</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static Expression<Action<TInstance, TProp>> ToFieldAssignExpression<TInstance, TProp>
(
this Expression<Func<TInstance, TProp>> fieldGetter
)
{
if (fieldGetter == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("fieldGetter");
if (fieldGetter.Parameters.Count != 1 || !(fieldGetter.Body is MemberExpression))
throw new ArgumentException(
#"Input expression must be a single parameter field getter, e.g. g => g._fieldToSet or function(g) g._fieldToSet");
var parms = new[]
{
fieldGetter.Parameters[0],
Expression.Parameter(typeof (TProp), "value")
};
Expression body = Expression.Call(AssignmentHelper<TProp>.MethodInfoSetValue,
new[] {fieldGetter.Body, parms[1]});
return Expression.Lambda<Action<TInstance, TProp>>(body, parms);
}
public static Action<TInstance, TProp> ToFieldAssignment<TInstance, TProp>
(
this Expression<Func<TInstance, TProp>> fieldGetter
)
{
return fieldGetter.ToFieldAssignExpression().Compile();
}
#region Nested type: AssignmentHelper
private class AssignmentHelper<T>
{
internal static readonly MethodInfo MethodInfoSetValue =
typeof (AssignmentHelper<T>).GetMethod("SetValue", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Static);
private static void SetValue(ref T target, T value)
{
target = value;
}
}
#endregion
}

Answer 4

As Jon Skeet and TraumaPony have already said, Expression.Assign isn't available before .NET 4. Here's another concrete example of how to work around this missing bit:
public static class AssignmentExpression
{
public static Expression Create(Expression left, Expression right)
{
return
Expression.Call(
null,
typeof(AssignmentExpression)
.GetMethod("AssignTo", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Static)
.MakeGenericMethod(left.Type),
left,
right);
}
private static void AssignTo<T>(ref T left, T right) // note the 'ref', which is
{ // important when assigning
left = right; // to value types!
}
}
Then simply call AssignmentExpression.Create() in place of Expression.Assign().

Answer 5

You could probably work around it by nexting expression trees. Call a lambda function, where an argument is the value of the assignee.