Compiling and running C# code programmatically

Question

I have a C# application, and I want to run a function which is defined in text to take one parameter of class A and return a double.

Parameter "A" will be some structured data, and the function will be a formula upon A.

(Imagine A had properties num1, num2, and one formula was defined to return the average, another arbitrarily to return num1 * 2).

As such, I want to load my function definition from a text source, compile them in some manner, and execute them.

In terms of the structure of the code, I do suppose I could inject the body of the function to be a member function of an arbitrary class, or if I can compile a delegate and then execute it passing a parameter context that would be sufficient also.

What is the way to go about this?

I think you need to specify which version of C# you're using. The newer versions can do this more easily than the older ones. — MusiGenesis
– MusiGenesis, Commented Jul 9, 2009 at 13:08

ChrisW · Accepted Answer · 2009-07-09 13:19:06Z

3

Use the .Net CodeDOM to compile C# On the Fly

edited Jul 9, 2009 at 13:19

ChrisW

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answered Jul 9, 2009 at 13:07

waterlooalex

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1 Comment

Steve Guidi Over a year ago

CodeDom is great for this type of problem. However, if you find yourself needing to use some more advanced features of C# that CodeDom doesn't support, you should consider using Reflection.Emit.

AlexDev · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-18 12:08:00Z

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I would suggest using an expression parser where you can enter an excel like expression, and includes all basic functions (statistical, string manipulation, math/trig). I've used CalcEngine for a similar requirement with good results. You can extend it with custom functions.

edited Jul 18, 2012 at 12:08

answered Jul 18, 2012 at 12:02

AlexDev

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Spence · Accepted Answer · 2009-07-09 13:12:18Z

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You might want to have a look at the c# code dom. You could use this to dynamically write and compile C# code, then execute it.

Beware that this is a very high risk operation so be careful. Still its cool functionality to have in the environment.

answered Jul 9, 2009 at 13:12

Spence

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Sam Saffron · Accepted Answer · 2009-07-09 13:12:39Z

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There is documentation on how to compile the C# code here.

Once you have it compiled your are going to need to use reflection to invoke the method (provided its static)

If you want to inject it on to an existing class with LCG you will need to use IL.

answered Jul 9, 2009 at 13:12

Sam Saffron

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spooner · Accepted Answer · 2009-07-09 14:09:43Z

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Another approach to doing this is to use the DynamicMethod class. Though this requires a knowledge of IL to do so.

I'd assume this would be quicker though to compile at runtime.

answered Jul 9, 2009 at 14:09

spooner

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