PropertyPaths are a very useful binding concept, and can be useful in other instances as well. However, .NET 3.5 does not support evaluating PropertyPaths against objects directly without using binding. Here's a workaround:
public static class DataBinder
{
private static readonly DependencyProperty DummyProperty =
DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
"Dummy",
typeof(Object),
typeof(DependencyObject),
new UIPropertyMetadata(null));
public static Object Eval(Object container, String expression)
{
Binding binding = new Binding(expression) { Source = container };
DependencyObject dummyDO = new DependencyObject();
BindingOperations.SetBinding(dummyDO, DummyProperty, binding);
return dummyDO.GetValue(DummyProperty);
}
}
The following code provides a quick and easy way to test the workaround:
public partial class PropertyPathParserDemo : Window
{
public PropertyPathParserDemo()
{
InitializeComponent();
Foo foo = new Foo() { Bar = new Bar() { Value = "Value" } };
this.Content = DataBinder.Eval(foo, "Bar.Value");
}
public class Foo
{
public Bar Bar
{
get;
set;
}
}
public class Bar
{
public string Value
{
get;
set;
}
}
}
