NP.ObjectComparison 0.9.8.3

NP.ObjectComparison

The NP.ObjectComparison library provides object difference and patching functionality through .NET API.

Installation

To install the package to a project:

dotnet add {PROJECT} package NP.ObjectComparison

The package source for dev streams can be added through:

dotnet nuget add source --name github "https://nuget.pkg.github.com/NickPolyder/index.json"

Usage

The simplest way to start using the library is to initialize an ComparisonTracker object.

var sampleInstance = new SampleClass();
var comparisonTracker = new ComparisonTracker<SampleClass>(sampleInstance);

In order to properly use the ComparisonTracker<T> the T needs to be a class that inherits from System.ICloneable or make use of the CloneFactory delegate through the constructor.

var sampleInstance = new SampleClass();
var comparisonTracker = new ComparisonTracker<SampleClass>(sampleInstance, instance => new SampleClass
   {
	 FirstName = (string)instance.FistName.Clone(),
	 LastName = (string)instance.LastName.Clone(),
	 Age = instance.Age, 
		 RegistrationDate = instance.RegistrationDate,		
   });

When the default Comparison capabilities do not cover the use case there is the possibility to create your own IObjectAnalyzer<in T>. You can find examples on how to create Object Analyzers in the Samples.

var sampleInstance = new SampleClass();
var sampleObjectAnalyzer = new SampleObjectAnalyzer();
var comparisonTracker = new ComparisonTracker<SampleClass>(sampleInstance, sampleObjectAnalyzer);

Ignoring properties

To ignore a property or a class there are two ways available:

1. By using the attribute [SkipAnalyze] on a property or a class.

For a property:

public class ToBeAnalyzed
{
	[SkipAnalyze]
	public string Value { get; set; }
}

For a class:

[SkipAnalyze]
public class ToBeAnalyzed
{	
	public string Value { get; set; }
}

2. By providing an initialized instance of AnalyzerSettings

var analyzerSettings = new AnalyzerSettings();
var typeToSkip = typeof(ToBeAnalyzed);

// Skipping properties
var propertyInfo = typeToSkip.GetProperty(nameof(ToBeAnalyzed.Value));
analyzerSettings.SkipAnalyzeSettings.Skip(propertyInfo);

// OR
analyzerSettings
	.SkipAnalyzeSettings
	.Skip<ToBeAnalyzed, string>(model => model.Value)


// Skipping classes
analyzerSettings.SkipAnalyzeSettings.Skip(typeToSkip);

// OR
analyzerSettings.SkipAnalyzeSettings.Skip<ToBeAnalyzed>();

// Set the new instance
AnalyzerSettings.DefaultSettings = () => analyzerSettings;

Roadmap

• Add PatchInfo as return value to include more detailed patch information.
• Consider creating diff functionality as well ? (That can commit after ? )
• Finish Depth functionality on Patch
• Add Depth functionality on Diff code
• Maybe make a Diff functionality that can apply the patch later by calling a method ?
• Figure out how to publish alpha packages outside of nuget.org
• Make a Decorator that will provide the full comparison functionality
• Add AutoAnalyze in HasChanges
• Make Factory extensions
• Make the README better
• Make Ignore Attributes etc
  • Make analyzer settings take a Default factory.
• Give the option to also revert a patch (is it possible?)
  • If these 2 work we can go one step further and keep a history of DiffAnalysisResults that can be applied or get reverted ?
• Make a Memento object that will keep the history of the changes ?
• Rename Skip to Ignore to follow general naming conventions.
• Make the Comparison Tracker to have an index that will return the change tracking of that field like (ComparisonTracker["path.to.property"])
• Make the comparison tracker to make use of the WeakReference class.
• Make examples and samples
• Unit Tests