Builds an object type from a struct containing all of the variable members of the struct as properties with getters and setters

StructToObjectConverter.vb

imports System.Reflection
imports System.Reflection.Emit
imports System.Threading

''' <summary>
''' The purpose of this class is to take a struct and build and return an object type containing all of 
''' the variable members of the struct as properties with getters and setters. You can then make an 
''' instance of the object type by calling activator.createinstance(type).
''' Usage: dim converter = new StructConverter()
'''        dim structObjectType as Type = converter.buildDynamicProperties(GetType(YourStruct))
'''        bindingList = Ctype(Activator.CreateInstance(GetType(BindingList(Of )).MakeGenericType(New Type() {structObjectType})), IBindingList)
''' Or:
'''        dim struct = GetType(YourStruct)
'''        dim newTestData = activator.createinstance(structObjectType)
'''        for each field as reflection.fieldinfo in struct.GetFields
'''              testDataType.invokemember(field.name, reflection.bindingflags.setproperty, _
'''                                          nothing, newTestData, new object() {field.getvalue(testing)}) 'testing = 1st index of array of type YourStruct
'''              testDataType.invokemember(field.name, reflection.bindingflags.getproperty, _
'''                                       nothing, newTestData, new object() {})
'''        Next
''' </summary>
public class StructConverter

            ''Reflection example for structs
            '
            'dim struct = GetType(typTestData)
            'for each field as Reflection.fieldinfo in struct.GetFields
            '    Dim Value As Object = field.GetValue(testing)
            '    console.writeline(field.Name & "=" & Value.ToString)
            'Next
            '
            'Example for assigning values from a struct to a type
            '
            ' for each field as reflection.fieldinfo in struct.GetFields
                'dim fieldValue = field.getvalue(testing)
            '    testDataType.invokemember(field.name, reflection.bindingflags.setproperty, _
            '                              nothing, newTestData, new object() {field.getvalue(testing)})
            '    testDataType.invokemember(field.name, reflection.bindingflags.getproperty, _
            '                              nothing, newTestData, new object() {})
            'Next

    public sub new()

    End sub

    friend function buildDynamicProperties(data as Type)
        dim name = data.name
        dim myDomain as AppDomain = Thread.GetDomain()
        dim myAsmName as New AssemblyName()
        'myAsmName.Name = "DynamicRuntimePropertiesAssembly" 
        myAsmName.Name = name

        ' To generate a persistable assembly, specify AssemblyBuilderAccess.RunAndSave. 
        dim myAsmBuilder as AssemblyBuilder = myDomain.DefineDynamicAssembly(myAsmName, AssemblyBuilderAccess.RunAndSave)

        ' Generate a persistable, single-module assembly. 
        dim myModBuilder as ModuleBuilder = _
          myAsmBuilder.DefineDynamicModule(myAsmName.Name, myAsmName.Name & ".dll")

        dim myTypeBuilder as TypeBuilder = myModBuilder.DefineType("Struct"&name &"Properties", TypeAttributes.Public)
        
        for each prop as fieldinfo in data.getfields()
            ' Define a private field to hold the property value. 
            dim customerNameBldr as FieldBuilder = myTypeBuilder.DefineField(prop.name, _
                                                prop.FieldType, FieldAttributes.Private)

            ' The last argument of DefineProperty is Nothing, because the 
            ' property has no parameters. (If you don't specify Nothing, you must 
            ' specify an array of Type objects. For a parameterless property, 
            ' use an array with no elements: New Type() {}) 
            Dim custNamePropBldr As PropertyBuilder = 
                    myTypeBuilder.DefineProperty(prop.name, PropertyAttributes.HasDefault, _
                                    prop.fieldtype, Nothing)

            ' The property set and property get methods require a special set of attributes. 
            dim getSetAttr as MethodAttributes = MethodAttributes.public Or MethodAttributes.SpecialName Or MethodAttributes.HideBySig

            ' Define the "get" accessor method for the property.
            dim custNameGetPropMthdBldr as MethodBuilder = 
                    myTypeBuilder.DefineMethod("Get"&prop.name, getSetAttr, prop.fieldtype, Type.EmptyTypes)

            dim custNameGetIL as ILGenerator = custNameGetPropMthdBldr.GetILGenerator()

            custNameGetIL.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0)
            custNameGetIL.Emit(OpCodes.Ldfld, customerNameBldr)
            custNameGetIL.Emit(OpCodes.Ret)
            
            ' Define the "set" accessor method for CustomerName. 
            dim custNameSetPropMthdBldr as MethodBuilder = 
                    myTypeBuilder.DefineMethod("get_"&prop.name, getSetAttr, Nothing, New Type() {prop.fieldtype})

            dim custNameSetIL as ILGenerator = custNameSetPropMthdBldr.GetILGenerator()
            
            custNameSetIL.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0)
            custNameSetIL.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_1)
            custNameSetIL.Emit(OpCodes.Stfld, customerNameBldr)
            custNameSetIL.Emit(OpCodes.Ret)
            
            ' Last, we must map the two methods created above to our PropertyBuilder to  
            ' their corresponding behaviors, "get" and "set" respectively. 
            custNamePropBldr.SetGetMethod(custNameGetPropMthdBldr)
            custNamePropBldr.SetSetMethod(custNameSetPropMthdBldr)
        next
        dim retval as Type = myTypeBuilder.CreateType()

        ' Save the assembly so it can be examined with Ildasm.exe, 
        ' or referenced by a test program.
        'myasmBuilder.Save(myasmName.Name & ".dll")
        
        return retval
    end function
end class