How do I create dynamic properties in C#?

I am looking for a way to create a class with a set of static properties. At run time, I want to be able to add other dynamic properties to this object from the database. I'd also like to add sorting and filtering capabilities to these objects.

How do I do this in C#?

You might use a dictionary, say

Dictionary<string,object> properties;

I think in most cases where something similar is done, it's done like this.
In any case, you would not gain anything from creating a "real" property with set and get accessors, since it would be created only at run-time and you would not be using it in your code...

Here is an example, showing a possible implementation of filtering and sorting (no error checking):

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

namespace ConsoleApplication1 {

    class ObjectWithProperties {
        Dictionary<string, object> properties = new Dictionary<string,object>();

        public object this[string name] {
            get { 
                if (properties.ContainsKey(name)){
                    return properties[name];
                }
                return null;
            }
            set {
                properties[name] = value;
            }
        }

    }

    class Comparer<T> : IComparer<ObjectWithProperties> where T : IComparable {

        string m_attributeName;

        public Comparer(string attributeName){
            m_attributeName = attributeName;
        }

        public int Compare(ObjectWithProperties x, ObjectWithProperties y) {
            return ((T)x[m_attributeName]).CompareTo((T)y[m_attributeName]);
        }

    }

    class Program {

        static void Main(string[] args) {

            // create some objects and fill a list
            var obj1 = new ObjectWithProperties();
            obj1["test"] = 100;
            var obj2 = new ObjectWithProperties();
            obj2["test"] = 200;
            var obj3 = new ObjectWithProperties();
            obj3["test"] = 150;
            var objects = new List<ObjectWithProperties>(new ObjectWithProperties[]{ obj1, obj2, obj3 });

            // filtering:
            Console.WriteLine("Filtering:");
            var filtered = from obj in objects
                         where (int)obj["test"] >= 150
                         select obj;
            foreach (var obj in filtered){
                Console.WriteLine(obj["test"]);
            }

            // sorting:
            Console.WriteLine("Sorting:");
            Comparer<int> c = new Comparer<int>("test");
            objects.Sort(c);
            foreach (var obj in objects) {
                Console.WriteLine(obj["test"]);
            }
        }

    }
}

If you need this for data-binding purposes, you can do this with a custom descriptor model... by implementing ICustomTypeDescriptor, TypeDescriptionProvider and/or TypeCoverter, you can create your own PropertyDescriptor instances at runtime. This is what controls like DataGridView, PropertyGrid etc use to display properties.

To bind to lists, you'd need ITypedList and IList; for basic sorting: IBindingList; for filtering and advanced sorting: IBindingListView; for full "new row" support (DataGridView): ICancelAddNew (phew!).

It is a lot of work though. DataTable (although I hate it) is cheap way of doing the same thing. If you don't need data-binding, just use a hashtable ;-p

Here's a simple example - but you can do a lot more...

Use ExpandoObject like the ViewBag in MVC 3.