Arrays, Generics

Arrays are one of the many features brought with Dynamic.

The following example demonstrates how to use arrays:
As a rule of thumb: to save and restore data use Dynamic, all other work is recommended to perform on native objects

//Create object

Dynamic datamix = new Dynamic();

datamix["Number"] = 46;

datamix["Int array"] = new int[] { 1442, 7557, 9938, 1048, 12774, 3988, 16833, int.MaxValue, int.MinValue };

datamix["Object array"] = new Book[] {

new Book() { Title = "Atilla", Parent = new ParentBook() { Publisher = "Hun" } },

null,

new Book() { Title = "Gengis Khan", Parent = new ParentBook() { Publisher = "Europe"}

}

};

//Access array

int[] intArray = datamix["Int array"];

Assert.IsNotNull(intArray);

Dynamic[] bookArray = datamix["Object array"];

Assert.AreEqual("Atilla", (string)bookArray[0]["Title"]);

We shall store object before we do any Dynamic-To-Native conversions

//Before we do any work on object we shall store the object

db.Store(datamix);

   ...

//Queries

var res = db.Query<Dynamic>().Where(d => d["Int array"] == 9938).ToList<Dynamic>();

Assert.IsNotNull(res);

Assert.AreEqual(1, res.Count);

res = (from Dynamic d in db where d["Object array"]["Parent"]["Publisher"] == "Hun" select d).ToList<Dynamic>();

Assert.IsNotNull(res);

Assert.AreEqual(1, res.Count);

With generics like List<T> it is also recommended to preserve arrays.

Here is an example:

List<Book> list = new List<Book>();

list.Add(new Book() { Title = "Unseen Academicals", Parent = new ParentBook() { Publisher = "Europe" } });

datamix["Generics"] = list.ToArray();

Just arrays.. List<T>, Dictionary<T, K> are only syntactic sugar

//Before we do any conversion we shall store the object

db.Store(datamix);

   ...

#region Add element to existing array

//Update generics

Dynamic[] array = datamix["Generics"];                              

//We will work with the List<T> in our business application - it makes life simpler

List<Dynamic> nativeList = new List<Dynamic>(array);

//Add new book

nativeList.Add(new Dynamic(new Book() { Title = "Atilla", Parent = new ParentBook() { Publisher = "Hun" } }));

//We store back array, since amount of elements changed

datamix["Generics"] = nativeList.ToArray();

db.Store(datamix);

#endregion

#region Update element in existing array

//Let's update existing book in array

array = datamix["Generics"];

nativeList = new List<Dynamic>(array);

Dynamic @do = nativeList[0];//let's say element 0

Book book = @do.ToNative<Book>();

//Change object

book.Title = "Joel on software";

book.Parent.Publisher = "Hun";

//Do not forget to update field, since Dynamic does not know that book has been changed

@do.FromNative(book);

//Since arrays are referencing objects, and array structure didn't change we can simply store updated object

db.Store(@do);

#endregion