Here you go; a mock up, just showing a possible setup... actually I
switched to TypeDescriptor for the properties here for brevity, but in a
real system I'd probably use ICustomTypeDescriptor /
TypeDescriptionProvider...
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows.Forms;
[TypeConverter(typeof(FlexiObjectConverter))]
class FlexiObject
{
private readonly Dictionary<string, object> values
= new Dictionary<string, object>(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
internal IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<string, object>> Values
{
get { return values; }
}
public object this[string key]
{
get
{
object value;
values.TryGetValue(key, out value);
return value;
}
set
{
if (value == null)
{
values.Remove(key);
}
else
{
values[key] = value;
}
}
}
}
class FlexiObjectConverter : TypeConverter
{
public override bool GetPropertiesSupported(ITypeDescriptorContext
context)
{
return true;
}
public override PropertyDescriptorCollection
GetProperties(ITypeDescriptorContext context, object value, Attribute[]
attributes)
{
FlexiObject obj = (FlexiObject)value;
List<PropertyDescriptor> props = new List<PropertyDescriptor>();
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, object> pair in obj.Values)
{
if (pair.Value != null)
{
props.Add(new
FlexiPropertyDescriptor(pair.Value.GetType(), pair.Key));
}
}
return new PropertyDescriptorCollection(props.ToArray(), true);
}
}
class FlexiPropertyDescriptor : PropertyDescriptor
{
private readonly Type propertyType;
public FlexiPropertyDescriptor(Type propertyType, string name)
: base(name, new Attribute[0])
{
this.propertyType = propertyType;
}
public override bool IsReadOnly
{
get { return false; }
}
private FlexiObject GetFlexi(object component)
{
return (FlexiObject)component;
}
public override object GetValue(object component)
{
return GetFlexi(component)[Name];
}
public override void SetValue(object component, object value)
{
GetFlexi(component)[Name] = value;
}
public override Type ComponentType
{
get { return typeof(FlexiObject); }
}
public override bool CanResetValue(object component)
{
return true;
}
public override void ResetValue(object component)
{
GetFlexi(component)[Name] = GetDefaultValue();
}
public override Type PropertyType
{
get { return propertyType; }
}
public override bool ShouldSerializeValue(object component)
{
return !object.Equals(GetValue(component), GetDefaultValue());
}
private object GetDefaultValue() {
Type type = PropertyType;
if (type == typeof(string)) return "";
if (type.IsValueType) return Activator.CreateInstance(type);
return null;
}
}
static class Program
{
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
FlexiObject obj = new FlexiObject();
obj["Name"] = "Marc";
obj["DOB"] = DateTime.Today;
obj["ShoeSize"] = 9;
obj["Icon"] = System.Drawing.SystemIcons.Shield;
obj["FavColour"] = System.Drawing.Color.Red;
obj["UriKind"] = System.UriKind.Relative;
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
using (Form form = new Form())
using (PropertyGrid grid = new PropertyGrid())
{
grid.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
form.Controls.Add(grid);
grid.SelectedObject = obj;
Application.Run(form);
}
}
}
