CodeDom to Serialize object to source code - serialization

I'm making a converter from SSRS to Telerik Reporting and then using reflection to write out the source code of the .Designer.cs file.
I'm reading the CodeDom attributes with Reflection to control the output, but is there any way to invoke CodeDom to do the serialization from the given object in Memory?
How to I invoke CodeDom serialization?
Do I need to create an DesignerHost for WebForms?
Do I need to create a DesignerSerializationManager and how?
If I can serialize the Report, will it transverse the CodeDom if visibility is CONTENT or do I have to do this manually?
In short, I want to programmatically regenerate the Designer.cs from an object in memory.
http://labs.kaliko.com/2010/10/regenerate-aspxdesignercs-file.html
Thanks

Related

Adding new members and extending methods in an external API interface

I am building an VB.NET application in Visual Studio using SOLIDWORKS API - my application connects to SOLIDWORKS application via COM, and performs some actions in it using various API calls. The API is accessed by adding project references to SOLIDWORKS .dll files. These files must be embedded to the executable of my application for legal reasons.
This question is not specific to that API, but I will try to explain what I want to do. There is a SOLIDWORKS API interface called Body2 that governs manipulation of model objects (bodies) in 3D space. For example, Body2 interface provides a method ApplyTransform that allows moving or rotating a certain body by applying a MathTransform (a transform matrix) to it:
ModelBody.ApplyTransform(rotationMatrix) 'rotates the body
Now, the Body2 objects do not store these transformation matrices - they are applied and forgotten. However, in my application, I need to persistently store that information, so that at some point, I can reverse all transformations, and return the body to it's original position.
Therefore, I want to extend the Body2 interface by adding a new property to it, called "CombinedTransformMatrix", so that every time I call ApplyTransform, I could also update the value of this property, for example:
ModelBody.ApplyTransform(rotationMatrix)
ModelBody.CombinedTransformMatrix.Multiply(rotationMatrix)
ModelBody.ApplyTransform(translationMatrix)
ModelBody.CombinedTransformMatrix.Multiply(translationMatrix)
And when I finally want to return the body to it's original position, I could call:
ModelBody.ApplyTransform(ModelBody.CombinedTransformMatrix.Inverse)
ModelBody.CombinedTransformMatrix = New MathTransform 'reset matrix
Ideally, it would be really nice to also extend the ApplyTransform method, so that it would update the CombinedTransformMatrix automatically, for example:
Overrides Function ApplyTransform(Xform As MathTransform) As Boolean
'Do whatever SOLIDWORKS does in this function
'My additional code:
Me.CombinedTransformMatrix.Multiply(Xform)
End function
(I know I should do an extension rather than an override, but I don't know how)
If this is possible, then I could simplify the code for the body transformations, as the CombinedTransformMatrix would update automatically:
'Rotate and move
ModelBody.ApplyTransform(rotationMatrix)
ModelBody.ApplyTransform(translationMatrix)
'Return to original position
ModelBody.ApplyTransform(ModelBody.CombinedTransformMatrix.Inverse)
ModelBody.CombinedTransformMatrix = New MathTransform 'reset matrix
I would very much prefer this kind of a solution instead of creating some derived class from Body2, or making some kind of a wrapper class that stores CombinedTransformMatrix outside the Body2 object. I want to store that bit inside the object itself. As for derived class, Visual Studio doesn't even allow me to inherit from Body2 - says "'Body2Class' is not allowed when its assembly is configured to embed interop types.". And I must embed these .dll files because otherwise I would have to ship them along the .exe of my application, which is legally prohibited by SOLIDWORKS.
Is what I want possible? Can I add that CombinedTransformMatrix to the Body2 interface without creating a derived class? And is it possible to extend that ApplyTransform method with my additional code without knowing how that method is implemented?
If not, what is the next best solution to achieve what I want? Like I said, I would very much like to avoid wrappers or additional variables outside of Body2, because there will be lots of these Body2 objects, they will persist throughout the application's lifetime, each will have a different transformation, so having to store their transformation information outside themselves would seriously complicate my code.
There is no universal way of doing this. You can maintain the separate dictionary with your COM object (e.g. IBody2 in this case) to be a key and the additional parameters (tags) to be a value. You will need to manually update the dictionary to remove the data when the pointer is destroyed. There are however some specific SW interfaces that do have some ways to associate custom data (similar to tags). For instance, IBody2 has the IBody2::AddPropertyExtension2 which allows associating custom data with the body itself, IEntity has the IEntity::CreateStringAttributeDefinition (note, this is not documented method) etc.
But there is no something like universal System::Windows::Forms::Tag property for Windows Controls or Dependency Property for DependencyObjects exists for COM classes.

Custom XAML Applications (non-WPF and non-WWF)

This question is likely a particular XAML application. XAML is a custom markup to instantiate objects and, as such, define custom applications. Note that, it serves to both declare WPF user interfaces and WWF workflows. It would also help to specify, e.g., a custom source-code change detection solution. To avoid getting in deeper in unnecessary details. I need to design a custom XAML-based model that, like the one for WPF and the one for WWF do, allows me to declare a custom application on top of XAML, without having to create a WPF or WWF project. Is this sort of third-part XAML-like provider possible to build?
<Approach>
<PrimitiveExample
OriginalType={Type syntax:LiteralSyntax}
ModifiedType={Type syntax:LiteralSyntax}
Propagation.Matched={Binding MatchedPropagationCommand}>
...
</PrimitiveExample>
...
<Approach/>
Let us see it this way. Is there a way to get a stand-alone XAML file that works as follows?
a) There will be a project item, e.g., named "Stand-alone XAML".
b) I create a new "Stand-alone XAML" item named, e.g., "Solution.sccd", and I add it to a console application, class library, or many other projects. This because it will be a sort of smart .config.
c) I can set up a root instance in "Solution.sccd" (likely containing a lot of nested instances) - this is natural for XAML.
d) When declaring instances in "Solution.sccd", I can use features like attached properties, binding, and many other smart features or markup extensions that can be used with WPF or WWF, but this will not be a WPF or WWF project.
e) I can instantiate the declared root instance, e.g., with simple code line like "var rootObject = XAMLInstanceCreator.Create(Solution.sccd)", and use that object.
Does this make sense now?
Regards, Guillermo.

Serialize & Deserialize Unity3D MonoBehaviour script

Background: Classes that inherit from Monobehaviour can't be serialized.
Premise: A way to save the data (variables/fields and their values) of a MonoBehaviour script so it can be serialized, and deserialize it again and use this data to "fill in" a corresponding MonoBehaviour script's variable/field values.
Tried so far:
Having a serializable "wrapper/container" class that has the same fields as the MB script, but does not inherit from MB. Works nicely but every MV script needs it's own wrapper class and it's own wrapping function.
Serializing a List<FieldInfo> and fill it with the MB's fields... Works 30%;
The FieldInfos get added but are of the wrong Type, and
When deserialzing their values can't be accessed because an instance of a class is needed, but only a list is available
I feel like it can't be that hard but my Reflection skills and related are limited but seeing as saving/loading is a rather common feature I hope there is either someone who did it or someone who can point me in the right direction.
There is no easy way to serialize a MonoBehaviour using a BinaryFormatter built in .NET. There are a few options you can consider:
Using a Memento Patter. That is (more or less) what you have tried to achieve using a wrapper. Momento assumes a saving and restoring internal state of objects, so serialization is one of techniques.
Using Unity Serialization, by declaring the methods:
void Serialize(){}
void Deserialize(){}
In your MonoBehaviour script, so within the methods you will choose the properties/fields you want to serialize/deserialize.
There is an interesting framework, source code is on GitHub. It has a custom serialization framework that lets you serialize almost anything (not only monobehaviors). I have never used it, here is the forum page on Unity3d forum, I believe it's worth a look.
The answer to the question is: ScriptableObject. That's what they're for.
Put your variables in a ScriptableObject and Unity will handle the serialisation and give you a custom editor and other nice features. Recommended.

How to use System.Dynamic.DynamicObject in VB.NET 10.0?

How to use System.Dynamic.DynamicObject in VB.NET 10.0 ?
I can create class that inherits from DynamicObject, but cannot actually use it.
With VB, you have to turn Option Strict OFF on the class file that you want to consume the DynamicObject implementation. Doing this does mean that you lose the type safety that comes with Option Strict On. In addition, Dynamic opens you up to no longer relying on the compiler to check your method names for you.
I'm writing a series on creating a Dynamic CSV Enumerable type in VB at http://www.thinqlinq.com/Post.aspx/Title/LINQ-to-CSV-using-DynamicObject and can assure you that it does work in VB.
Jim Wooley
See this page
Subclasses can override the various
binder methods (GetMember, SetMember,
Call, etc.) to provide custom behavior
that will be invoked at runtime.
If a method is not overridden then the DynamicObject does not
directly support that behavior and the
call site will determine how the
binding should be performed.

How can a custom markup extension for a graph of custom types loaded through XAML obtain a reference to the root object

I am attempting to write a MarkupExtension to support the process of instantiating custom types via XAML. My custom types are POCOs and not descendants of DependencyObject. There seems to be no straightforward XAML mechanism for MarkupExtensions to obtain references to objects in the graph that is being loaded. I note that the WPF machinery provides some of these capabilities but the relevant properties are all internal.
Any ideas?
I wrote a class that I use to bind to ViewModel commands, and it contains some code to retrieve the root of the XAML. It uses reflection on private WPF members, so it's not exactly clean, but it works... You can find it here
http://www.thomaslevesque.com/2009/03/17/wpf-using-inputbindings-with-the-mvvm-pattern/
BTW, it doesn't work with WPF 4 because the private implementation has changed... If you're interested I can post an updated version that takes these changes into account