How to convert object to Dictionary<TKey, TValue> in C#?
The above answers are all cool. I found it easy to json serialize the object and deserialize as a dictionary.
var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj);
var dictionary = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, string>>(json);
I don't know how performance is effected but this is much easier to read. You could also wrap it inside a function.
public static Dictionary<string, TValue> ToDictionary<TValue>(object obj)
{
var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj);
var dictionary = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, TValue>>(json);
return dictionary;
}
Use like so:
var obj = new { foo = 12345, boo = true };
var dictionary = ToDictionary<string>(obj);
I use this helper:
public static class ObjectToDictionaryHelper
{
public static IDictionary<string, object> ToDictionary(this object source)
{
return source.ToDictionary<object>();
}
public static IDictionary<string, T> ToDictionary<T>(this object source)
{
if (source == null)
ThrowExceptionWhenSourceArgumentIsNull();
var dictionary = new Dictionary<string, T>();
foreach (PropertyDescriptor property in TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(source))
AddPropertyToDictionary<T>(property, source, dictionary);
return dictionary;
}
private static void AddPropertyToDictionary<T>(PropertyDescriptor property, object source, Dictionary<string, T> dictionary)
{
object value = property.GetValue(source);
if (IsOfType<T>(value))
dictionary.Add(property.Name, (T)value);
}
private static bool IsOfType<T>(object value)
{
return value is T;
}
private static void ThrowExceptionWhenSourceArgumentIsNull()
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("source", "Unable to convert object to a dictionary. The source object is null.");
}
}
the usage is just to call .ToDictionary()
on an object
Hope it helps.