How can I get parameters values from a lamba expression for my nifty cache extension? - asp.net

Question

First of all it might be worth looking at this question:
How can I cache objects in ASP.NET MVC?
There some pseudo code that almost does what i want:
public class CacheExtensions
{
public static T GetOrStore<T>(this Cache cache, string key, Func<T> generator)
{
var result = cache[key];
if(result == null)
{
result = generator();
cache[key] = result;
}
return (T)result;
}
}
However, what I'd really like to do, is auto-generate the "key" from the generator. I figure i need to change the method signature to:
public static T GetOrStore<T>(this Cache cache,
System.Linq.Expressions.Expression<Func<T>> generator)
I want to use the method name, but also any parameters and their values to generate the key. I can get the method body from the expression, and the paramter names (sort of), but I have no idea how to get the paramter values...?
Or am I going about this the wrong way? Any ideas much appreciated.

Answer 1

Here's how I did it:
public static class ICacheExtensions
{
public static T GetOrAdd<T>(this ICache cache, Expression<Func<T>> getterExp)
{
var key = BuildCacheKey<T>(getterExp);
return cache.GetOrAdd(key, () => getterExp.Compile().Invoke());
}
private static string BuildCacheKey<T>(Expression<Func<T>> getterExp)
{
var body = getterExp.Body;
var methodCall = body as MethodCallExpression;
if (methodCall == null)
{
throw new NotSupportedException("The getterExp must be a MethodCallExpression");
}
var typeName = methodCall.Method.DeclaringType.FullName;
var methodName = methodCall.Method.Name;
var arguments = methodCall.Arguments
.Select(a => ExpressionHelper.Evaluate(a))
.ToArray();
return String.Format("{0}_{1}_{2}",
typeName,
methodName,
String.Join("|", arguments));
}
}
with this helper to evaluate nodes of an expression tree:
internal static class ExpressionHelper
{
public static object Evaluate(Expression e)
{
Type type = e.Type;
if (e.NodeType == ExpressionType.Convert)
{
var u = (UnaryExpression)e;
if (TypeHelper.GetNonNullableType(u.Operand.Type) == TypeHelper.GetNonNullableType(type))
{
e = ((UnaryExpression)e).Operand;
}
}
if (e.NodeType == ExpressionType.Constant)
{
if (e.Type == type)
{
return ((ConstantExpression)e).Value;
}
else if (TypeHelper.GetNonNullableType(e.Type) == TypeHelper.GetNonNullableType(type))
{
return ((ConstantExpression)e).Value;
}
}
var me = e as MemberExpression;
if (me != null)
{
var ce = me.Expression as ConstantExpression;
if (ce != null)
{
return me.Member.GetValue(ce.Value);
}
}
if (type.IsValueType)
{
e = Expression.Convert(e, typeof(object));
}
Expression<Func<object>> lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<object>>(e);
Func<object> fn = lambda.Compile();
return fn();
}
}

Answer 2

When calling a function that produces a collection i want to cache i pass all my function's parameters and function name to the cache function which creates a key from it.
All my classes implement an interface that has and ID field so i can use it in my cache keys.
I'm sure there's a nicer way but somehow i gotta sleep at times too.
I also pass 1 or more keywords that i can use to invalidate related collections.