c# - Dynamically creating a proxy class

Question

I am trying to create a proxy class dynamically. I know there are some very good frameworks out there to do this but this is purely a pet project as a learning exercise so would like to do it myself.

If, for example, I have the following class implementing an interface:

interface IMyInterface
{
    void MyProcedure();
}

class MyClass : IMyInterface
{
    void MyProcedure()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Hello World");
    }
}

To intercept methods to this class in order to log them, I am creating another class (my version of a proxy class) which implements the same interface but contains a reference to the 'real' class. This class performs an action (e.g. logging) and then calls the same method on the real class.

For example:

class ProxyClass : IMyInterface
{
    private IMyInterface RealClass { get; set; }

    void MyProcedure()
    {
        // Log the call
        Console.WriteLine("Logging..");

        // Call the 'real' method
        RealClass.MyProcedure();
    }
}

The caller then calls all methods on the proxy class instead (I am using a basic home-brew IoC container to inject the proxy class in place of the real class). I am using this method because I would like to be able to swap out RealClass at run time to another class implementing the same interface.

Is there a way to create ProxyClass at run time and populate its RealClass property so it can be used as a proxy for the real class? Is there a simple way to do this or do I need to use something like Reflection.Emit and generate the MSIL?

Answer 1

Have a look at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy. You can use this to create an instance that appears to be the target type from the perspective of the caller. RealProxy.Invoke provides a point from which you can simply invoke the target method on the underlying type or perform additional processing before/after the call (logging, for example).

Here's an example of a proxy that logs to the console before/after each method invocation:

public class LoggingProxy<T> : RealProxy
{
    private readonly T _instance;

    private LoggingProxy(T instance)
        : base(typeof(T))
    {
        _instance = instance;
    }

    public static T Create(T instance)
    {
        return (T)new LoggingProxy<T>(instance).GetTransparentProxy();
    }

    public override IMessage Invoke(IMessage msg)
    {
        var methodCall = (IMethodCallMessage)msg;
        var method = (MethodInfo)methodCall.MethodBase;

        try
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Before invoke: " + method.Name);
            var result = method.Invoke(_instance, methodCall.InArgs);
            Console.WriteLine("After invoke: " + method.Name);
            return new ReturnMessage(result, null, 0, methodCall.LogicalCallContext, methodCall);
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Exception: " + e);
            if (e is TargetInvocationException && e.InnerException != null)
            {
                return new ReturnMessage(e.InnerException, msg as IMethodCallMessage);
            }

            return new ReturnMessage(e, msg as IMethodCallMessage);
        }
    }
}

Here is how you would use it:

IMyInterface intf = LoggingProxy<IMyInterface>.Create(new MyClass());
intf.MyProcedure();

The output to console would then be:

Before invoke: MyProcedure
Hello World
After invoke: MyProcedure