Map Delegate from Model to Entity

Question

Let's say I have the following model:

class Foo
{
   public delegate void Bar();
   public Bar MyBar { get; set; }
}

And I would like to map this to my entity:

class FooEntity
{
   public delegate void Bar();
   public Bar MyBar { get; set; }
}

How is this done? I have tried using Automapper:

void ConfigureMappings()
{
    // how else do I need to configure this?
    Mapper.CreateMap<Foo, FooEntity>();
    Mapper.CreateMap<Foo.Bar, FooEntity.Bar>(); // is this right?
}

It is important for me to have data drive this delegate, since there are hundreds of different methods I need to be able to switch between depending on the value of MyBar. Any thoughts?

Edit: OK, so this no longer throws an exception when mapping from model to entity after moving the delegate out of the scope of each class:

public delegate void Bar(object obj);

public class Foo
{
   public Bar MyBar { get; set; }
}

public class FooEntity
{
   public Bar MyBar { get; set; }
}

Now I receive this: error 3004: Problem in mapping fragments starting at line 6:No mapping specified for properties FooEntity.MyBar in Set Foos. An Entity with Key (PK) will not round-trip when: Entity is type [Project.MyDbContext.FooEntity].

My database context code looks like this:

class MyDbContext : DbContext
{
    DbSet<FooEntity> Foos { get; set; }
}

And I save this to the database:

public static class Test()
{
   var foo = new Foo { MyBar = MyFancyDelegate };
   using (var context = new MyDbContext())
   {
       context.Foos.Add(Mapper.Map<FooEntity>(foo));
       context.SaveChanges();
   }
}

public static void MyFancyDelegate(object obj)
{
   Console.Write("test");
}

Is my problem just in what I am trying to do? Is it not possible to save delegate methods to a SQL table?

now you cannot save a function (or a delegate) in s SQL table - at worst this would mean serializing all of your program(code) and memory(state) at this exact point in time — Random Dev
so the solution is obviously to think what kind of data you need to recreate your Bar and serialize this into your SQL table ;) — Random Dev
The problem is that I need the delegate to potentially do a great number of very different things. I'm trying to avoid having a class devoted entirely to storing static methods for this purpose, but I don't see a way around it if I can't store them in SQL. — Kjata30
you will have to find a way sorry - as I said: your delegates could be bound to all kinds of closures and stuff and to be honest I have no clue why you even want to save this — Random Dev
If you're going to downvote the question, please explain why you've done so. — Kjata30

Quintonn Quintonn · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-07T06:31:58

You could replace your delegate with a string which could contain the code for the delegate method. And then add a "get only property" or a method that converts the string property into a c# method using Roslyn.

Map Delegate from Model to Entity

2 Answers