DynamicObject.TryUnaryOperation(UnaryOperationBinder, Object) Method

public:
 virtual bool TryUnaryOperation(System::Dynamic::UnaryOperationBinder ^ binder, [Runtime::InteropServices::Out] System::Object ^ % result);

public virtual bool TryUnaryOperation(System.Dynamic.UnaryOperationBinder binder, out object result);

public virtual bool TryUnaryOperation(System.Dynamic.UnaryOperationBinder binder, out object? result);

abstract member TryUnaryOperation : System.Dynamic.UnaryOperationBinder * obj -> bool
override this.TryUnaryOperation : System.Dynamic.UnaryOperationBinder * obj -> bool

Public Overridable Function TryUnaryOperation (binder As UnaryOperationBinder, ByRef result As Object) As Boolean

true if the operation is successful; otherwise, false. If this method returns false, the run-time binder of the language determines the behavior. (In most cases, a language-specific run-time exception is thrown.)

Assume that you need a data structure to store textual and numeric representations of numbers, and you want to define a mathematical negation operation for such data.

The following code example demonstrates the DynamicNumber class, which is derived from the DynamicObject class. DynamicNumber overrides the TryUnaryOperation method to enable the mathematical negation operation. Is also overrides the TrySetMember and TryGetMember methods to enable access to the elements.

In this example, only the mathematical negation operation is supported. If you try to write a statement like negativeNumber = +number, a run-time exception occurs.

// Add using System.Linq.Expressions;
// to the beginning of the file

// The class derived from DynamicObject.
public class DynamicNumber : DynamicObject
{
    // The inner dictionary to store field names and values.
    Dictionary<string, object> dictionary
        = new Dictionary<string, object>();

    // Get the property value.
    public override bool TryGetMember(
        GetMemberBinder binder, out object result)
    {
        return dictionary.TryGetValue(binder.Name, out result);
    }

    // Set the property value.
    public override bool TrySetMember(
        SetMemberBinder binder, object value)
    {
        dictionary[binder.Name] = value;
        return true;
    }

    // Perform the unary operation.
    public override bool TryUnaryOperation(
        UnaryOperationBinder binder, out object result)
    {
        // The Textual property contains
        // the name of the unary operation in addition
        // to the textual representaion of the number.
        string resultTextual =
             binder.Operation + " " +
             dictionary["Textual"].ToString();
        int resultNumeric;

        // Determining what type of operation is being performed.
        switch (binder.Operation)
        {
            case ExpressionType.Negate:
                resultNumeric =
                     -(int)dictionary["Numeric"];
                break;
            default:
                // In case of any other unary operation,
                // print out the type of operation and return false,
                // which means that the language should determine
                // what to do.
                // (Usually the language just throws an exception.)
                Console.WriteLine(
                    binder.Operation +
                    ": This unary operation is not implemented");
                result = null;
                return false;
        }

        dynamic finalResult = new DynamicNumber();
        finalResult.Textual = resultTextual;
        finalResult.Numeric = resultNumeric;
        result = finalResult;
        return true;
    }
}

class Program
{
    static void Test(string[] args)
    {
        // Creating the first dynamic number.
        dynamic number = new DynamicNumber();

        // Creating properties and setting their values
        // for the dynamic number.
        // The TrySetMember method is called.
        number.Textual = "One";
        number.Numeric = 1;

        // Printing out properties. The TryGetMember method is called.
        Console.WriteLine(
            number.Textual + " " + number.Numeric);

        dynamic negativeNumber = new DynamicNumber();

        // Performing a mathematical negation.
        // TryUnaryOperation is called.
        negativeNumber = -number;

        Console.WriteLine(
            negativeNumber.Textual + " " + negativeNumber.Numeric);

        // The following statement produces a run-time exception
        // because the unary plus operation is not implemented.
        // negativeNumber = +number;
    }
}

// This code example produces the following output:

// One 1
// Negate One -1

' Add Imports System.Linq.Expressions
' to the beginning of the file.

' The class derived from DynamicObject.
Public Class DynamicNumber
    Inherits DynamicObject

    ' The inner dictionary to store field names and values.
    Dim dictionary As New Dictionary(Of String, Object)

    ' Get the property value.
    Public Overrides Function TryGetMember(
        ByVal binder As System.Dynamic.GetMemberBinder,
        ByRef result As Object) As Boolean

        Return dictionary.TryGetValue(binder.Name, result)

    End Function

    ' Set the property value.
    Public Overrides Function TrySetMember(
        ByVal binder As System.Dynamic.SetMemberBinder,
        ByVal value As Object) As Boolean

        dictionary(binder.Name) = value
        Return True

    End Function

    ' Perform the unary operation. 
    Public Overrides Function TryUnaryOperation(
        ByVal binder As System.Dynamic.UnaryOperationBinder,
        ByRef result As Object) As Boolean

        ' The Textual property contains the name of the unary operation
        ' in addition to the textual representaion of the number.
        Dim resultTextual As String =
        binder.Operation.ToString() & " " &
        dictionary("Textual")
        Dim resultNumeric As Integer

        ' Determining what type of operation is being performed.
        Select Case binder.Operation
            Case ExpressionType.Negate
                resultNumeric = -CInt(dictionary("Numeric"))
            Case Else
                ' In case of any other unary operation,
                ' print out the type of operation and return false,
                ' which means that the language should determine 
                ' what to do.
                ' (Usually the language just throws an exception.)            
                Console.WriteLine(
                    binder.Operation.ToString() &
                    ": This unary operation is not implemented")
                result = Nothing
                Return False
        End Select

        Dim finalResult As Object = New DynamicNumber()
        finalResult.Textual = resultTextual
        finalResult.Numeric = resultNumeric
        result = finalResult
        Return True
    End Function
End Class

Sub Test()
    ' Creating the first dynamic number.
    Dim number As Object = New DynamicNumber()

    ' Creating properties and setting their values
    ' for the dynamic number.
    ' The TrySetMember method is called.
    number.Textual = "One"
    number.Numeric = 1

    ' Printing out properties. The TryGetMember method is called.
    Console.WriteLine(
        number.Textual & " " & number.Numeric)

    Dim negativeNumber As Object = New DynamicNumber()

    ' Performing a mathematical negation.
    ' The TryUnaryOperation is called.
    negativeNumber = -number

    Console.WriteLine(
        negativeNumber.Textual & " " & negativeNumber.Numeric)

    ' The following statement produces a run-time exception
    ' because the unary plus operation is not implemented.
    'negativeNumber = +number
End Sub

' This code example produces the following output:

' One 1
' Negate One -1

Classes derived from the DynamicObject class can override this method to specify how unary operations should be performed for a dynamic object. When the method is not overridden, the run-time binder of the language determines the behavior. (In most cases, a language-specific run-time exception is thrown.)

This method is called when you have unary operations such as negation, increment, or decrement. For example, if the TryUnaryOperation method is overridden, this method is automatically invoked for statements like negativeNumber = -number, where number is derived from the DynamicObject class.

You can get information about the type of the unary operation by using the Operation property of the binder parameter.

If your dynamic object is used only in C# and Visual Basic, the binder.Operation property can have one of the following values from the ExpressionType enumeration. However, in other languages such as IronPython or IronRuby, you can have other values.