Implementing an attribute with similar behavior to CompilerServices.CallerMemberAttribute

Question

It is possible to create an attribute that has a behavior similar to CallerMemberNameAttribute?

I mean, I have googled and found this article, that says CallerMemberName is a attribute that belongs to CompilerServices group, or in other words, this attributes change the way that compiler will builds my IL. So it's impossible replicate this behavior without customizing the c# compiler.

But I'm not convinced yet. I have some hope that someone in stackoverflow can say otherwise. So this question is for it.

Some context:

I'm searching for this mostly for improve this code:

public int Prop
{
    { get { return (int)this["prop"]; }
    { set { this["prop"] = value; }
}

I have many classes in my application that is a dictionary and has a property that represents a specific key.

Using StackTrace (in C# 4.0) and CallerMemberName (in C# 5.0) I was able to update my code to this:

public int Prop
{
    { get { return Get(); }
    { set { Set(value); }
}

Now my goal is to archive some like this:

public int Prop { { [DicGet]get; [DicSet]set; } }

So can someone help me? It's possible?

Answer 1

It is possible to create an attribute that has a behavior similar to CallerMemberNameAttribute?

Only by changing the C# compiler yourself, basically. After all, you're asking for behaviour similar to something that the C# compiler has specific knowledge of and code to handle - so you should expect that the C# compiler would need specific knowledge and code to handle your similar situation.

Now my goal is to archive some like this:

public int Prop { { [DicGet]get; [DicSet]set; } }

So can someone help me? It's possible?

Not out of the box, no.

Options:

• Modify the Roslyn compiler (it's open source now) - I wouldn't recommend that though.
• Use PostSharp
• Use some sort of preprocessor before you compile
• Use dynamic typing instead (e.g. extend DynamicObject and handle property accesses that way)